When Japan’s beer laws changed in 1994, many companies took advantage of the new opportunities that opened up for them and, in the space of three years, more than 300 new breweries opened in Japan.
However, the initial boom quickly faded, and more than 100 breweries closed between 1998 and 2000. Only in the past couple years has the Japanese craft beer industry rebounded, with 312 breweries registered as of Jan. 1, 2018. Still, craft beer barely captures 2 percent of the total market in Japan compared to the 24 percent market share of the 7,000 craft breweries in the United States.
There is a larger reason for the disparity: Homebrewing beer, legalized in America in 1978, is functionally illegal in Japan, as home brewing is only allowed as long as the alcohol content is less than 1 percent by volume. When the craft beer boom started in Japan, unlike in America, there was no pool of experienced brewers to draw from.