The Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported yesterday that Asahi Breweries Ltd. has taken back the top spot in the beer market in Japan after two years in second place to Kirin. Asahi was top in the first half of 2010 with 37.1% of sales followed by Kirin with 36.4%, Suntory 13.4%, Sapporo 12.3% and bravely bringing [...]
This fantastic new commercial from Sapporo came to my attention through the Mutineer Magazine blog, I’ve yet to see it on Japanese TV. Maybe I’m not watching enough NHK variety shows! (Thankfully I don’t watch any!). It’s a phenomenal live action/cgi trip through Japanese brewing history and mythology (I guess!) – including sumo wrestlers, geisha [...]
Katsunuma in Yamanashi Prefecture (not too far from Tokyo) is one of the major wine producing areas in Japan. Last year my wife and I visited the area and visited some of the wineries. One of the larger wineries, which was initially on our list to visit but turned out to be a bit further [...]
This question bugged me for quite a while when I first discovered that Japan has 3 categories of beer, and I don’t mean lager, beer, bitter, etc. Thankfully, an article in the Daily Yomiuri yesterday cleared it up for me. The reason Japan has 3 different categories of beer is essentially for tax reasons. Regular [...]
