The Beer in Japan(1)

History of Beer Culture in Japan

Acceptance of Beer in Japan in the Meiji period

Before the modernization, minimal opportunity in Dejima, the special trading district open only for Dutch had beer, and a few Japanese even tried to brew themselves.

The origin of modern beer brewing in Japan began right after the modernization in 1867. German beer was imported in Yokohama, and then they decided to make their domestic beer under international cooperation. The brewing recipe was German-style, and they strictly followed their making method. A foreign company wanted to run their brewery with the help of a German brewer and a Japanese merchant. The first domestic brewery is Spring Brewery, and the company now became Kirin Beer Co.Ltd.  In the early 20th century, Japanese investors paid much effort to turn the company into a domestic invested one. They worked very hard to expand their domestic and Asian market. However, due to the unequal treaty between Japan and the Western countries, their domestic beer promotion had a massive disadvantage in their marketing. They were conquering this disadvantage achieved in 1911, the denouncement of the unequal treaty.

At that time, the promotion of beer was targeting a newly successful class such as businesspeople, celebrities, and doctors. Especially the promotion to the doctors was expected for the advertisement of beer as a healthy drink. From the management point, several domestic beer companies tied each other to enhance their sales force. Through WWII, Japanese domestic beer took advantage of the low price. They expanded their customers to more general people1)

 Post-WWII Japan

The demand for beer for GHQ, following the economic boom, pushed Japanese beer sales and consumption.  According to this shift, the taste itself had changed from the traditional German Lagar style with bitterness to lighter and sweeter Pilsner style, to be more attractive for young and women customers. However, even they intended to appeal to women, the main target of beer consumption in the Japanese market was men. Every year, an advertising poster with a healthy, attractive young woman wearing a bathing suit, drinking a mug of beer spreads all over the country. For a young fledgling actress or fashion model, being a beer model means a promising career because its advertising effect on the wall of a pub or drinking stand is enormous. This promotion is aimed at male customers.  On the TV commercial film, the famous phrase "men drink Sapporo beer in silence." That featured in the 1970s with a world-famous actor Toshiro Mifune, and still, that phrase is popular among the customers. Even a mega-hit "Asahi super dry" beer in 1987 also featured a stylish and smart man as their ideal consumer by using the word "dry." That appealed wide range of working men from blue colour to office workers with exclusiveness for them. Therefore, the beer becomes an alcoholic beverage exclusive for men. As a consumer of alcohol beverages, coming back of women had to wait until the next economic surge in the late 1980s.

1) Alexander, J. W. (2013). Foreign Influences: The Origins of Japan’s Beer Brewing Industry, 1868-1906. In J. W. Alexander, Brewed in Japan (pp. 6-54). Vancouver: UBC Press.