There are some interesting facts about Japan and their beer culture though which I find very interesting. Such as:
1. Most Japanese beers are variations of American Lagers or German Pilsners , although in my opinion they are at least a step or two above any BMC.
2. Japanese people (tourist and business folk) will almost always order a Budweiser when visiting the states. I think it has something to do with "When in Rome do as the Romans do". Hopefully most still have their rose colored glasses (or taste buds) on and so are not immediately offended.
3. Japanese respect the head/foam, and considered a perfect pour to be 5/7 beer and 2/7 foam.
4. Japanese draft taps pull forward and backwards. Forward delivers beer with as little foam as possible and back delivers beer that is almost pure foam. This foam is made up of very fine bubbles and is very smooth and silky in texture and wonderfully tasty. The Japanese draft system or "Beer Server" as they call it is unique to Japan as far as I can tell, and I've only seen one Japanese restaurant in the states that claims to have one.
5. Japanese have canned beer vending machines on the streets and in hotels (although their numbers are decreasing due to stricter regulations), and they even have draft beer vending machines in such places like Airport Lobbies, Self serve style restaurants, pool halls, etc. See the YouTube clips below. Note the nice head.
Draft Beer Vending Machine 1
Draft Beer Vending Machine 2
6. The legal age for drinking Alcohol in Japan is 20 although it is hardly enforced, and would be difficult regardless as a majority of Japanese people do not have drivers licenses and there is no other official ID that could be used to prove age. I remember buying a bottle of Suntory Whiskey from a liquor store when I was 14, and that was only because they didn't have vending machines for Whiskey.
7. Due to taxes on beer, beer is ridiculously expensive in Japan (6-pack of canned beer = $12-$13). Beer is defined as an alcoholic beverage with more than 67% malt content. Read this wikipedia article on Hopposhu for details if your interested, however what the tax code has essentially done is create a market for a subset of cheaper "Fake Beers" which IMHO gives BMC a run for their money in the race for the "Not so Tasty" category. To make matters worse is the labeling is not immediately evident, so if you ever find yourself in a store in Japan and find some ridiculously cheap beer, think twice. Essentially for a lot of consumers, they make this sacrifice due to cost and Happoshu has become the "Table Beer" they have at home.
8. For most dinner meetings or after work but work related events, beer is always served first and a "compai" or Toast is given. I'd say 90-95% of the time there is no actual toast speach, only "Compai" followed by "Otsukaresame desu" which is difficult to translate but which is a salutation that sums up the fact that someone has put in some effort for a job or chore and deserves a thank you. After the first beer or two, people generally start to drink what they like, which could be Sake, or Shochu (Soju), more beer, etc.
9. Japanese like their gadgets. Japanese Canned Beer Pouring Robot
Well I know this is more of a blog type post, but please post your own Japanese culture oddities or beer culture oddities you've noticed or have always wanted an answer to.
Compai!
