Day 4 - Asahi Beer Factory

Photos Here!

Day 4 - our last day in the Odawara area before flying to Sapporo. We had a relaxing day. We went to one of the shops, Lawson's and got a little breakfast.
I picked up what looked like a donut, and bit into it, surprised at how it tasted. It tasted a bit like bacon bits, but healthier. It's hard to describe. It was slightly sweet, but mostly very hearty and kind of meaty, but no meat. It was a donut, but a unique Japanese ingredient, "Kinako" that made it taste that way. We looked it up, and apparently Kinako means "yellow flour" and is a roasted soybean flour that has been in Japanese cuisine for at least 700 years.
700 years ago someone roasted soybeans and ground it up, and 700 years later, I'm buying it in a convenience store.
I really liked it. It's very different, but good. Wayne and Masaki didn't care much for it, though.

That morning, Masaki came over to our apartment with his Play Station 4, and his new game, Dragonball Z Fighter (the new streetfighter-style game) and we played that a little bit. I might buy it when I get back home, since you can play with friends online. And I like those types of games. Anyway, we just basically did nothing. We needed to recover from the day before. We walked around so much and travelled and went to the museum and sang and stayed up late and everything, so we were pretty tired.

Around 3PM we got on the Daiyuzan line train to visit the Asahi beer factory. There was no photography allowed on the tour, so I don't have pictures of it. Also, on Sunday, they shut down the factory, so nothing was running.
HOWEVER, in spite of all that, it was very interesting. Asahi also makes other things than beer. They make snacks and soft drinks, and Calpis, which is a sweetened milk soda, which oddly tastes like lemon-lime flavor a bit. I bought some originally  back in August in Beaverton, Oregon at the Asian supermarket Uwajimaya when we visited Jessica and Jeremy (friends from Moscow) and Masaki, who lived nearby, too.

The coolest thing about the Asahi beer factory is they recycle everything. And they mean EVERYTHING. Any materials for production, or even materials used in the plant every day, like lightbulbs or carpet. And they use renewable energy and very energy efficient materials for keeping their aging silos cold.
Plus, they are actively planting forest. They've planted 90 hectares of forest so far.
Even the uniforms of the factory tour guides are made out of recycled plastic bottles.
Making fabric from recycled plastic bottles is popular among eco-clothing lines. I've bought some clothes made with that fabric. It's very comfortable. It's pretty cool how they make it.
Anyway, the old mashtun, they also recycle as dairy cow feed.
The whole tour was geared towards how beer is made, and how they try to ensure they are protecting the environment. The plant we went to is one of many, but they all follow the same procedures. The one we went to was built in 2002. It is beautiful and more like a museum or great park than a factory.
The tour is free, too.
Even better.
At the end, you're allowed three half-pints of beer, in any flavor, at a time limit of 20 minutes.
I've never had beer I really like before.
I really like Asahi beer. For many reasons, like the fact they are so environmentally conscious, but their premier beer tastes so good.
You know how sweet and delicious hops smell in the Summer when they are blooming? Their premier beer tastes like that. I've never had a beer that actually tates the way you imagine hops would taste (based on the smell). It's not bitter at all, it's clean and lovely.
Anyway, I was super impressed with the quality.
It is a pricier beer. Even in Japan, it's 600 yen a pint most places.
Their regular beer is also very delicious, but doesn't have as much flavor as the premier.
And their dark beer is the best dark beer I have ever had. I normally like darker beer, historically, but this is the best one yet.
Not that I drink that much beer in the first place. Maybe once every 3 months or so. But still. Yum.
Japan is spoiling my taste buds.

So, after the tasting, they have you wander around the gift shop.
They also have a buffet restaurant. It's not a buffet where you get your food, but it's one where you order the items, as many as you want on the buffet menu you are paying for, and they bring it to you.
The restaurant specializes in Yakiniku, or Korean BBQ. They bring you and assortment of everything, so you can tell what you like, and then you order more of whatever you want.
This is the first time I had the pumpkin that Japanese people eat, which is very different than our pumpkin. But it's so good. Of course.
They bring you charcoals and a metal grate, and the flames and heat from the grill cook your food.
According to Masaki, it's a true Japanese experience if you're arguing about the territory of the grill. Because you have to keep track of what's what and when you started cooking it, it's easier to divide it and keep track of your own area.
And you don't want people throwing off the balance of your area.
So there's a lot of poking and prodding and telling people, "Hey, get off my spot!" all in good humor, of course.

Wayne's favorite thing they had was Horumon, which is pig intestine.
This takes skill to prepare, because if done wrong, it can become very unappealing. The chefs at the restaurant did a very good job.
It's basically pure fat, which I don't eat, if I can help it. I didn't try any. That's the first thing I haven't tried in Japan. I just can't bring myself to eat pure fat.

My favorite thing was the pumpkin and a pork shoulder that had a marinade on it. The chicken was also very good. And fresh shitake mushrooms are really, really good.
Hell, everything was very good. Nothing has been disappointing.
This is partially due to the fact that, like I've said before, Japanese people have high standards and accept nothing less.
But also because Masaki put a lot of thought and time into planning the most special places to go for food and sight-seeing.

Everyday I am impressed with the care and significance which Japan's culture places on life. Every aspect I can see, has care and thought and importance given to it.
At least from a food-production aspect, Asahi really embodies that.
I'm sure there are individual exceptions, but the culture, as a whole, is amazing how much they care.