Chuhai, Chu-Hi, Chūhai

As much as it pains me to admit, I’m sure some of you are unfamiliar with the nectar of the gods (aka chuhai/chu-hi). I wrote a post about how much I love the stuff, but I’ll give you a quick rundown here.

Conventional Japanese chuhai is made with shochu (Japanese alcohol around 25% ABV) or vodka, and flavored soda water. They are sold in cans and they are delicious. They come in many flavors and are cheaper than beer with ABVs ranging from 2% to 9%.

There are many different manufacturers of chuhai and it’s been around in Japan for a long time. They seem to be viewed as more of a “girly” drink, kind of like Smirnof Ice and Mike’s Hard are in America, and kind of taste similar to these malt beverages, only much better.

The bottom line is that chuhai is cheap, tasty, varied, and awesome.

The American Chu-Hi Blunder

Okay, so Takara Saké – they’ve been making Chu-hi since the late 70s and are a huge name in the business so it’s no surprise that they were the ones to break down the international barriers and bring this drink to the USA. What is a surprise is the decisions they made while doing so.

From the Takara Saké USA website: “Chu-Hi was the first Japanese-style sparkling cocktail to appear on the Tokyo drinking scene in the late 70s. In summer 2012, we renewed our Chu-Hi. We added ‘JPOP’ to the product name, and now we have 2 flavors – Grapefruits and White Peach.”

So apparently these had been around for about two years already, but I only just recently discovered their existence myself. The only place I’ve seen them is at the local Japanese market. I haven’t seen them in any normal grocery store, but that doesn’t really surprise me.

I tried to figure out what made them decide to bring this over to America after so long. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any real information concerning this. I can only surmise that they read my whinings about it on the internet and decided to do it just for me. I appreciate the effort, Takara, but in the end, you’ve disappointed. Let me tell you why.

Ingredient Changes? Really?

When our most loyal Tofugu reader Joanna W. informed me of these American Chu-Hi, she also commented on their taste. She stated that they did not taste all that great and just reminded her of flavored malt beverages from America, like Smirnof Ice, and not in a good way. She wondered if the Japanese ones tasted this way and how anyone could be as crazy about them as I was.

Upon hearing this, I became concerned. Was the flavoring just bad on these Chu-Hi? Had Takara made a mistake? Or, wait – oh no… had they changed the formula to “appeal” to American tastes?

Unfortunately, the answer was yes. They had changed the formula. These were not the Chu-Hi that I loved. They were a bastardized version that disgraced the name.

For whatever reason, Takara decided to make these American Chu-Hi with a malt base instead of shochu/vodka like they do in Japan. The result of this is that the American Chu-Hi just taste like crappy Smirnofs. They are not new, exciting or refreshing. They’re just one more lousy flavored malt beverage that brings nothing new to the table.

Since the ingredients for Chu-Hi aren’t exactly listed out online, this is the only change that I am aware of. There might be other slight changes, but the malt/shochu change is so huge that I don’t even think other smaller changes would matter that much. I bought each of the American Chu-Hi flavors recently and gave them a taste test. Here’s what I thought.

Taste Testing

The first thing that made me wary of these American Chu-Hi was the fact that they came in bottles. Chuhai in Japan was always in cans – never in bottles. Something is wrong here.

The next thing I noticed was the price. Chuhai in Japan was cheaper than beer. The prices ranged from maybe 60yen ($0.60) to 110yen ($1.10) or so, depending on the strength and can size. They were an amazing deal. Now these American Chu-Hi – they were priced at an unreasonable $2.75 (~280yen). Already I’m grumbling and I haven’t even tried the thing yet.

On the bottles, they say that they’re great over ice. I always had chuhai out of the can in Japan, but I decided that I would try these American ones both ways. First just out of the bottle, and then over ice to see if there’s a big difference.

Grapefruit: 6.5% ABV, $2.75 a bottle

From the Bottle:
This tastes just like a Smirnof, if Smirnof made a grapefruit flavor. That’s not a compliment. This tastes much less like grapefruit than its Japanese counterpart and tastes a bit too heavy and sweet and just not good. I think I would start to feel sick if I had more than one or two of these.

Over Ice:
This tastes just like a Smirnof, but over ice. This improved the flavor a bit since the ice melting made it a little bit lighter and not as sweet. The ice improved the drink, but it still didn’t make it good.

As grapefruit was my favorite chuhai flavor in Japan, this drink was a gigantic disappointment.

1/5 Stars, would not buy again

White Peach: 6.5% ABV, $2.75 a bottle

From the Bottle:
Similar to the grapefruit, this tastes very similar to a Smirnof. The initial taste of the peach is quite pleasant though, but immediately after that initial taste comes the oppressive malt taste that ruins the flavor. Definitely better than the grapefruit, but not by too much.

Over Ice:
At first I thought that the ice really changed the flavor for the better because the oppressive malt taste was absent at first, but soon the taste returned and it tasted much like it did before, but colder. Not much of an improvement.

The peach was better than the grapefruit, but not by much.

2/5 Stars, would not buy again

Conclusion: These do not even deserve to be called Chu-Hi. Do not judge Japanese Chu-Hi by these imitations. There is no comparison.

But Why Were the Ingredients Changed?

I learned from Chopsticks New York that Takara Chu-Hi “reached the U.S. market two years ago with a slight modification of base ingredients and flavors to meet the American people’s palate. This August, TAKARA SAKE USA INC. re-released it by renewing its name to JPOP, revamping the package and tweaking the flavor. ‘We changed the recipe of the malt alcohol, the base of the drink, in order to get refreshing flavor. As a result, its carbonation became more noticeable on the palate,’ says Mr. Hirokazu Nishikawa, General Manager of Marketing in TAKARA SAKE USA INC.”

WHY, TAKARA, WHY!? Yes, maybe Americans prefer more carbonated, malty type beverages that they are familiar with, but not when they cost so much and offer nothing new but two (underwhelming) flavors. If you expect people to pay $2.75 for a bottle of this, it should at least be new and exciting and worth the steep price of admission. Ugh.

Again, I was unable to find much info concerning exactly why they made this change and the whole thought process behind it, but I am incredibly bummed out about it. I also don’t like how they added the JPOP moniker to it. I don’t know if they are trying to be clever with the JPOP by saying it’s like Japanese (soda) pop, or if they’re trying to relate it to J-pop as in Japanese pop music or they just thought JPOP would be easier for Americans to remember than Chu-Hi, but I don’t like it. I think it’s silly.

So do I think anyone is going to try this and think it’s better than anything currently available in America? No. Do I think anyone will buy it again after trying it once? Definitely not, especially when it costs so much more than what “America’s palate” is already used to.

Western vs Japanese Alcohol “Taste” Confusion

Speaking of America’s palate as compared to the Japanese palate, this isn’t the first time it’s been an issue. We’ve written about Japanese beers and Japanese whiskies before, and there are reasons why you don’t see these alcohols with the saturations that Japan has. In the end, the tastes are (supposedly) different. When’s the last time you saw someone drinking an Asahi outside of an Asian restaurant?

Koichi helped to weigh in on this topic a little bit as well:

When you look at the history of alcohol in Japan, it’s quite interesting. The competition between beer companies in Japan revolves around how dry the beer is and how much koku (rich taste) it has, with quite a bit of emphasis on the dry side of things. This pairs well with foods that the Japanese eat. An Asahi Super Dry certainly pairs with my katsu/ramen/yakitori much better than, say, a double chocolate stout, or something like that (or even a Budweiser, for that matter). This has become considered a very “Japanese” taste to the Japanese. In some cases it becomes a bit of Ninhonjinron pride, if you ask me, which results in the thinking of “only Japanese people can understand this taste.” Obviously this isn’t true, but this is probably why the American Chu-Hi version got sugared up and malted, because that’s what “Westerners like.” They thought they’d make more money this way and probably don’t understand why things didn’t work out. If only they hired John on as their American Chu-Hi CEO.

In the case of whiskey it’s basically the same thing. Although you see some trickling of whiskey coming over to America, you’ll notice that certain Hibiki whiskeys, like the 15+ year old variations, are not sold outside of Japan. This is because non-Japanese “won’t understand the Japanese taste,” which I’m guessing is just their way to keep all the good whiskey to themselves, because wow those are some good whiskeys.

—Koichi

In the end, I think there’s a confusion about “Japanese taste” and “Western taste.” Sure, you have to take into account what kinds of foods you’re pairing these alcoholic drinks with, and that does make a difference, but a lot of assumptions get made too, which means the original Chu-Hi recipe gets carbonated, malted, and sugared up for our “Western” tastes.

The Future of Takara JPOP Chu-Hi

In my opinion, Takara made a colossal mistake with their American Chu-Hi. Quite frankly, I’m amazed that it’s still even being made. I’m also really surprised that I hadn’t heard of these American Chu-Hi until now even though they came out in 2012, but that just speaks to their unpopularity.

I expect these American Chu-Hi to do terribly, and eventually get pulled from the market, so if you have any interest in trying them out and discovering what all the disappointment is about, do it now before it’s too late.

I really wish that Takara would have had more faith in the American people and their willingness to try new things. Maybe I’m outside the norm here, but I like to try new things and get excited when I see something new and appealing at the grocery, especially when it’s in the booze aisle.

If Takara had made these things in cans with their original recipe and priced them more aggressively, they would have been an overwhelming success (with me, at least). But as they are, I’m never going to buy them again.

Shame on you, Takara. Shame on you.

Bonus Wallpapers!

[1280x800] ∙ [2560x1600]

In the past we’ve written a bit about Google Image search and how it’s useful for Japanese learning. For example, if you don’t know what a Japanese word means, or if you just aren’t sure about the translation you’re getting, put it into Google Image search and see what pops up. That’s all well and good for practicing Japanese language learning, but searching for images in Japanese will also tell you a lot about the Japanese society as a whole. The results will be different from your language’s search because that culture will be reflected.

I thought it would be fun to go through a bunch of image searches like this. First in English, then in Japanese. Afterwards there might even be some commentary.

*I’m using incognito mode to hopefully offset any past search bias on Google’s part. They might be using my location though, so results may vary!

Puppies

Let’s start with something adorable: the word “puppy,” or 子犬 in Japanese.

You can see that there are some similarities here, but the Japanese version has way more Japanese dogs (shiba inu). When a “dog” comes to mind in Japan, I think the image of a shiba inu (or another Japanese breed) comes to mind. Of course, there are other dogs too, but you can see the difference clearly here.

Dinner

When you put in the English word “dinner” and the Japanese word 晩ご飯, you get two completely different  results.

I think what you see here is the idea of what a “traditional” dinner is.  Of course, there are a lot of small plates and bowls on the Japanese side and there is a lot of meat and turkey on the English side. It really highlights the difference between our perceived ideal “dinners.”

Anime

When you type in “anime” and アニメ, this is the result.

I’m not sure what this says about anything, but the difference is kind of interesting. Seems like the English results produce way more fan art whereas the Japanese one produces actual anime. Maybe in terms of ratio fan art is more prevalent in English-speaking places just because of how saturated “official” anime is in Japan?

Monkeys

If you type in “monkey” in English and 猿 in Japanese, here’s what you get.

In English, you get a smattering of monkeys and apes. In Japanese, you almost exclusively get the Japanese macaque. Some of them are the infamous “Snow Monkeys” as well.

Letters

If you look up “letters” in English (talking about the kind you write and send to people in the mail) or 手紙 in Japanese, you’ll see a big difference.

Notice how the Japanese side is almost entirely handwritten and the English side is almost entirely typed out? I think that really highlights how important letters are in Japanese culture compared to how they’ve become in places like America. In fact, you might remember my earlier article “How To Write Letters In Japanese: An Introduction” where I mention the importance of hand writing (personal) letters.

Beer

Let’s see what “beer” and ビール come up with.

As you already know if you read Tofugu, there isn’t a ton of variety when it comes to Japanese beer types. You have your Sapporo, Kirin, Asahi, and Yebisu. Everything else is tiny in comparison. With the English image results, you still see some of those light beers, but there’s wayyy more variety. This basically just parallels the actual beer situation in Japan and in the West.

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I’m sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg, too. As you can see, though, you can gain some cultural insight into a culture just by looking at the Google Image Search differences. Beer is lighter. Monkeys are more homogenous. Dinner is completely different… you get the idea.

For this kind of thing, though, one person can’t think up all of the good comparisons. So, I need your help! If you post up an English (or whatever your native language is) and Japanese Google Image Search comparison in the comments, I’ll add your name to a raffle and pick out three of your names. The winners will get Tofugu stickers because we just got some new designs in.

Yum, looking good stickers. So, three of you could win both a crabigator and a Tofugu, just for contributing your image comparisons in the comments of this article. Deadline is Friday whenever I decide to choose someone, PST. So… get it in before then. I look forward to seeing all the creative comparisons that you come up with!

Want the wallpaper version of this article’s header image? Here it is in 2560×1600.

Everybody has their own favorite drink, but when you’re dropped into a country with a thriving drinking culture, you might want to reassess your options and see what’s common to drink in Japan. After all, the bartender might not know what you’re talking about when you order an Appletini.

Fortunately, there are lots and lots of options for you when you’re drinking in Japan. You might not recognize all of them, but they’re largely accessible and enjoyable to drink. Let’s take a look at some of the drinks you’ll encounter when you’re drinking in Japan:

Beer

Beer is the safest drink to get in Japan for a couple different reasons. It’s one of the most popular beverages around the country—one of the most common phrases you’ll hear in bars and restaurants is 生ビール, or “draft beer”—and secondly, Japanese beers are relatively mild and easy to drink. Japanese beers have been renowned as relatively light and dry for decades.

The big names in Japanese beer (and combatants in the Great Japanese Beer War) are Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo. Microbreweries are peppered throughout the country, but you’ll be able to find at least one of the big names pretty much anywhere in Japan.

Verdict: Recommended.

Third-Category Beer

In order to avoid Japanese taxes on malts, one of the main ingredients in beer, companies have produced cheap beverages with little to no malt content. These beverages, known as “happoushu” (発泡酒) and “third-category beer” (第三のビール), have emerged as a cheap alternative to beer.

A while back Néojaponisme did a great video about tasting some of the more famous third-category beers:

Unless you’re really pinching pennies, it might be best to avoid this type of beverage. They’re definitely inexpensive, but these beverages are to beer as Jolly Ranchers are to actual fruit. The tradeoff of taste for price is a big turnoff of this “fake beer.”

Verdict: Avoid if possible.

Sake

Most people have heard of sake, but what they don’t know is that sake isn’t actually called sake in Japan. In Japanese, sake just means “alcohol,” so ordering sake in Japan will probably get you some blank stares.

Instead, it’s called “nihonshu” (日本酒), which literally translates into “Japan alcohol.” If you’ve only had sake outside of Japan or have only drank the cheap One Cup stuff, then you should definitely check out the varieties available in Japan.

For more about sake, read our earlier post, 4 Types of Sake and How to Enjoy Them.

Verdict: Recommended.

Whisky

I won’t go too much into detail since we already did a post about Japanese whisky, but the Japanese whisky industry in Japan is flourishing and growing bigger every year. Many of the big beer producing companies—Asahi, Suntory, etc.—also have their own whisky labels as well.

Whisky in Japanese generally takes after Scottish whisky rather than the American-style whiskeys some of you might be used to. This might be a concern for those with discerning palates, but it probably doesn’t make a difference for 90% of people.

The terminology is a bit different in Japanese, but pretty similar. “On the rocks” is “rokku” (ロック), and “neat” or “straight” is just (ストレート).

Verdict: Highly recommended!

Highballs

In Japan, a highball (ハイボール) is a mixture of whisky and soda water that’s become surprisingly popular. A lot of people don’t like the taste of straight whisky, and whisky (especially some of the higher end Japanese whiskies) can be very, very expensive. Highballs fix both of these problems by cutting the whisky with a cheaper liquid, soda water.

Unfortunately, I think that the result is the worst of both worlds. A highball doesn’t have the interesting mix of flavors that a more complicated cocktails have, and it blows away any sort of subtle flavors the whisky might have with a blast of carbonation.

But if you’re looking to get some whisky down the hatch quickly and cheaply, a highball is a good solution to that.

Verdict: Not recommended.

Shochu

Shochu (焼酎) is a Japanese drink that’s usually made from a grain (like barley or rice) or other ingredients like sweet potatoes, chestnut, or even brown sugar.

On its own, it’s not terribly exciting; it’s a little stronger than sake, but not as strong as hard liquor. People will drink shochu on its own, but more commonly you’ll see it as part of a mixed drink, either in chuhai (see below) or in “sours.”

Verdict: Take it or leave it.

Chuhai

You might have already read our love letter to chuhai from earlier this year, but if you don’t know about chuhai, here’s the lowdown:

“Chuhai” (チューハイ) is a combination of the words shochu and highball. It’s basically shochu with soda water added, although chuhai tends to be flavored more than straight highballs.

Verdict: Recommended.

Soju

Not to be confused with shoju, soju (ソジュ) is originally a Korean drink that’s been making a lot of headway in Japan. In addition to the similar-sounding names, soju has a lot in common with shochu; the taste is very comparable and the two drinks can be made out of lots of different ingredients (although rice is most commonly used).

Shochu and soju are consumed the same way as well: it’s sometimes drank straight or on the rocks, but also quite frequently mixed with soda or juice.

Verdict: Take it or leave it.

Wine

Wine has a lot of cultural significance in other parts of the world but for Japan—a country that enjoys wine, but doesn’t produce much of its own—it’s a beverage that’s not very popular outside of a small demographic.

Maybe once Japan makes its own version of Sideways, wine will become as popular as it is with middle-aged rich Americans.

Verdict: Indifferent.

Umeshu

Umeshu (梅酒) is a unique kind of Japanese plum liqueur. that can be served like whisky or any other straight liquor: either neat or on the rocks.

Different types of umeshu have a range of flavors, from sour to very sweet. I wasn’t a big fan of the kinds of umeshu I’ve had in Japan; at its worst, I thought umeshu tasted like sweet cough syrup. I guess this is how Japanese people feel when they drink root beer.

Verdict: Not recommended.

Awamori

Unique to the southern Okinawa region of Japan, awamori (泡盛) is a very strong, distilled liquor made out of rice. While the alcohol content of awamori can be as low as 25%, it can be much, much higher, peaking at around 60%.

Awamori is definitely an acquired taste, and can really catch you off guard if you’re not expecting it. Did I mention that it’s strong? It’s really strong.

Verdict: Where am I?

Hopefully, this list gives you some idea of what your options are when you go drinking in Japan. Of course this list is far from complete, as any comprehensive list would probably take up a whole book; but this should cover some of the most options available to you.

So enjoy yourself, but make sure not to miss the last train. 乾杯！

Wallpapers and Coloring Sheet

Want a desktop background of our chubby li’l drunk salaryman? Are you a parent who wants to give their child a cool coloring sheet—or better yet, are you a full-grown adult who wants to do some coloring? Our amazing illustrator Aya has you covered!

Wallpaper (1280×800)
Wallpaper (2560×1440)

Coloring activity sheet

But has Japanese beer always been so light and easily drinkable? Nope.

Before the bubble, Japan’s beer market was populated by the more typical pale lager with the bitter note flavor profile. The similar flavors that the Japanese was introduced with when the Dutch opened beer halls in the 17th century to accommodate the sailors running the trade routes. Why the transition to a lighter tasting beer? It’s the result of one of the many beer wars among Japan’s four major breweries that began in the 1960s.

In order to understand the Dry War, some context is needed. So grab a Super Dry, or the equally appealing, a Kirin Ichiban and kick back.

Events leading up to the Dry War

Prior to the Dry Wars that began in 1985, Japan’s beer industry was made up of an oligopoly of beer brewers: Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo, and Suntory.

Kirin dominated the market after World War II and had a 61% share between the mid 70s and up until ’85. Sapporo was a distant second with its 20%-25% variable share, followed by Asahi’s 9%-13% and Suntory’s 5%-9%.

Asahi and Sapporo used to be one entity known as Dai Nippon Brewery. Due to postwar anti-monopoly laws set out to dissolve the zaibatsus, the clique was split into the two we are familiar with today: Asahi Brewery and Nippon Brewery (shortly renamed to Sapporo Brewery).

Because of the high entry barriers in advertising costs, distribution, and government regulations, the four breweries dominated the market. Prior to 1985 and after World War II, only two firms have attempted entry into the beer market. Takara, a distillery, entered in 1957, but shortly withdrew eleven years later. The other was Suntory, whom entered in 1963 and still remains despite having a weak presence in the beer market.

Government regulations at the time favored nonprice competition in the beer industry, meaning a stable and reliable source of taxes for the government. With no option of competing in price, the available points of engagement for the breweries to compete with their competitors were product quality, advertising, and control & development of distribution channels. This favored heavily with Kirin since it had the resources to invest heavy-handily into the three groups. Kirin also established a strong reputation among the consumer, having it’s name synonymous with beer.

The bottom trifecta’s best chance of gaining any marketshare was to invest in product development and innovation. This led to many mini wars.

Up until 1964, Japanese canned and bottled beer went through a heat pasteurization process. Interest in draft beers grew in the nation, which led to R&D investments into bottling “draft” beers. What is known as the draft wars came into fruition. Suntory marketed the first pure draft beer in 1967, which utilized a microfilter developed by NASA. Asahi followed with their pure draft variant in 1968, followed by Sapporo in 1977, and Kirin in 1981. Shortly after its introduction, draft beers accounted for 41% of the market share in 1985. However, the total marketshare in the beer industry between the four groups have not change significantly.

The next notable war was dubbed the container wars in the late 1970s. Each company attempted to differentiate themselves by coming up with various bottle and can designs. Asahi and Suntory started the fight, then Sapporo and Kirin joined soon after. Just like the draft wars, the war fizzled out in the early 1980s with no change in marketshare.

From these two wars, a certain pattern became clear. Whenever one of the lesser breweries introduce a new innovation into the market, it was quickly imitated. If the trend was any threat to Kirin, the brewery would use its overwhelming resources to suppress their competitors growth and the market would be back to its original balance.

Why didn’t Kirin just come out and crush the competition with their own innovations? Why were they so slow to react when a new innovation into the market comes along? Anti-monopoly laws. Already a dominant force in the market, Kirin tried not to be heavy-handed in their reactions to avoid being in the spotlight of anti-monopoly whistle blowers. The bottom three also learned that any form of aggression must be handled carefully, otherwise Kirin will step in and subdue any of their attempts.

Then came the mid-1980s, the decade where the Japanese economy was at the top of the world and the center of attention.

Wave of new beer products

The 1980s brought about a new wave of changes in the Japanese consumer and the market environment.

• Changes in competition
  Foreign brands of beer had entered the market at full force and marketed at well below cost when compared to the domestic brands (due to the favorable exchange rate at the time).
• Changes in distribution
  Due to more singles and younger couples living in small urban apartments, the option of buying larges cases of beer was forgone for buying individual cans from vending machines, convenient stores, and the market. This opened up the option for the consumer to explore different brands and types of beers.
• Demographic trends
  The dominate consumer of beers has now transitioned to those born postwar, a generation that has acquired more modern tastes and are looking to distinguish themselves from the older generation
• Dietary changes
  Japanese diet had grown more richer. To complement the richer diet, a lighter-tasting beer is more suited. Oil and fats purchased per household nearly doubled, while sugar and salt consumption drop by half between 1965 and 1985.
• Social change
  More and more females, especially the younger trend setters, began drinking beers. Their taste was found to be more towards the lighter spectrum.
• Economic change
  Income for the typical Japanese has rised dramatically. With the increased income, self-expression replaced homogeny. Beer became less of a commodity.

From the list of changes, it became clear that the consumers were demanding for new tastes and variety.

Three out of the four breweries took note of these changes and started introducing a variety of niche beer products produced in low volumes.

Producing niche products in small volumes didn’t affect the marketshare landscape. And one of the breweries recognized this.

Asahi in the 1980s had fallen in a rough patch. Due to poor profit performances, decreasing marketshare, and forcing early retirements for senior employees, the company was forced to come up with a new bold product strategy.

Instead of making niche products that would offer small marginal returns, Asahi’s product researchers knew they needed to create a new flagship product. Analyzing the environmental changes, it was hypothesized that beer taste preferences were related to dietary makeup. Before the changes, Kirin’s flagship lager dominated the market due to it’s bitterness complementing well with the lighter Japanese diet. Since the Japanese diet has shifted, the consumer taste in beers was ready for a shift as well.

To test this hypothesis, a survey was conducted in 1984 and it was found that Japanese beer drinkers were looking for two qualities: 濃こく koku (rich taste) and 切きれ kire (sharp and refreshing). Conventional wisdom at the time suggested that you can have one or the other, but not both.

That didn’t stop Asahi, though.

Asahi R&D was tasked to create a beer that was both more koku in taste than the Kirin Lager and more kire than the most kire beer out the in the market, Sapporo’s Black Label.

And they delivered. The introduction of the new koku-kire beer in 1986 helped increased Asahi’s sales by 12%.

With the newfound success, Asahi knew they were on the right track. Asahi researchers then hypothesized that the market was moving further and further away from koku and more towards kire. This hypothesis resulted in the birth of Asahi’s Super Dry.

On the date of its release in 1987, the dry lager immediately became the company’s top seller. It was so popular that Asahi prohibited its employees from purchasing the product in order to save it for the customers. Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory brushed it off as a fad and thusly didn’t immediately produce a rival product.

This was a big mistake.

13.5 million cases of Super Dry was sold in 1987, which led to a 33% jump in sales. By 1989, Asahi’s marketshare increased to 25%, overtaking the second marketshare leader, Sapporo. The dry brew cannibalized into Kirin’s market share, which dropped by 11%. By the end of 1989, Super Dry accounted for 20% of all beers consumed in Japan. This success allowed Asahi establish important new distribution channels and sales outlets.

By the time the other breweries wisened up, Asahi solidified itself as the king of dry beers.

Aftermath

How did it play out for Asahi and the others since the introduction of Super Dry? Many attempts of introducing the next beer or imitating the dry taste fell flat. By 1993, all attempts of copying the dry beer was abandoned, conceding the dry beer segment entirely to Asahi. As of 2010, Asahi held the number one marketshare spot with 38%, while the runner-up, Kirin, is not far behind with 37% [2].

All thanks to the watery light, cool, sharp, refreshing taste of Super Dry.

[Header Source] Tofugu

[1] Craig, T., (1996). The Japanese Beer Wars: Initiating and Responding to Hypercompetition in New Product Development. Organization Science, Vol. 7, No. 3. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
[2] Fujimura, N., (January 16, 2011). Asahi Reclaims Lead in Japan’s Beer Sales Over Kirin as Market Declines. Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-17/asahi-reclaims-lead-in-japan-s-beer-sales-over-kirin-as-market-declines.html. Retrieved May 1, 2012.

What to Order First at a Japanese Bar

After a long day at school/the office/Steve’s basement everyone in Japan is looking forward to that first drink at their local bar. But what should they order?

With Japan’s structured drinking culture, everyone seems to enjoy sharing the same type of drink for the first round. It just feels better for that first kampai (cheers) when everyone is sharing the same beverage. Japan is a very team oriented country, and their drinking habits are no exception. So get in that team attitude and join in with the group for that first round.

It’s most common for beer or sake to be ordered on the first round and then people start to branch out a bit after that to their liking since beer and sake are a lot easier to order as a group and share than mai tais and cosmos.

But How Do I Pour These Things?

Depending on the place you go, whether it be a restaurant, bar, or izakaya (combination bar and restaurant) you’ll either have your drinks poured for you by the waiter/waitress, or you and your group will be in charge of pouring your own from a communal source. In the case of the latter, there is a certain process to follow.

While drinking in Japan, it is considered proper etiquette to fill everyone else’s glasses and not your own. You’re supposed to wait for someone else to fill yours, usually after you do the same for them. When you offer to fill someone’s glass, they may refuse as a show of traditional Japanese humbleness but this is usually just a formality. Unless someone is continually and vehemently refusing your offer, they’re just being polite and you should fill their glass anyway.

And like I said, once you fill someone else’s glass, they’ll usually return the favor in kind and fill yours for you. So be careful if you’re not looking to drink anymore – if you fill someone else’s glass, you’re likely to get yours refilled or topped off right away in return. As such, if you feel like you’ve reached your limit, the best thing to do is to have your glass filled full and not drink any more of it.

The Japanese are also big fans of drinking games and you’ll be sure to learn some you’ve never heard of before while you’re there. They also seem to like testing the alcohol tolerance of foreigners, so don’t be surprised if they try to pressure you into drinking more than you’re normally comfortable with (at least until they discover what your actual tolerance really is).

One of my favorite drinking games from Japan is called Takenoko Takenoko Nyoki Ki. Takenoko means bamboo, nyoki is the sound that bamboo shoots make as they sprout, and ki means tree. It’s an elimination game so alcohol doesn’t need to be involved, but I think it works best as a drinking game.

Each person has to say a number and then nyoki (ichi-nyoki, ni-nyoki, etc) while putting their hands over their head like a bamboo shoot. You say the numbers in order from one to however many people are playing minus one with each person shouting out a number. If two people say a number at the same time, they’re both out and have to drink. If you’re last, then you’re out and you drink alone.

So it’s just like a group of people counting at random to a specified number and no one wants to count at the same time or be last. Like most games, it’s a lot easier to understand if you actually play a round of it once. But trust me, it’s fun.

For more information about other drinking games that I haven’t played you can check out these posts from The Incredible Talking Monkey, Gaijin Tonic, and Wikipedia.

As for the pecking order when filling other people’s glasses, it is customary for the underlings at a company to fill their superiors’ glasses, underclassmen to pour upperclassmens’ and for females to pour for the males. It is also proper etiquette to promptly reciprocate the pour.

As with most everything that involves drinking, the rules get a bit looser as the night carries on and people get a bit more tipsy. Keeping this in mind, don’t be surprised if people start filling their own glasses or going against some of the customary guidelines detailed above. As long as everyone is having a good time and not being blatantly rude, it’s all gravy in the Navy.

What to do When the Check Comes

As with almost every Japanese establishment, it is up to the patrons to split the bill on their own. Pretty much always a single check will be brought to the group’s table and it is up to them to figure out who owes what. Splitting the check in Japan is referred to as betsu-betsu which means separately or individually.

It’s pretty common for betsu-betsu to be the go to method when paying for checks in Japan. Even when on dates betsu-betsu is not unusual, but having the guy get the entire bill is always appreciated by the lady in question, I’m sure.

In some cases, if a high ranking company official is part of the drinking group – they may insist on paying the whole check or at least a significant portion of it. It is also not unusual for one person (most often among salarymen) to foot the entire bill and then collect shares from people the following day for convenience’s sake.

Late Night and Beyond

It’s also fairly common for people in Japan to be out way late when they get to drinking. Some salarymen will stay out incredibly late with their coworkers and bosses. Then the only sleep they get is on the train and they spend hardly any time at home before they leave to come back to work in the morning only to repeat the entire process all over again. For more information, check out The Science Behind Drunken Salarymen and with your help they can be saved.

And then there’s the nightlife in Japan. From personal experience, it seems very popular for the young crowd to wait until midnight or so to go out to bars and clubs and then stay out all night partying until the trains start running again in the morning.

The bottom line here is to be prepared to stay out later than you’re used to when you go out drinking in Japan. Of course it depends on the crowd you’re with and what type of people they are, but it’s definitely not unusual to be out pretty late when getting your drink on in Japan.

Feeling buzzed yet? Check out Nick’s 10 Tips for Tipsy Japanese for more Japanese drinking information and for more general tips on drinking (and eating) you can check out this post from SeeJapan.co.uk.

The food museums are supposed to be “educational.” The food theme parks are supposed to be “fun.” But who are they kidding? We all know that they’re just excuses to go eat some delicious and interesting foods. I know that’s why I’d go. So, let’s not beat around the bush here. Although this list of places consist of museums, theme parks, and more, it’s all about EATING. Strangely, there are a lot of these types of places, too (and I’m sure I’m missing a ton, so let me know in the comments).

If you’re in Japan, you’ll want to visit a few of these. I know I will, now that I know about them (especially this first one, yum).

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum:

The Shin-Yokohama Ramen museum can be found in Shin-Yokohama (duh), within walking distance of Shin-Yokohama Station (also duh). To get in, it’s a mere 300 yen for adults and 100 yen for children, though I expect you do have to pay for any ramen you want to eat… but boy do they have ramen. Besides having various educational offerings about ramen, they also have an area full of many of the various ramen styles from around Japan.

Delicious, right? My only regret is that I wouldn’t be able to try all of them. Normally, you have to travel all around Japan to try the different types of ramen (you should still do this, it’s a great reason to travel all over). But if you’re low on time, and in the Tokyo area (which you probably will be at some point if you’re in Japan), the Shin-Yokohama Ramen museum is probably the kind of place you want to visit. For a little more information on the types of ramen offered, you can find it here.

Japan, Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama, Kohoku Ward, Shinyokohama, ２丁目１４−２１
+81 45-471-0503

Before you leave, make sure you pick up some ramen to go, too. There’s plenty of dry ramen to choose from, though it’s never going to be as good as the fresh stuff. Speaking of dry ramen…

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum:

Cup Noodles… You grew up on them. You ate them all through college… now you have high blood pressure and cholesterol. It’s all thanks to Momofuku Ando, the creator of Cup Noodles – and guess what? He has his own museum. Not only can you learn about the history of Cup Noodle (borrrring), but you can make your very own customized cup noodle (awesome!) to take home with you. Then, one sad night when you’re feeling lonely and craving some MSG goodness, you can crack open your shrimp-egg-peas-beef-chicken-corn flavored Cup Noodle and slurp it down. It will be delicious, I’m sure.

〒563-0041 大阪府池田市満寿美町８－２５
+81 72-752-3484

If the “non-fresh” stuff doesn’t interest you, you can actually have fresh cup noodle too. I bet it tastes pretty good, actually. If you want to know more about this place, we actually wrote about it when it opened up their Yokohama branch sometime last year. Go take a gander.

Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium

In the Sunshine City Shopping Center in Tokyo you can find Namja Town, which is home to three (that’s right, three) different food-related theme parks. Seriously, if the girlfriend wanted to go shopping in Sunshine City, this is where I want to be dropped off. I promise I’ll be a good boy and only devour everything in my path.

Japan, 東京都豊島区東池袋三丁目1番1号
+81 3-3989-3321

Gyoza Stadium features many many gyoza-related stalls… and I gotta say, if there’s something I’d like to eat with my Ramen Museum, it would be this. Can you guys please combine into one delicious theme park / museum already, please? According to the website, they have over 100 varieties. I’ll have to have seconds (or thirds, or fiftieths).

But that’s not all Namja Town offers. There’s two more food-related theme parks that they hold.

Ice Cream City & Tokyo Dessert Republic

I hope you’ll excuse me, but I’m going to combine the two dessert theme parks in Namja Park into one section. I’m more of a salty-food guy myself, so I’m totally being dessert-racist right now. They all look the same to me. Whoops, did I say that out loud? I’m sorry but it’s true. I know you were thinking it.

Ice Cream City covers the ice cream side of things, and Dessert Republic covers the non-ice-cream side of things. Together, they form a sort of Captain Planet of Dessert places, or so I imagine. Personally, I’d be way too stuffed on Gyoza down on the second floor of Namja Town to even fathom walking up all those steps to get here, but for you sweet tooth folk, Namja Town is an all-in-one package. Both sweet and salty all in one building.

So what one would you visit first? Maybe start at the dessert places so you can just roll down the stairs…

Daska aka “Yokohama Daiseikai”:

Daska’s theme is “Shanghai in the 1920s-30s.” Sounds like a good enough theme to me. It’s in Yokohama’s China Town, and was originally opened up in order to be more buddy-buddy with Yokohama’s sister city, Shanghai. Although this place isn’t only about food, a majority of the floors (3-5) make up the food court, and all it does is serve Chinese Food. I hear it’s pretty good, too.

Japan, 神奈川県横浜市中区山下町102
+81 45-681-5572

So, if you’re in Japan and hankering for some Chinese food, this sounds like the (most touristy, but also good) place to go. You can find more information on their website, here.

Kirin Yokohama Beer Village

No food-related place list is complete without the breweries. If you love watery Japanese beer, this will be one of your four four Meccas. If you’re in Yokohama for one of the many other food museums, might as well stop here to get all that gyoza, Anpanman, ramen, ice cream, and cakes washed down.

Japan, 神奈川県横浜市鶴見区生麦１丁目１７−１
+81 45-503-8250

There are tours and (of course) beer tastings, so if you’ve always wanted to know how Kirin was made, this is where you’ll want to be. Even if you think you’ve had it all, Kirin does sport something pretty interesting. There’s a mini brewery there that’s modeled after the breweries of the Meiji Era. You can drink “fresh beer” and see what it was like to be drunk in the late 1800s Japan.

“I’m TOTALLY gunna overthrow the Shogunate”
“Shudduppp. I’m gonna do it. The emperor’s my BRO.”

I imagine it’s something like that, though I’d have to check my sources to be sure.

Yokohama Curry Museum:

As if there weren’t enough Yokohama-based food attractions… I think there’s some kind of foodspiracy going on, here. Though, I guess I gotta admit, if there’s any museum I’d want to go to (besides ramen… ramen always wins) I’d want it to be Japanese style curry. And, as I mentioned earlier, you can find this in Yokohama, the home to many, many food-museums and attractions.

Oh, did I get your hopes up? Sorry. This museum is closed now :( I just want you to know that you’re missing out on things like this:

If this doesn’t bring a tear to the corner of your eye, you are a heartless, heartless person. Shame on you. Let’s move on to happier (and existing) locations.

OchanoSato (Tea Village) – The World Tea Museum

I like tea… like, I’m addicted to it. In fact, one of my many retirement plans is to start a tea farm and tea company, just to feed my addiction. This will definitely be on my list of places to go sometime in the future. I must learn all their secrets (and consume raw tea leaves).

Japan, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shimada, Kanayafujimicho, ３０５３−２
+81 547-46-5588

The World Tea Museum has 90 different types of tea from 30 countries in the world. You can touch and smell these tea leaves, though not all of them are for tasting. A lot of the focus, however, is on Japanese tea (to be expected). You can even go to the teahouse and garden and try out some matcha (which is powdered green tea – it makes the tea super strong and super wonderful).

Sounds like a really peaceful excursion to me, especially if you’re the type that likes tea (or, your doctor told you to stop drinking coffee, so you have no other choice). There’s even tea festivals once a year, which in the past seem to be in May (hey, that’s pretty soon). There’s more info on their website, of course. Go brew yourself some tea before heading over there, though. It’s the least you can do.

Sushi Museum In Shizuoka:

Located within the S-Pulse Dream Plaza, there are two sushi-related attractions that you’re sure to enjoy (as long as you didn’t go to the world’s best sushi restaurant right before, ruining all other sushi for the rest of your life). If you want to learn about sushi, you can go to the Shimizu Sushi Museum. But, if you’re more like me, you learn by doing. That’s why you’ll find me inside the Shimizu Sushi Yokocho Shop section, where 10 different sushi shops try to outdo each other so you’ll go to them and not any of the other nine shops vying for your attention.

Japan, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka, Shimizu Ward, Irifunecho, １３−１５
+81 54-354-3360

There’s a ton of other attractions inside the S-Pulse Dream Plaza, but this is a post about food-attractions, so you’ll have to check out their website to learn more about those other things.

Sapporo Beer Museum:

Out of all the main Japanese beer histories, I’d say Sapporo Beer has one of the most interesting (which actually makes it kind of cool that they have a museum). I won’t spoil that history for you, though, just in case you go (or in case you want to read about it). There’s tours at this museum (which is three floors of beer goodness!). There’s a restaurant and bar as well (how could there not be?), a beer garden, and even a shopping center. So, you can send off your lady friend to the shopping area (or vice versa) and get yourself a nice cold beer while you wait. I wish more shopping centers had this.

Japan, 〒065-8633 北海道札幌市東区北７条東９丁目１−１
+81 11-748-1876 ‎

Personally, I love the city of Sapporo (and all of Hokkaido) for food, so I wish there were more food/beer museums up here. I guess I can just manage to eat the regular not-museum food in the meantime. Those are pretty good.

Food And Agriculture Museum (Tokyo University Of Agriculture)

This is technically a university, but it has its own museum as well. And, because it’s a school that has to do with agriculture (i.e. food), it’s a food and agriculture museum. I have a feeling you have to be the right type of person to enjoy this place.

日本 〒156-8502 東京都世田谷区桜丘１丁目１－１
03-5477-2220

The idea of this museum is to showcase the things that the students have come up with showing the world what food-related inventions they’ve thought up. You can be that they’re a lot more useful than these unuseless inventions, at least.

Meatrea (The Meat Theme Park)

I’m guessing they didn’t mean to make this place sound like the word diarrhea, though I haven’t actually been here myself so I can’t say for sure (these people have been here though). Apparently this place is more like a glorified meat-related food court than a museum, though there is a very small meat museum in here (which is why it barely makes it on this list). It has a Spanish motif (the food court is called “Museo de Carne,” for example), and is actually run by Namco, strangely enough. Here’s where you can find it:

京王南大沢駅構内２丁目-１−６ Minamiosawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
042-674-8145

The meat museum will only take a couple minutes to get through, so don’t plan a whole day trip around this place. Instead, come here to try the food… unless you’re vegetarian, that is, then you probably should go somewhere else… perhaps the Anpanman Museum?

Anpanman Children’s Museum

Any food list wouldn’t be complete without the venerable Anpanman: Bread superhero loved by children (and hungry people). This is more of a children’s thing, but if your kid loves Anpanman then… well… you’ve probably already been here.

Japan, 神奈川県横浜市西区みなとみらい４丁目３−２
+81 45-227-8855

You can see a lot more about the museum/mall at their website, but essentially you’re going to find Anpanman-related activities for kids, Anpanman-related food, and Anpanman-related… well… everything! If you don’t like Anpanman you probably shouldn’t come here (and you probably don’t have a heart).

While we’re talking about Anpanman, I should do a shout-out for the Kochi Anpanman Museum. They’re a little smaller, but it seems like a really cool place. If you have kids and happen to be in Kochi, pop on over and take a look.

１２２４−２ Kahokucho Birafu, Kami, Kochi Prefecture 781-4212, Japan
+81 0887-59-2300

Anpanman was actually born in Kochi, so if you’re an Anpanman lover, you should make the pilgrimage down here. Plus, Kochi’s a pretty cool place, you should check it out. Here’s the museum’s website in case you’re interested.

A Map Of Japanese Food Museums, Attractions, And Theme Parks

I also took the time to put together a map for you, so you can kind of visualize where everything is (hint: Everything’s in Yokohama, pretty much). It should also help you to go to the places you want to go to, in case you’re craving a fooducational experience.

View Japanese Food Museums in a larger map

While food museums and theme parks may not be the most exciting museums or theme parks, they do have a special place in my own heart stomach. I think personally I’d like to go to the Ramen one the most (why? Because I loovvvve good ramen), but then again I could just go to even better places if I was in Japan anyways, so I’m not sure why I’d go there.

Either way, which food museum or theme park do you want to visit most? They all seem pretty tasty to me.

Header Images: Ramen, Beer, Sushi