Beer

The Japanese beer industry started towards the end of the 19th century when the government-owned brewery, established by the American firm of Wiegrand and Copeland, was divided into three regional companies: Asahi in the west, Sapporo in the east and Kirin in the centre. It has now grown to over a billion a year industry, and beer is the best-selling drink in Japan making up 55 per cent of the entire sales of alcoholic drinks. Beer production is still dominated by the three giant companies together with Suntory, which joined them in 1963. Although Kirin has long enjoyed a dominant market share of over 60 per cent, the recent fierce challenge from Asahi with its hit brand Asahi Super Dry pushed them into fighting for first place, and both now have a market share of around 40 per cent. Kirin have been exporting their lager beer to almost every country in the world for the past 20 years and now, with their latest success, Ichiban-shibori (first squeeze), they remain the top Japanese exporter. Many Japanese people drink lager as an aperitif and often change to sake during the meal.