Compared to the typical American craft beer company, many craft beer companies in Japan belong to larger, sometimes much older, parent companies. One of the clearest examples of this is Ise Kadoya Microbrewery.
Kadoya is the brewing arm of Nikenjayamochi Kadoya Honten, which dates back to 1575, when it was only a small shop offering kinako mochi (roasted soy bean flour rice cakes) to pilgrims visiting the Grand Shrines of Ise. In 1923, the company began brewing soy sauce and miso paste. Then, in 1997, Narihiro Suzuki, fresh out of college and with a keen interest in the burgeoning craft beer scene in Japan, asked his father, Soichiro Suzuki, then the 20th president of the company, if he could start a brewery.
The elder Suzuki gave his blessing, but at first it was difficult: The local tax office was hesitant to give a license to someone with no brewing experience and, once licensed, Suzuki had difficulty finding the correct approach to the market. Even worse, six months after receiving the license to brew, the initial Japanese craft beer boom fell flat.
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