Food / Drink

As it is said that most Japanese people coose beer as the first drink at restaurants, beer is very popular drink among Japanese people.
Also, some of Japanese beers, such as "Asahi Super Dry" and "Kirin Ichiban Shibori", are exported and well known in some countries.

At restaurants and izakaya(Japanese-style-bar), people usually don't ask for a particular beer. Instead, they order "nama-chu", which is the abbreviation of "Draft (nama) beer with middle (chu) size." Then they're served a jug of beer (in the picture), that costs around 500 yen ($4).

If you say "nama-chu" when ordering, you are really like a JAPANESE!

>> Kinds of Beer

Since the Japanese government started putting higher tax on beer, the beer companies invented "the second type" and also "the third type of beer" in order to get around the law and supply cheaper beer-like drink.

While the original beer is made from malt in the main, the second one, called "Happoshu", from rice and corn. Also, the third type of beer is made of soy protein, pea protein, and so on.
Because of that, sometimes a suspicion against cheap nama-chu rises at restaurants and izakaya. Is it real beer, or drink-like-beer? If you want to make sure that you're having REAL beer, you should order a bottle of beer with the sticker.

While there are many kinds of cheep beer, premium kinds beer is also popular.

The blow is the brands and (makers) of popular beer of the four kinds.

<< Original Beer >>
- Ichiban Shibori (Kirin)
- Super Dry (Asahi)
- Kuro-lable (Sapporo)
- Malts (Suntory)

<< Premium Beer >>
- Prime Time (Asahi)
- Ebisu (Sapporo)
- The Premium Malts (Suntory)

<< Second Type of Beer (Happoshu) >>
- Kirin Tanrei (Kirin)
- Tanrei Green (Kirin)
- Asahi Hon-nama Draft (Asahi)
- Asahi Hon-nama Aqua Blue (Asahi)
- Hokkaido Nama-shibori (Sapporo)
- MD Golden Dry (Suntory)

<< Third Type of Beer >>
- Nodogoshi Nama (Kirin)
- Asachi Shin-nama 3 (Asahi)
- Asachi Gubi-nama (Asahi)
- Draft One (Sapporo)
- Slims (Sapporo)
- Jug Nama (Suntory)