This weekend we’ve got a couple of fun activities planned. Tomorrow Antoine and I will go to Osaka to attend a beer tasting with a couple of Japanese microbreweries. The beer market in Japan is pretty limited, so a chance to try so many microbrews in one place is too good to pass up. From what I understand, the big beverage companies in Japan (Suntory, Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi) have used their deep political influence to make it very hard for small breweries to start up. There are all kinds of governmental barriers and taxes, which means very few microbreweries. Also, there isn’t a lot of demand for variety in beer in Japan. I guess people don’t like surprises in their beer around here.
Sunday Kuniko and I will celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary by going out to dinner after Kuniko gets off of work (that’s right – she’s working on Sunday again). We’ll try a French restaurant that looked good and see if it meets our expectations. I’ve been looking for a French restaurant that is not snobby Japan-French but a little more provençal. So far we haven’t found it, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed this weekend.
