Brewery Tour and Fireworks

The observant reader will notice that I've mentioned beer not infrequently on this blog. There is good reason: it's hot and humid here, which makes beer the ideal beverage.

Today I have an especially good reason, though: I went on a tour of Asahi's brewery in Nagoya with four fellow students. I've been on brewery tours before, so even though I didn't understand all the explanations, I do know the general process. This brewery makes canned beer.

The tour guide used keigo the whole time -- that's polite Japanese used by shop keepers and when speaking to higher-ups. It was good practice for us to try to follow it.

Everything was pristine and efficient, and there were large signs indicating what was going on for the tourists. After the tour, we all enjoyed a few glasses, even though it was before noon. I didn't know that Asahi made a dark beer -- I will have to hunt that down at a liquor store. We sampled some jerky, which I liked. I bought a small bag if it.

They have breweries in other parts of Japan, as well as two Nikka whiskey distilleries. My souvenir was a small bottle of 10 year old single malt whisky. My hubby will get an Asahi hat.

Asahi also owns Loewenbrau, Jim Beam, Absolut, Jose Cuervo and Bireley's.

After the tour, the other ladies when to a matsuri (festival) in Nagoya, while I went to Sakae (a part of Nagoya) to go to the Maruzen bookstore there. Amazingly, I only bought one book.














Zoning in Japan is interesting. As we were walking from the station to the brewery, we were tallking about how you can see old next to new, and see a rice field in an empty lot, surrounded by buildings. As if on cue, we came across this rice field which illustrates the point nicely.

Lunch/Dinner was a hamburg steak with a sunnyside up egg on top at Denny's, along with a melon soda.

In the evening, the our dorm's Ojiisan (caretaker) who lived in an attached house, had a party for us on the roof for Okazaki's hanabi matsuri. That's a fireworks festival. They make a large majority of Japan's fireworks in Okazaki, so that's the theme of the city's festival. A lot of people come from other parts of Japan to see it. Most people go to the castle, but we beat the crowds by going upstairs! There were two hours of fireworks, great food, and some icecream that Ojiisan made himself.


I wish I had a yukata to wear -- I have two, but they are in the States so I didn't feel like buying another. But I had a great time!!