Job popularity ranking is not useful
December 18, 2019
If you work in Japan, what are the criteria for choosing a company?
When you find a job in Japan, you will see the “Job popularity ranking, but frankly, this ranking is not useful, so in this article, I will explain why and will introduce some other rankings.
Reason 1: The respondents are college students who has just started job hunting.
Companies that make such rankings often take questionnaires to university students who come to joint company briefings. For this reason, the number of companies that respondents know and the actual situation of the companies are extremely limited. It’s like asking a zero-beginner Japanese learner about recommended business Japanese materials.
Reason 2: The reality is just name recognition ranking
This is related to the first reason, most of the top ranking companies are doing BtoC business rather than BtoB. There are many excellent BtoB companies in Japan, but such companies are not well known, so they do not appear in the ranking.
So what ranking should you refer to instead?
Here are some suggestions.
Suggestion１：Job change popularity ranking
Example : https://doda.jp/guide/popular/
The respondents are already working, and the question is “Which company is better if you change jobs?”, That will be closer to the actual evaluation of the company than to ask students.
Suggestion２：Average annual income ranking
Example : https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/257530
Many people think salary is the most important. For those people, the average annual income ranking of employees will be helpful.
Suggestion３：Lifetime wage ranking
Example : https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/310498
In Japan, where the lifetime employment system was strong, there are many people who place importance on the ranking of lifetime wages rather than annual income.
Suggestion４：Ranking of employees working overseas
Example : https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/206216
There are many people who are worried about whether they can return to their home country in the future, work at a place where they can use their language skills, or do business globally. This is a ranking that allows you to know how many people work for the company overseas.
The operating profit margin ranking and overseas sales ratio ranking may also be helpful for you.
However, such ranking varies depending on the industry and business model, and may vary depending on the time of aggregation. For this reason, it is better to think that there is no ranking that perfectly meets your requirements.
So what should we do?
If you have a specific industry or job type that you want to work with, it may be good to create your own ranking based on that industry or job type. Also, if you are concerned about both the average annual income ranking and ranking of employees working overseas, it may? be good to create a list of companies that are ranked in both.
In this article, I wrote about how to use rankings, but it is always recommended to consult with people who are already working in the industry you want to go to without using such rankings.
Our free video course called “Japanese for Job Hunting” is available on YouTube.
I would be happy if you could register for your channel or do a GOOD evaluation 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZtUc_wd7BOKT9BvhRjyvsg/featured
I hope you all succeed in getting a job or changing jobs.
Listening to audiobooks can be a good way to practice listening skills for business persons
November 16, 2019
Do you know about “Audio Book” and “Audible”? “Audible” is the name of audio books operated by Amazon. The audio books are “listening books” read by narrators and voice actors, and you can enjoy reading while traveling in a train/car, doing housework, and out for a run.
About a year ago, one of my friends told me about Audible, but I questioned the value of the service at that time because there were few business books.
But recently one of Japanese teachers in our school introduced me Audible again.
This time I tried it because I found a book that I just wanted. Now I am into Audible service and not skeptical about the audio books service anymore.
So, in this edition, I summarized the benefits of Audible.
Advantage 1: Adjustable playback speed
You can adjust the narration speed of your Audible audiobooks from 0.5x to 3.5x.
You can listen the narration slowly at first, then increase the speed when you get used to it. In this way, it will be perfect to practice listening Japanese.
Advantage 2: You can choose business books as listening theme
If you choose a business book, you can get useful business information at the same time as you practice listening, so it is like throwing one stone to kill two birds.
Advantage 3: You can read the book review
Pod Cast is similar to Audible, but the quality of its content varies depending on the distributor.
On the other hand, Audible shows reviews from people reading the same book, so you can tell in advance whether you want to read the book.
Advantage 4: Possible to save reading time
It is difficult to read books while walking, but you can listen Audible while you are moving from the station to the office, walking, or driving.
I often read books when moving to other place, so it usually takes a few days to read a business book.
But this time, I was able to finish reading (listening) one book in a day through Audible. By the way, I listened at double speed.
Of course, there are also disadvantages, whic is a monthly fee.
In the past, if you pay a monthly fee, you can listen books unlimited, but now you can listen only one book for monthly fee. If you want to listen the second one, you have to buy the book at a discounted price.
For example, the book I read this time called “Multi-Power” is 1,540 yen for a normal book, but 418 yen for a Kindle.
The monthly fee for Audible is 1,500 yen, so the Kindle is cheaper.
However, this is unavoidable because recording and producing audio book properly need a long process.
(All figures are as of November 07, 2019)
For busy business persons, time is money, so I think Audible is worthy even with high prices.
Now, you can pick your first free book to give this service a try.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/b/ref=adbl_JP_as_0068?ie=UTF8&node=5816607051&tag=japanonlinesc-22
After your Audible 30-days trial expires, it costs 1,500 yen per month, but you can cancel the service before the expiration.
Listening practice is more fun when you listen the theme what you are interested in. I hope this will help your Japanese learning.
“What are the recommended textbooks?”
This is the most difficult question I ever be asked to answer.
The criteria for choosing textbooks varies depending on Japanese learning history, learning goals, learning style, learning environment, budget, and preferences.
So, what factors should be considered in choosing textbooks?? In this edition, we summarized tips for choosing textbooks.
(1) Do not trust Amazon Reviews
I often shop on Amazon and always check for customer reviews before buying a product.
However, customer reviews on Amazon are not trustworthy when choosing textbooks, because there are few reviews considering the factors mentioned above. As for different learners, it has to be taken into account each learning environment, budgets, and so on, but no customer reviews consider them.
Also, there are regional differences in the evaluation of customer satisfaction.
For example, the customer evaluation for the “Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version (Revised 3rd Edition)” that we often use in lessons for beginners are as below.
(Information as of 10/11/2019)
————————————————-
Country /Stars out of 5/Number of reviews
————————————————-
Japan / 3.5 / 14
US / 4.1 / 85
UK / 4.4 / 100
CA / 4.3 / 19
————————————————
Even with the same product, you can see the 0.9 points difference between Japan and UK.
(2) There are only a few textbooks stocked in general bookstores.
When I go abroad, I go to a large bookstore in the area and check what kind of textbooks are sold. Since there are only a small number of Japanese learners overseas, Japanese textbooks do not contribute much to the sales of bookstores. Therefore, there are only a few textbooks are stocked.
(3) Don’t trust an advice of any bookstore clerks
A general bookstore clerks will never know about learning Japanese so that you can not expect the advice of the store clerk. They might tell you the most popular textbooks, however, the best-selling textbooks are not necessarily the best textbooks for you.
(4) Don’t trust the advice of ordinary Japanese people as well
If you have Japanese friends, you may ask them for advice. However, ordinary Japanese do not know about Japanese language education for foreigners at all. They don’t even know what textbooks are available for learning Japanese.
For the above reasons, choosing textbooks is not so simple. So, what will be reliable sources on choosing textbook?
Here are some sources on people and sites helpful for your decision.
(1) Professional Japanese teacher
Professional Japanese teacher will most likely give you the best answer. However, of course, there are both amateurs and professionals. To give you a good advice on recommended textbooks, teachers need to have a deep understanding of many textbooks, but some teachers have used only a few. Which advice is more reliable by teachers who have experienced only one textbook or one have used 100? Ask how many books the teacher has experienced before.? You will be able to trust an advice of a teacher who has use at least 10 books, preferably 20 books.
(2) Special shop in Japanese language teaching and studying materials
If you can buy textbooks in Japan, you can go to a special shop in Japanese language teaching and studying materials and check them.
Here are some links to special shops in Japanese language.
Bonjinsha http://www.bonjinsha.com/
Japanese Bookstore Sogakusha http://www.sogakusha.co.jp/
Japanese Books Online http://books-online.jp/
(3) Friends who are fluent in Japanese
If you have friends who have already reached your ideal Japanese level, their opinions may be helpful for you. Especially friends of the same native language of you will be reliable. However, it is important to understand that the person does not know much of the Japanese teaching material, but only gives advice to you based on his/her limited experience.
(4) Japanese language School curriculum
If any of the above is difficult to find, the textbook used at the Japanese language school may become a tips for you. Japanese language schools usually have courses by level and learning purpose, so check the textbooks close to your level and purpose. Recommended learning materials for each course are also listed on the J-OS website. If you are interested, please refer to the following page.
For English
General Japanese Course>
https://j-os.com/en/courses/generalcourse/
JLPT Preparation Course>
https://j-os.com/en/courses/jltpprepcourse/
Business Japanese Course>
https://j-os.com/en/courses/businesscourse/
For Japanese
General Japanese Course>
https://j-os.com/ja/courses/generalcourse/
JLPT Preparation Course>
https://j-os.com/ja/courses/jltpprepcourse/
Business Japanese Course>
https://j-os.com/ja/courses/businesscourse/
* The main users of J-OS are English-speaking people or English-speaking business persons. Therefore, please note that the information may not be suitable for non-English speaking people and students.
What did you think about these tips?
Whether or not you can find a good textbook is an important factor of successful Japanese learning.
What percentage of Japanese citizens do own passports?
September 18, 2019
Recently, the numbers of overseas visitors to Japan is dramatically increasing as I introduced in the previous month’s issue “8 reasons why the number of foreign tourists growing in Japan”. Conversely, the passport possession rate of the Japanese is only 25% that is the lowest level among industrialized countries.
The Japanese passport is the most powerful in the world, enjoying visa-free or visa-on-arrival destinations to 189. Nevertheless, why many Japanese do not own their passports? Let’s examine some reasons behind this tendency.
(1) Japan is an island country.
Due to being an island country surrounded by the sea, and isolated, going to other countries is not that simple comparing to other countries connected by land in terms of time and cost. Even when going to neighboring countries, the means of transportation are an airplane or a ship, not a car.
(2) Safety perspective
Japan is one of the world’s top security countries. Some Japanese people are afraid of being exposed danger when travelling overseas.
(3) Difficult to take long vacations
Many European people enjoy summer holidays for almost one month, however, general summer holidays are about one week in Japan. Japanese do not have enough free days to take a long trip.
(4) Many tourism resources in Japan
Japan is a long country from the frozen far north of Hokkaido to the tropical south of Okinawa, ??and has four distinct seasons. People in Japan can enjoy the various beautiful scenery at the different places, so some Japanese do not have much interests for going abroad.
(5) Japan is the best of all
Particularly young Japanese are comfortable with their current situation with no major reasons for them to leave their country. When I was young, I did backpacking trip spending time and money to expand my worldviews. However, because of safeness and its comfortableness, recent young Japanese tend to stay close to their home, not spending time and money to driven to seek change.
What percentage of people in your country have passports?
8 reasons why the number of foreign tourists growing in Japan
August 21, 2019
The number of tourist arrivals hit a record of over 30 million as of 2018.This is about five times compared to 2011. In this edition, I will examine the reason why inbound foreigners have surged in recent years in Japan.
Reason 1: Global tourism is on the rise
Tourism is on the rise globally. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO), international tourist arrivals reached 1.4 billion in 2018, a rise of 1.4 times over 2011. However, as mentioned above, this is not enough proof for why the number of foreign tourists coming to Japan has increased by five times.
Reason 2: Popularity of “washoku (Japanese cuisine)”
Japanese food was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. In addition to Japanese food, many restaurants in Japan serve delicious and healthy meals at a low price.
Reason 3: Global spread of Japanese culture.
An increasing number of people are interested in Japanese culture, such as shrines, temples, and Japanese countryside. Some people were inspired by judo, kendo, and tea ceremony, and others were inspired by anime, manga, and games.
Reason 4: Economic Growth of Asian Countries
With the economic growth of Asian countries, the number of people who can afford to travel abroad has grown rapidly. And more and more people chose Japan for travel because of easy access.
Reason 5: Progress of yen depreciation
In 2011 Japanese yen reached a record low of 75 yen per dollar, but it is about 108 yen on July 29, 2019 (when the article was written). Compared to that time, Japanese products have become about 30% cheaper and more attractive to foreigners.
Reason 6: Expansion of Low Cost Carrier
Traveling abroad has become easier and affordable thanks to the growth of low-cost airlines. As LCCs predominantly operate short- and medium-haul flights, tourists from Asia has increased.
Reason 7: Policy of Japanese government
Relaxation of tourist visa requirements has also had an effect on increase of inbound. The Japanese government has set the target number of tourists of 40 million in 2020 and 60 million in 2030.
Reason 8: Many repeaters
According to Tourism Agency data, 61.4% of foreign tourists are visiting Japan more than once. In particular, about 20% of tourists from Taiwan and Hong Kong have visited Japan more than 10 times.
As a side note, I have met a Taiwanese who has traveled to Japan more than 50 times in the last 10 years. On average, this person is traveling to Japan five times per year, which may be more frequent than most Japanese do.
For both those people who already have travel to japan or have not yet, what are your reasons why you would like to travel to Japan?
Is it awkward eating at Yakiniku restaurant alone?
July 16, 2019
When I go home late at work, I sometimes drink alone in a standing bar near my office and then go home. I personally don’t care about solo dining, however, there are people who can’t afford eating alone because of family traditions, or it’s awkwardness.
What kinds of opinions are there about solo dining in your country?
Nowadays in Japan, a growing number of people are eating alone and it is increasingly considered socially accepted.
Recently, “Gusto”, one of the major family restaurants, has enhanced the table for one person.
As you can see from the photo below, the solo dining space in Gusto provides the environment especially for work and study unlike the other normal seats.
The features are as follows.
- Power supply and Wi-Fi are available
- Completely private space
- Enough space for both a laptop and for dining
The other day I have used the space between the meetings and it was very comfortable.
Fast food restaurants like McDonald’s and Yoshinoya have had many solo diners before, but it is a recent change that the number of solo diners has increased besides fast food restaurants.
Originally “famiresu” is an abbreviation for family restaurant, so main target user are family. However, the recent trend is that more people use the place alone.
In addition, “Ikinari Steak” the stand-up steakhouse or “Yakiniku Like” where solo diner can enjoy yakiniku alone, are also getting popular in Japan.
Although the “Ikinari steak” has opened its first overseas in New York, it seems to be struggling.
The food service business is greatly influenced by the food culture of the country, so just because it is popular in Japan does not necessarily mean it is popular overseas.
For example, “Yoshinoya” in China where most users are family unit provide various menus like a family restaurant, not a beef bowl specialty restaurant like in Japan.
If you have an opportunity to come to Japan, why don’t you try eating out alone? Even if you go with more than one person, you will usually be sitting next to each other, so please enjoy a new experience in Japan.
In Japan, there are two major ways to do Karaoke:
(1) at a Karaoke Box:
You are assigned your own room for you and your party to enjoy. It is a good option to enjoy karaoke with your friends or fellow workers.
(2) at a Karaoke Snack Bar:
It is a small individually-owned bar that usually has a single Karaoke machine, so you need to share a karaoke machine with other guests.
About Karaoke Snack Bars, please refer to the following article for details. (Only Japanese)
https://loohcs.jp/articles/293
At a Karaoke box, your party can enjoy karaoke on your own ways, however, at the karaoke snack bar, you need to be careful to choose songs depending on the atmosphere and the other customers. In such bars, it is not so “cool” to sing only anime songs or songs popular among young generation.
In this edition, I will introduce a selection of famous Japanese songs that make you special.
There are 10 songs for each male and female singer.
All songs are very popular among 50’s to 60’s Japanese, that melody is not so quick and lyrics are simply understandable.
If you go to karaoke with senior Japanese business people and sing a few these songs, you will be no doubt to be considered “you are so SHIBUI（You have really good taste）!”
■ Songs by male singers
Natsu no owari no harmony (Yoosui Inoue / Kooji Tamaki)
This song is covered by many singers and known to people of a wide range of ages.
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCSeiSOaHxY
Mata au hi made (Kiyohiko Ozaki)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NVcDuS_hxM
Hajimari wa itsu mo ame (ASKA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74IKR0WeKXY
Nani mo ienakute …natsu (JAY WALK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkoQPOhhu38
Sake to namida to otoko to onna (Eigo Kawashima)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjrPAAiCbuA
HERO (Kai Band)
There are many songs with the same title. Please search on the “Kai band.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVU3BVmxxU8
Azusa 2 goo (Kariudo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCK-nWaYxJE
Saigo no ame (Yasushi Nakanishi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmmPzK0chqU
Kowarekake no Radio (Hideaki Tokunaga)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7QVaahn44A
Kanashii iro yane (Masaki Ueda)
Those who speak Kansai dialect should master this song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQeEOoKhIqg
■ Songs by female singers
Ito (Miyuki Nakajima)
This is a very popular song at weddings.
I couldn’t find the original video, so I will introduce other singers are singing instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DboG2xszmcE
This video that amateur singing at a wedding is also popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwIawYfkjgs://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwIawYfkjg
Amagi goe (Sayuri Ishikawa)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvc0LadtZuk
Love is Over (Ouyang Fei Fei)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzRsmDHmZJI
Kawa no nagare no yooni (Hibari Misora)
Hibari Misora is called a “Diva of Shoowa.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Ns_B23LT0
Ano kane o narasu nowa anata (Akiko Wada)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdLydN0liYQ
Toki no nagare ni mi o makase (Teresa Teng)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJY2RtLADkM
Mata kimi ni koishiteru (Fuyumi Sakamoto / Billie Bang Bang)
This song was originally a male duo “Billie Bang Bang”, but it became more famous with the cover of Enka singer “Fuyumi Sakamoto.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBTjDVLmHn8
Miserarete (Judy Ongg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFNW0IZUdto
Koi ni ochite (Akiko Kobayashi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lTkywZljmk
Olivia o kikinagara (Anri)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgRQP9C1M4s
Nagori yuki (Iruka)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9qHeMjiKg
You can easily find the lyrics of any song by searching for the keywords “song title & lyric”.
It will be a good study of Japanese to find your favorite song and remember the lyrics.
So why don’t you try to sing your favorite Japanese songs in Japanese, whether you are good at singing or not good at singing?
Three Japanese people the world respects
May 17, 2019
In the recent issue, Newsweek Japan has come out with a special feature titled: “100 Japanese people the world respects”.
Not only the world-renowned athletes such as Ichiro (former MBL player) and Naomi Osaka (professional tennis player), but also there are many influential Japanese known only in certain countries.
In this feature, I would like to introduce three Japanese whom I am interested in.
Marie Kondo (Tidying consultant)
In 2010, Marie Kondo, “KonMari” became famous in Japan as an author of a bestselling book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. Also, Netflix’s hit show “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” has been broadcasted since January 2019, and her popularity spread all over the world. In recent years the word “KonMari” has been used in a sense of “tidyng up”. The KonMari Method encourages to keep only those things that spark joy, and to thank them for their service- then let them go. KonMari philosophy has changed the way of thinking about lifestyle, not just how to clean up the space.
Hirokazu Koreeda (Film director)
I am sure that many of film fans might already know him well. His 2013 film, “Like Father, Like Son (“Soshite chichi ni naru”)”, won the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. And in 2018, his film, titled “Shoplifters (“Manbiki kazoku”)” won the the highest prize award “Palme d’Or” at the Cannes Film Festival. Unlike Hollywood style, Mr. Koreeda’s works are not flashy. The themes of his works is usually family matter and relationships, which are very thoughtful. Also, because of the theme, his movies would be very helpful to learn Japanese daily conversations as well.
Kazuo Inamori (Entrepreneur)
Mr. Inamori was a founder of Kyocera and KDDI. In 2010, as requested by Japanese government, he took over as chairman of near-bankrupt Japan Airlines (JAL) with no salary. Furthermore, he successfully achieved a V-shaped recovery of 200 billion yen in operating profit in just two years from that, and now is called the god of management. “Seiwajyuku” , the learning groups of Inamori management philosophy, are spread into Brazil, the United States, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore, and his books are sold well in China as well.
As the opposite perspective, I hope someday you might be featured as “100 foreigners the Japanese respect” For that, I will do my best to contribute more for your learning Japanese language. (^ ^) /
What are the popular SUBSK models in Japan?
April 22, 2019
■ What is “SUBSK”?
Do you know the word “SUBSK”? This is a new Katakana word derived from an English word “subscription”, meaning a service or business that users usually pay a “monthly fee” or royalty depending on the period of use.
■ The most popular SUBSK model
Traditional services such as newspapers (many Japanese subscribe to newspapers as well), membership fee for gym, and house rent fall under this category. Recently, IT related services are increasing, for example, Microsoft office software is 37,584 yen for purchase-type, but 900 yen for monthly for subscription type. Adobe’s Photoshop was 96,000 yen at the time of purchase (as of 2003), but the current monthly fee is 980 yen. While the sale unit price drops, Even the sale unit price drops, Adobe’s revenue has increased significantly by a successful user acquisition strategy. In addition, the all-you-can-listen service, such as Apple Music and Spotify are also popular .
■ Why the SUBSK is getting popular?
Why is the number of SUBSK service increasing? Let me analyze the reasons from both sides of users and companies.
(1) Users
Cost: SUBSK is much cheaper than purchase type. In addition, initial costs, upgrade costs, support costs, etc. are all unnecessary.
Easiness: You contract the service only for the period you want to use. If you are not satisfied with the service, you can cancel it immediately.
(2) Companies:
Service improvement: The services make the companies much easier to analyze the reason of cancellation and undertake service improvement. It is easy to plans for constant growth and also it is highly valued in the stock market, therefore new market entrants is increasing.
Customer LTV (Life Time Value) Improvement: The longer a company succeeds in attracting customer to its product, the more customer LTV will be improved even the unit price is low.
If these two functions(service and customer LTV improvement) work well, a virtuous cycle, that is “user satisfaction” > improvement of repeat rate> “sales improvement”, could be created.
■ What are the recommended SUBSK services in Japan?
Let me introduce some of the popular and unusual services in Japan.
(1) Amazon Prime Video
With an annual membership of 4,900 yen, you can watch movies, dramas, and animations. The annual fee for such Amazon Prime has been raised from 3900 yen to 4900 yen stating on April 12,2019. However, this price is less than half of $ 119 in Amazon USA, so it’s still a quite good deal, I think. Because of viewing restrictions depending on the area, Amazon prime membership of other countries will not work in japan. It is necessary to apply for Japanese prime membership, if you want to watch Japanese content.
(2) Sutadiisapuri (study supplement)
This service is recommended for families with children attending schools in Japan. It is a service that is used by 339,000 elementary and junior high school students in Japan because the video classes at the preparatory school are all at a 980 yen for a month.
(3) THE STELLA
A monthly service delivering 1 or 2 bottles of premium and cult wines depending on the plan.
https://www.the-stella.com/service/
(4) Bloomee LIFE
A weekly service that delivers flowers for appreciation.
(5) YClean
A shirt delivery service with both rental and cleaning of 20 shirts for 1 month.
(6) airCloset
A service that a professional stylist coordinates the entire body and delivers a set of clothes.
Please let me know if there are other services available in your country (^ ^) /
The Japanese craft beer market trends
March 18, 2019
Recently, it is getting much easier to find bars and restaurants offering craft beer in such places as my workplace “Yokohama” and living area “Shonan”.
Also, I found there are a lot of my non-Japanese friends who love craft beer.So in this edition, I would like to introduce recent craft beer popularity in Japan.
■ Three reasons why Japanese craft beer industry is currently booming
Reason 1: Softened the liquor tax law in 1994
Japanese government softened the strict laws that governed the granting of brewing licenses. Up until then, to become licensed, a brewery needed to be able to produce 2 million liters of beer each year and the law contributed to the domination of major breweries such as Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo, and Suntory. With the change in regulations, breweries needed only to demonstrate a capacity of 60,000 liters, allowing new, smaller breweries to enter the market.
Reason 2: Changing name from “local beer” to “craft beer”
Because many of small brewers were in rural areas, the name as “local beer” was used as first, and after that, the term as “craft beer” gradually spread. The word “craft” is associate with the word “handmade”, so this name seems to be contributing toward craft beer popularity.
Reason 3: Global craft beer boom
Craft beer is booming worldwide with the United States at the head. There are also a lot of cases that people who have drunk good craft beer overseas come also to drink craft beer in Japan after returning home.
■ How to find bars and restaurants serving craft beer
The following sites introduce bars and restaurants serving craft beer, so it is better to search them.
(All sites are Japanese only. Please search from the address where you live.)
My CRAFT BEER
General information website about craft beer
https://mycraftbeers.com/brewery-map
beer-cruise
A website created by a person visiting breweries across Japan
※ This site is published based on the location of the brewery.
Please note that it is not a drinkable place.
■ Writer’s recommendation
I will introduce three bars in Tokyo and Kanagawa, which are highly populated area in Japan.
Craft Beer Market (Tokyo)
http://www.craftbeermarket.jp/
Every 30 kinds of craft beer costs 480 yen.
This bar has many locations.
YOKOHAMA BAY BREWING (Kanagawa)
https://www.yokohamabaybrewing.jp/bar-restaurant
It is located in “Kannai” and “Totsuka”.
A very famous bar in Kanagawa region.
MacKenDy (Kanagawa)
https://www.facebook.com/mackendybrewery/
Stone hearth baked pizza is also served.
Located near “Tsujido” Station.
■How to drink craft beer from various part of Japan at home
For those who has difficulty to go to bars alone, online shopping is recommended.
You can purchase various craft beer from all over the country and also compare the taste.
Here are my recommended craft beer that I actually has tasted, so please try to check them out if you are interested.
Japan national craft beer flight set 9 bottles
Craft beer (local beer) canned beer flight gift set (18 kinds 18 cans)
6 kinds of craft beer flight set <Thanks beer, including the world’s best IPA “YOKOHAMA XPA” >
“Shiga Kogen Beer” Craft beer flight set 6 kinds 6 bottles
“Fuji Sakura Kogen Beer” Craft beer flight set 4 bottles (Pils Weizen Laoh Schwarz Weizen 1 bottle each)
“Fuji Sakura Kogen Beer” Craft beer flight set 12 bottles (Pills Weizen, Laho, Schwarz Weizen, 3 bottles each)
Yona Yona Eeru 350 ml x 24 bottles Yona Yona set with original glass
Please let me know if you have your recommended beer and bars (^ ^) /
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- I cannot keep up with meetings conducted in Japanese. Are there any good ways to study?
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- Are there any free materials available for studying business Japanese reading?
- Should I read newspapers for reading practice in business Japanese?
- Are there any good business magazines to practice reading business Japanese?
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