When I was having dinner with an American who was traveling in Japan, I asked a question.
“What’s Japan really like?”
“Japan has a wide variety of alcoholic beverages! It’s awesome! In America, there are only like 3 or 4 types.”
While I doubted that there were only 3 or 4 types in America, I never thought that Japan might have a wide variety of alcoholic beverages.
In Japan, besides sake, there are various other types of alcoholic beverages. Here are some examples:
- Beer: Alcohol content is around 5%. Some famous brands include Asahi Beer (Super Dry), Kirin Beer (Ichiban Shibori, Kirin Lager), and Sapporo Beer (Black Label, Ebisu Beer). In addition to these, there are many craft beer brands produced by smaller breweries.
- Sake (Japanese rice wine): Made primarily from rice and rice koji, with an alcohol content of around 15%. Sake comes in various types such as dry and sweet, and it can be enjoyed hot (called “hot sake” or “atsukan”) or cold. There are many sake breweries, each offering unique flavors.
- Shochu: With an alcohol content of around 25%, shochu is made from various ingredients such as barley (mugi), sweet potatoes (imo), buckwheat (soba), and brown sugar (kokuto). Shochu can be enjoyed in different ways, including on the rocks, mixed with water, hot water, or soda.
- Chu-Hai (Shochu Highball) and Sours: These are mixed drinks made with shochu, vodka, or spirits, mixed with carbonated water or fruit juice. Common varieties include lemon sour, grapefruit sour, apple sour, lime sour, ramune sour, green tea highball, and oolong highball.
- Fruit liqueurs: There are various fruit-flavored liqueurs such as plum wine (umeshu), apricot wine (anzushu), peach wine (momo shu), mandarin orange wine (mikan shu), and mango wine. These liqueurs are sweet and easy to drink, but some have high alcohol content, so caution is advised.
In addition to these, there are also whiskey and wine, which are commonly enjoyed in Japan.
You can find a wide variety of alcoholic beverages not only in restaurants but also in convenience stores and supermarkets, so you can enjoy them during your stay in hotels or accommodations. There are no restrictions on the sale of alcohol in convenience stores or supermarkets, and there are no specific laws prohibiting drinking outside, but please be mindful not to drink excessively and have a pleasant journey!