Japanese craft beer in Japanese mainstream shops?

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Hello,
The parents-in-law are flying with an organized tour to Japan. We asked them for bottles and they agreed to bring us 1 or 2, if, and only if, they bump into them. That means that they won’t go out of their way to fetch us beer. Does anyone have any information about J-beer in dep’t stores or main-street supermarkets?

Thanks.

Hope you get some replies. I’m currently in Japan for business, but hope to find some ticks from local stores as well. Not in a good part of Japan as far as the places ratings go....Shawn

Ask KyotoLefty

if you mention a city,i can give you a better answer.until then,tell your parents in law to go to the bottom floor of any major department store.

Thanks. TimE - that’s the one dep’t store I listed for them. left_bank, they’ll be in Tokyo for sure, also in Kyoto but I’m quite uncertain about the rest of the itinerary.

Isetan in Shinjuku too, but I think Tim has mentioned the best one. in regular shops you might get ticks given the astonishing amounts of pale lagers that the same few companies make here.

In Kyoto, the Isetan in Kyoto station is by far the most convenient for regular travelers, with about 20 craft beers:

http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=11024

Yamaoka is the best in the country, but they might not be going out that way:
http://www.ratebeer.com/p/yamaoka-sake-shop-kyoto/10865/
In Tokyo, Shibuya Tokyu is the best, but there are also several craft beers in the Daimaru Dept. in Tokyo station.
As Left Bank says, you can usually get some good stuff in any department store food section in the basement. You should give them an idea of what to look for, since I don’t think you want Asahi Super Dry or, even worse, 3rd category beer! Yo-Ho brewing, Coedo, Echigo, and Ginga Kogen all come in cans and are all right. If they can find Baird, Nest, Sankt Gallen, Oh! La! Ho!, they are even better. Good luck.

Thanks for the help :) Listed them some 7 different beers that appear in the 1001 beers book that I follow and warned them not to get us sapporo/ kirin/ asahi/Ybisu - all available here in Israel. Since they’ll be flying through Korea, I’ll ask them to fetch me something from the airport over there, if only for the country-ticking purpose :)

Here are the beers I listed: Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale, Echigo 90 Days Stout, Baird Rising Sun, S.Gallen Yokohama, Hitachino Nest XH, Shiga Kogen, Fujikora Weizen and Baird Angry Boy.