Living in Japan | Daily life in Tokyo
Enjoy Happoushu! Cheap Japanese Beer
TOPIC: Sestuyaku | Save Money in Japan!
Long time ago, I went to Germany on a trip. During my travels, I met a guy from a country in northern Europe. He was also traveling around Germany and during our conversation he showed me his bag that was full of beer bottles!
I know Germany is famous for beer, though, I couldn't understand why he was excited at buying so much beer. I asked him the reason and he said, " Beer is very expensive in my country because of high taxes. How about in your country?"
"In my country? In Japan? Hmmm..I was thinking...". It was not long before I realized that beer is really expensive in Japan, as I rushed to buy some beer and compare prices. I was shocked!
Yes, Japanese beer is quite expensive in Japan because of high tax? However, Japanese brewers have made great efforts to reduce taxation and have developed a cheaper brew called Happoushu.
There is not much difference in taste between ordinaryJapanese beer and Happoushu, but the ingredients (the ratio of hops, and other ingredient) are different. Therefore, Happoushu is not legally classified as a beer and the taxation is lower than that of a reqular beer.
The price of a canned beer (350ml) in Japan is somewhere around 220 Yen on average. The price of a can of Happoushu is between 125 Yen and 145 Yen. Affordable isn't it?
The quality of Hapoushu has been improving so remarkably that you can hardly say which is beer and which is Happoushu anymore. Happoushu is usually not served at restaurants or bars. However, you can buy various Happoushu at any liquor shops or convenience stores/super markets that are handle liquors.
Here's some of major Happoushu brands:
Asahi Honnama
Kirin Tanrei
Sapporo Hokkaido Namashibori
Suntory Ginnama
How to recognize a bottle of Happoushu.
If you find the word below in the printed label on the can, then the beer is Happoushu.
All Travel to Japan articles were written by staff of digi-escape.
