On March 19th the Belgian Embassy had its yearly press conference to announce the agenda for the 6th annual Belgian Beer Weekend 2015. Kicking off in Nagoya on April 23, the festival will tour seven cities in Japan ending in Tokyo in September. In addition to Nagoya and Tokyo, the festival will be stopping at Fukuoka, Yokohama, Osaka, Sendai and newly added for 2015, Hiroshima. A total of over 180,000 thirsty participants are expected to be in attendance to enjoy Belgium’s hundreds of years of beer tradition.

Ambassador Luc Liebaut imparted upon the audience the true importance of brewing to his country in the opening speech. He compared the history of beer making in Belgium to that of sake production in Japan. Years upon years of honing the craft have made them both world class standards as well as a large part of each country’s culture. In a country roughly the size of Kyushu, the brewing sector employs about 4,500 people directly and 45,000 indirectly. Their efforts are likely responsible for making millions of people worldwide happy.

Shintaro Konishi (President of Konishi Brewing Co. LTD) also spoke to the press in excited anticipation of the event. He expressed his happiness at the increase in popularity of not only Belgian beer in Japan, but craft beer in general. As an importer of many brands of Belgian beer, as well as a brewer of craft beer and sake, Konishi Brewing has been one of the companies at the forefront of the craft beer awakening in Japan. Cheers, Mr. Konishi!

At this year’s events there will be a total of 98 varieties of beer to choose from, 79 on draft, 19 in bottles. Even the most ambitious visitors would have difficulty trying every beer over the seven weekends. And if that task isn’t difficult enough, there will be a special BBW Boutique booth selling about 30 additional beers that are rare or a little hard to find. Festival attendees will be given a pocket guide of all the beers with a tasting chart to help you find exactly what you like. For those wishing to go digital, the BB Walker (ベルギービールWalker) app will be available in the iTunes store from 4/23.

The festival wouldn’t be complete without great Belgian foods such as mussels, Belgian waffles, chocolate and frites (the original French fries according to embassy staff members). Surely, your mouth is watering already. Rounding out the celebrations will be performances by some of Belgium’s top artists with genres running the gamut from rock, jazz and blues to dance and hip hop. Drink, eat, dance and give up a hearty cheer to the wonderful people of Belgium.

For more information go to the BBW website, available in Japanese and English: https://belgianbeerweekend.jp