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Japanese

Shōyu is officially divided into five main types by the JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standard) depending on differences in their ingredients and method of production. These types are koikuchi, usukuchi, tamari, saishikomi, and shiro.

Most, but not all, Japanese soy sauces include wheat as a primary ingredient, which tends to give them a slightly sweeter taste than their Chinese counterparts. They also tend towards an alcoholic sherry -like flavor, sometimes enhanced by the addition of small amounts of alcohol as a natural preservative. The widely varying flavors of these soy sauces are not always interchangeable, so some recipes only call for one type or the other, much as a white wine cannot replace a red's flavor or beef stock does not make the same results as fish stock.

Some soy sauces made in the Japanese way or styled after them contain about 50% wheat.