Knowing about the perceptions, effects, and history of alcohol in Japan can help one become more aware of different ethinic attitudes about alcohol. Sake is the alcoholic beverage most associated with the Japanese ethnicity. Sake is rice wine and it dates back to the 3rd century in Japan when whole villages would chew rice, chestnuts, and millets and spit it out in a tub to ferment. Sake has since been a tradition at weddings, harvests, and new year s festivities in Japan. Although beer and wine are becoming increasingly popular in Japan, its traditional alcoholic beverage is sake.
Alcohol is undoubtedly prevalent in today s Japanese society.
Ads for beer, wine, sake and other liquors glamorize the drink and permeate the media, making denial of the popularity of alcohol in this culture impossible. Consuming alcohol is common in the country s post-industrial and highly urbanized life style and can be looked at as a coping mechanism for many. Drinking alcohol is very much a social activity in Japan and drinking Japanese sake to relax is an age old ethnic tradition. The legal age of consumption in Japan is 20, but because there is no law mandating that businesses check ID, and the fact that alcohol vending machines are on every corner, minors can easily obtain intoxicating beverages. Underage drinking, although nothing new, is on in the rise among Japanese teenagers.