Is Japanese beer THAT strong??
 

Another thing that's been bothering the heck out of me for ages.

Why is it that in most beer commercials, as they drink, the people in it cringe and make a huge fit and fuss like they're downing liquid nitrogen? Give me a break. And then, if they happen to be eating anything in the same commercial, it's the same story.

I'm looking for reference on youtube, but anyone who's watched Japanese TV knows what I'm talking about.

What's the deal? Maybe it has something to do with the ridiculously high carbonation of Japanese beer?

I nearly did a spit take when you mentioned 'Japanese beer' and 'strong' in the same sentence.

I think it just the usual acting; you know the 'holy-cow-this-is-SO-GOOD' for any beverage/food.

Haha, yeah, I think we were talking about that in another thread and everyone agreed on the topic ;)

UMAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIII!!!

Yeah I hate that too. :D

Then again it doesn't help that the Japanese only have like three words for something that tastes good. Although recently the people on TV have been making more of an effort to actively describe flavors and such, which is a step in the right direction from just shouting "UMAI" with your mouth half-full.

I'm never convinced by the 'umai' business. Just once, I'd love to see someone take a bite of something and then say "Eh... it's ok, but it could be better."

GTJ, you are shifting to "whiny gaijin" mode. This is a part of a slow-burn culture shock. I knew many people it happened to, and it is real common. After 4 to 6 months in Japan they we would meet up but instead of talking about cool new discoveries the conversations became nit-picky complaining sessions about Japan.

Again, it's pretty normal, but I hope you don't start too many more threads like this. I do want you to be able to talk through your life in Japan...that is important...but people that don't live there might read these and be...thrown off. I hope this makes sense and you don't take it the wrong way.

Yeah, I'm pretty sick and tired of the OP's negative threads, too. He seems to dislike just about everything Japanese, except perhaps Japanese women, which is perplexing because they are the products of Japanese culture. They are much more "Japanese" than the little shredded cabbage you get in your bentos.

I just wrote a bunch but then deleted it because I know I'm in a really crummy mood and I didn't read what you wrote carefully enough.

It boils down to the fact that I've been here for quite a while, and certainly long enough to be past the culture shock. I enrolled in a number of cross-cultural psychology, modern Japanese societal issues, and Japanese anthropology courses to be able to work through and talk through most problems I come across. For example, when I first got here I was really miffed that nobody would sit next to me on busses or trains, regardless of how packed the things were. Instead of just getting more and more angry about it, I started asking the right questions, such as "what factors might contribute to this" and "what can I do to help alleviate it?".

Er, I'm digressing.

I'd hope from my other contributions to the forum you can glean that I'm not exactly a "noob", but I know you didn't mean anything by it.

The point of this thread is that it's something I've always wondered about (yes it ticks me off from time to time), but could never get any answers about. So I want to see what other foreigners can get from it and if anyone has any more insight than I into the matter.

I mean come on, you gotta admit it's kinda ridiculous ;)

Some thing I just can't get used to, and persist to annoy me, and have nothing to do with culture shock. However, about 95% of those things stem from the geinojin and celebrities on Japanese TV, and actually just Japanese TV in general. When I walk outside into the real world I find myself feeling much better.

I need to get out more. :D

It may not be culture shock but there are things like "culture shudder" that are not as dramatic.

But I am not saying that's what you have or not, because I don't know you. I am just making an observation based on recent posts, and I hope that observation is useful to you. Especially since it is such a teeny-tiny thing, but you say it ticks you off.

Unless I am wrong, I don't believe you are allowed to show people actually drinking beer in commercials in the US, so maybe that's why you notice their reaction from drinking the beer more.

lol GTJ, I'm surprised you watch Japanese TV with how much you hate about it :mtongue:

Isn't it the same with american commercials when they drinks something and go "ahh sooo refreshing!" :)

Is Japanese beer THAT strong??
 

I didn't think so.

I used to mainly drink the Asahi silver can, although I had no choice at my favourite Kyoto Ramen shop as all they served was self serve Kirin on tap!

The fun days:)

I haven't seen anybody drinking beer in commercials here(that rhymes!). All they ever do is pour ANY alcohol into some kind of glass, hold the glass(or bottle), and smile like idiots.

If you want to be nitpicky - you can do a similar thing with any style of advertising from pretty much anywhere. The big difference is you`re going to be more accustomed to one style than another, so what may seem ridiculous on one side may seem completely normal to you. It`s one of those things that you take note of the difference and leave it at that.
If they were advertising in a way you are accustomed to (for example, like US commercials...) you would think nothing of it. But because they are not, you feel it`s "ridiculous"...? Advertising is advertising. They`re aiming to sell, and will use a style of advertising that will appeal to the market.

And you really are dropping into the negative mindset pretty quickly with these, even if you aren`t seeing it as so yourself.

Jeez, I'm seeing a god complex developing among the mods. Were you guys this aggressive when Jerry Seinfeld pointed out the weird things in daily life? Just because I still wonder about some things and want to see what other people think about it... so NONE of you are guilty of this? Wait, don't answer that.

Kay so I'll just go ahead and not discuss JAPAN on JAPANFORUM from here on out. :)

Anyway, back on topic, @JoshAussie: I'm looking! Most of them I'm noticing are from Asahi, the one in the green can. They're always eating something with lettuce, like a hot dog wrapped in lettuce wrapped in bread, or a gyro-looking thing with lettuce, so it makes a huge crunch and then they down the beer and it all looks ridiculously refreshing and I have to go to the store to get some. Damn, they're good, lol :D

@DarkSyndrem: Dude, I know, haha. Thing is "the wife" likes to have the TV on when she's home and gets ornery if I turn it off, so I'm stuck! @_@

@SpoonyBard: What's not to smile about? You have a glassfull of beer! :D

Bleh, I know what you mean....my friend (across the street, so I'm there a good bit) ALWAYS has the TV on...it doesn't matter if he's home or not....so ofc he's used to it, but I hate it :S

@GTJ

Listen, you lame guy. You spend all day complaining about different aspects of Japanese life. What the f*** for? What are you trying to achieve? You simply lack the intelligence and delicate sensibilities to appreciate a highly refined culuture like Japan. You must have come here by choice yet you bitch about your generous host country like a redneck Marine would who was forced to be stationed here. What other countries would have allowed you to live and work as a teacher? Just a few out of the 200+.

You've been a huge topic among us Japanese members here and a couple of more active ones have already put you in their Ignore Bins. "A couple" is already like the majority and I'll join them if you don't stop this crap now. It's the members like yourself that make it hard for us to bring our friends to JF.

So, uh, bad troll is bad.

Please don`t forget you`re not the first foreigner to head to Japan and you aren`t the first person we`ve seen who has dropped into a spiral of nit picking and complaints/whining about parts of Japanese culture.

It`s fine to wonder about things - but your threads sound *negative* in doing so - I mean, just look at the titles:

Blatant copyright violations?
Does anyone actually eat this?
Biblical waste of paper!!
Is Japanese beer THAT strong??

Maybe you don`t mean to be negative, and maybe you really are just curious - but you can`t blame people for seeing these as negativity and complaints/whining about Japan.

It isn`t a mod thing - it`s a "seen this pattern before" thing, and we`re actually trying to be helpful by pointing out the pattern so you can pick up on it and catch it yourself before you end up being unable to see anything positive.

The OP probably never drank Korean beer before. He wouldn't complain about Japanese beer in the first place.

*sips soju*

I dunno about the flame war going on here, but Japanese beer *is* pretty carbonated. Have you tried to chug it? It's hard! You get nice and full though, so I guess it passes as a good diet! :3

Korean beer... god, I can't down that stuff. Soju, I can do. Barely. Komitsuki, you're stronger than I, lol.

So the Japanese have a different way in advertising beer, big deal.

I'm more interested to know how strong is japanese beer. Can anyone who's been to Japan, please, tell me how much alcohol does the strongest japanese beer have?

Guys, can we move away from political competition!

I was looking on youtube for an example of Japanese beer commercials,
when I found this hilarious one xD:

YouTube - Arnold Japanese Beer Commercial 2

I wonder if it's really Arnold :P

It's usually about 5% vol or less, although I think rarely you can get some which are stronger. Maybe 7-8%? Definitly 7%, but I personally haven't seen stronger than that.

That's Arnold alright, but that's not a beer commercial.

It's not unusual to see Hollywood stars in Japanese adds. If you check Youtube again you will find more Japanese commercials with Tommy Lee Jones, Matt Leblanc and others.

I guess you missed my second post (#8).

When I was in Kyoto there was this bargain shop called 'Garden' something I forgot. They sold the cheapest beer. The Kirin Tanrei which was cheapest had about 5.5%.

damn, now i'm jealous.

everyone needs a beer,..............apparently.

Thank goodness the nation, culture, language and people have YOU to tell them how to market and communicate in general.

:rolleyes:

Very good points!

Speaking of nitpicking, why is it that some people on this forum are so nitpickingly sensitive about any comment that is not glorifying Japan? Last time I checked this was a Japan forum. This means talking about the good things and the bad, or weird for that matter...

Furthermore, for anyone who does not understand American humor, pointing out stuff that is different in a "what gives?" kind of manner is pretty common. Yeah, Seinfield did it to the extremes, but that humor is the basis of most American comedians. It's not necessarily negative, but it points out differences in a light-hearted manner and certainly not something to dig deep into. The topic was going well until someone jumped in and turned the topic sour real quick.

Aside from the usual "Umai!"s and "Eeeeeeeeh!"s, every once in a while you get this guy who has a taste and then stares off into the distance as if entranced by the awesomeness he just put into his mouth :D . However, to me, their beer is just like any other... nasty, hard to swallow, and gets the job done!

If you are talking about me, then you obviously haven't read a lot of my posts. I am probably more critical of those that glorify Japan than nitpick.

And I don't think GTJ meant this thread as a joke, and if you read closely you will see this is one of a recent pattern of threads from him like this, so I gave my opinion as to why he might be getting nit-picky and frustrated with life in Japan.

either way, i'm not really a fan of beers. lol. i'd rather liquor...

Korean beer is meant to be accompanied with full heavy meal, just like soju. Apparently SK-bound foreigners in general don't know this at first.

OB beer's not bad.

As far as I can tell, the OP is borderline trolling. It's a COMMERCIAL. It's one thing to ask an inane question about why American infomercials have everyone fawning over their own product (because they're salesemen!!!), it's another to use that as an opportunity to bash America and all American culture in a steady stream of threads.