Willkommen! Yokohama Oktoberfest!

By Japanzine Staff

Bier, bier, bier! Hoorah for bier! Germany had the foresight to dedicate almost an entire misspelled month to pursuing everyone’s favourite amber fluid, and Japan had the audacity to blatantly steal Oktoberfest and make it last almost five whole months! The mind boggles!

Sadly, the eponymous month's celebration, happening in Yokohama, is the final leg (or keg) in a beer-lover’s journey that has already seen the world’s most open declaration of beer-love hit Matsumoto, Sendai and Shimizu, among others. The party will have already kicked off in September, but until October 8th you can join in with thousands of other lovers of fine brew in Yokohama’s Aka Rengo Soko, Sakaragi-cho.  

All the family faves are here, including Erdinger, Bitburber, Spaten and - naturally - German-style beers brewed in Japan, such as Fujizakura (ah, hops, luvverly hops). And a German beverage just isn’t the same unless accompanied by some supreme German sausages. Bratwursts, beer, busty barmaids…all bases are covered - well, maybe the first two, anyway.

The icing on the cake has got to be the entertainment – direct from Germany is Blaskapelle Arget, the sexiest bunch of accordion-toting, lederhosen-wearing specimens you’ll lay eyes on all week. As for merchandise, there’s the obligatory beer-mug shaped keitai-strap to take home (just in case you get so drunk you forget you ever actually went to Oktoberfest). But we digress – the beer is the star attraction here.

So, if you want to experience just a taste of what Germany - a country that produces a third of the world’s total beer - has to offer Japan, we suggest you head post-haste to Yokohama for the 2007 Japan Oktoberfest, raise your improbably huge mugs to the sky and yell PROST (that be German for kampai). Just make sure you don’t end up a bierleichen from over-consumption.

Oktoberfest is held until October 8th (1st-5th from 12:00 till 21:00, and 6th-8th from 11:00 till 21:00). Entry to the venue is a measly ¥200 - no, your food and drinks aren’t included, cheapskate. You can get to Aka Renga Soko via the Minatomirai Line – hop off at Nihon Odori Station and walk 6 minutes.
www.nihon-oktoberfest.com

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