Reminds me of the “Imported from Detroit” campaign…
Not completely non-existent (Helios in Naha):
But pretty rare. I don’t particularly recommend the Goya beer.
Sake is the thing for Japanese food, or for the more adventurous, shochu.
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Nice! If we were feeling especially froggy, we’d head out <a href=https://www.google.com/maps/@26.3375762,127.7959963,3a,75y,123.8h,88.96t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sf5aSc6C7ypAF2B-KP-L0lQ!2e0?hl=en>Gate #2 (thoughtfully called “Gate 2 street” by those in the know), and past China Pete’s into “Whisper Alley” which I’m told had brothels, but it also had lots of dive bars. And Japanese dive bars, I find, are some of the best/weirdest ever.
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Hah! Win for “Boobies Tattoo Studio” in the Streetview.
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“Imported” is routinely used in a deceptive fashion. You have to read the label and find out where it was produced. For example olive oil “Imported from Italy” has frequently been imported to Italy from Greece or Tunisia beforehand. Many imported beers in the US are brewed in Canada.
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Same company ruined Beck’s beer. I used to love that stuff until I noticed that it tastes watered down since about 10 years ago or so. For those that miss the Beck’s beer from times long gone, I recently discovered that St. Pauli Girl is still brewed in Bremen Germany and still tastes just like old school Beck’s. I prefer Beck’s branding but can’t drink it any more. SPG is still delicious.
There’s an ongoing lawsuit about that one, too. 
I don’t drink Beck’s any more either, but that’s probably because I very rarely drink lager any more.
The Budvar / Budweiser legal arguments always amuse me, too.
I didn’t know for years that that most ‘English’ of lagers, Carling Black Label, is actually Canadian (and undrinkable pish).
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Don’t know if it’s still the case, but it used to be that in some parts of Canada “imported” might just mean that it came from a different province.
No I didn’t mean it didn’t exist, I just meant it isn’t as mainstream as it is in the US. In many big cities if you walk in to the local burger joint, they’re likely to have some local brews on tap or some of the bigger “craft” beers in a bottle - a decent selection of non-national brands, in any case. Except in Texas where all they drink is that Lone Star crap. But in Japan I found that there were craft beer halls and there were places to eat that served Sapporo/Kirin whatever. But then again, it’s not like I was there long enough to really know for sure, it just seemed like if you wanted a decent beer you had to go to a craft beer hall.
As for sake vs beer with sushi, I unashamedly go with beer. I think they pair beautifully.
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Shiner Bock isn’t too bad, nor is Live Oak.
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When were you here, watherman? Craft beers have been slowly developing and improving here in Japan, and are starting now to move beyond specialty “tap houses” and intro more mainstream restaurants, and even my (Tokyo) neighborhood convenience store and mini supermarket (Aeon MyBasket).
Not into sushi restaurants, that I’ve seen, though. With sushi you want simplicity. A light taste so as to not overwhelm the subltelies of the food. Dry sake, light lager, or tea.
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It was a few years ago. But I hear what you’re aaying about sushi - you don’t want an extra soupy stout spoiling your taste buds for some good sushi, but with some other Japanese food it would go quite well. And I don’t think sushi needs bland beer - there are some really nice lighter floral beers, especially some nice hoppy ones, that go very well.
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Thats a shame for y’all, Kirin is my favorite domestic brew.
Sapporo cans already bug me because they use so much metal just to project a premium image. In the scheme of things I guess it’s not a huge deal, but it literally has no function. A handle would at least help keep the beer cool.
Does anyone know if they’re the same in Japan? I assume the heavy can is a western market branding trick, but maybe I’m wrong.
Don’t even get me started on mediocre sushi. Ugh. Nowadays I just send that shit back without hesitation. I’m not generally a food snob, but crappy sushi is worse than nothing. Tastes like ick, feels mushy, and to add injury to insult, it just might sicken you.
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