by Ry Beville Fukuoka is an attractive, dynamic city with three breweries and a fourth just a short train ride to the north. You might expect its craft beer scene to be vibrant, but that’s not the case. At least, not until recently. After lagging behind the rest of Japan’s major metropolitan areas, Kyushu’s largest…

by Kumagai Jinya Mount Fuji recently became a registered World Heritage site and since the climbing trail opened in July, it has been absolutely packed every day with travelers. Mount Takao on the far outskirts of western Tokyo is famous for its crowded climbing path and it doesn’t appear as if its popularity is going…

This year The European Beer Star celebrates ten years of running its competition. It is one of the world’s most important, recognizing the highest quality beers in categories that originate in Europe. The flagship beers of many Japanese craft breweries actually fall into these categories. In 2012, Coedo won a gold, Konishi Brewing a silver,…

In just three years, Belgian Beer Weekend has become one of Japan’s biggest beer events, rivaling if not surpassing some of the massive Oktoberfests in terms of excitement. As many readers may remember, it launched in Roppongi in 2010, drawing a staggering 15,000 visitors. The following year, organizers added Osaka to the schedule and drew…

Sato Hitomi is the director of the Belgian Beer Information Center. How did you become such a prominent advocate of Belgian beer in Japan? My work started in the early 90s when I was researching market conditions in Japan for the import of Belgian products. Diamonds and chocolate were an early part of my research,…