Alcoholic beverages market in Japan - statistics & facts
Alcoholic beverages are a major segment in Japanese beverage manufacturing and an important part of social life. Enjoyed at drinking parties (“nomikai”) with coworkers, clients, and friends, the market supplies consumers with a broad range of fermented and distilled drinks. Although the fermented rice wine, sake, is Japan’s national beverage, the beer market has been leading the fermented drink segment and is favored in casual drinking. Meanwhile, liqueurs, including mixed drinks like highballs prepared with Japanese shochu liquor (“chuhai”) as a base, dominated the distilled liquor segment. Liqueurs outperformed beer by sales volume until liquor tax law reforms removed beer-like beverages without malt (new genre beer) from the segment in 2024.
