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!

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Coloring activity sheet

A Quick Primer on Sake

Sake is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. It is sometimes referred to a rice wine but this is actually less than accurate. Unlike wine, sake is produced by a brewing process similar to that of beer’s. A big part of the process and classification depends on how much the rice has been milled, polished, and filtered.

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The alcohol content in sake usually comes to around 18%–20% straight after brewing, but it is often diluted to about 15% prior to bottling. Personally I prefer all the other kinds of Japanese alcohol to sake, but sake is a huge part of Japan’s drinking culture and it’s important to at least know a little bit about it, even if you’re not too fond of the stuff.

We actually went to a sake brewery/museum like the ones in the above and below videos. We got to listen to a guy with a thick dialect speak in Japanese about the sake brewing process, see how it’s all done, and sample some sake. The sake I had there was some of the best sake I ever tasted, so if you ever have the opportunity to visit one of these breweries, I think it’s definitely worth attending.

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The are four main different types of sake that all have different creation steps, food pairings, and optimal serving temperatures. Some people categorize them differently (combining and mixing the main categories, etc), but I think the following four make the most sense. Yes, sake is at least, if not more, complicated than wine can be.

Junmai

Junmai is your pure sake. By pure I mean that no additional starches or sugars are added and no additional alcohol is added either. For junmai, 30% of the rice kernel gets milled/polished away and the sake has a full rich body with acidity higher than average for a sake.

With its intense flavor and low fragrance, junmai sake is most often served hot (up to 100F). Most will recommend that when drinking a cheap sake (not that junmai is cheap, mind you), it helps to heat it up. From my experience, it certainly helps it go down easier. Never heat it up in the microwave or boil it though, this kills the sake.

Honjozo

Honjozo is pretty similar to junmai except that a small amount of additional alcohol is added to lighten up and smooth out the flavor of the sake. This also makes it a bit more fragrant. Like junmai, the rice must have a degree of milling of at least 70%.

This light sake is often served warm, room to body temperature. From what I remember, I prefer this to junmai due to the additional alcohol smoothing out the taste a bit.

Ginjo

Ginjo sake is much more light and complex than the previous two because the rice has been polished further. For ginjo sake, 40% of the kernel gets milled away. This combined with the addition of special yeast, lower fermentation temperatures, and fancy sake techniques make ginjo sake one of the most fragrant available.

Ginjo sake is most often served chilled as this brings out the flavor best. Too cold (less than ~50F) and you run the risk of killing the flavor, similar to what can happen with white wine.

Daiginjo

What could be more fragrant than ginjo sake? Daiginjo sake. The rice gets milled even further, somewhere between 50-65% being milled away. There are a wide variety of daiginjo sakes, but most are like ginjos, just more full bodied and fragrant.

This high end sake, like normal gingo, is often served chilled. Overall I’d say that this is my favorite sake due to the interesting flavors and fragrances. I also like that it has a brief aftertaste. Some sake flavors linger in the mouth too long for my liking but daiginjo is a different story.

Namazake, Nigori, and Food Pairings

Namazake or “nama sake” is sake that’s not been pasteurized. Therefore it should be stored cold. This sake has a fresh and lively taste to it and all types of the above sake can be namazake as long as they aren’t pasteurized.

There’s also nigori sake which is coarsely filtered sake. The unfermented portion of the rice is left in the bottle which gives the sake a cloudy white color due to the bits of rice floating around inside. Since the fermentation process can continue in some manner even after it’s bottled, some nigori sakes have a bit of carbonation to them.

Just like wine, there’s a rough guide to how sake should be paired with food. The times I’ve had sake have always been without food so I don’t have much personal experience here, but the above guide should point you in the right direction if you’re trying to figure out the optimal sake for your meal.

So tell me, have you tried sake before? What did you think? Which variety is your favorite? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Sites Referenced:
eSake.com
Sake Wikipedia

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.