Travel Japan: Beer Festivals

Beer is the most popular alcohol beverage in Japan and japan beer festivals are one of the most visited open-air events. There are even special Japan travel packages to visit them. Open-air beer gardens are open during the summer in department stores, hotels, parks and so on. Drinking in beer gardens is a summer tradition in Japan. Canned beer can be purchased from vending machines everywhere in Japan. Legal drinking age is 20 in Japan. If you are over 20 years old, enjoy a variety of Japanese beers. If you are drinking beer with someone in Japan, it is polite to pour some for your companies first. Japanese consume even this international drink in their own way and if you travel Japan - don't miss the beer pub.

For just over a century, thanks to the Beer Tax Laws (the first was passed in 1901) Japanese beer drinkers had to make due with whatever new colour of label the Big 4 designed to slap on that lager they were producing or, later, seek out what imported titles they could at supermarkets or the odd “International” Pub.

Partly in response to the rise of the Japanese ji-biru (microbrews) and their burgeoning reputations and partly to mark the liberation of choice for Beer lovers in Japan - the Great Japan Beer Festival was founded to celebrate all that was good and great about the art of the Craft Beer in Japan by Mr. Rouji Oda in 1998. Now held tri-annually in Ebisu, Osaka and Yokohama, the GJBF has attracted over 120,000 visitors over the last decade or so. So come join this gathering of brewers and aficionados for 2 days of good people, better brewers and unique, delicious beer. It's one of the most famous Japan beer festivals, which in fact are numerous.