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It was a sad day for beer lovers across Japan on Jan 8, when Sapporo Breweries put the lid on an exclusive new brew release just four days before it was due to go on sale. According to the company, the new beer, called Kaitakushi Beer Tailored, used the same traditional manufacturing methods as Japan’s first beer factory, Kaitakushi Brewery, founded in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 1897, and was set to be sold exclusively at FamilyMart convenience stores around the country on Jan 12. However, the beer’s release was pulled from sale before even making it to stores, and the problem...

TOKYO - The chief of a Japanese real estate firm apologised on Tuesday (Dec 18), admitting that his employees had caused an explosion that injured 42 and collapsed a building in Sapporo on the northernmost island of Hokkaido. The two-storey wooden building, which housed an izakaya - a bar-cum-eatery - called Umi Sakura, a clinic and a real estate firm, collapsed in the blast that occurred at about 8.30pm (7.30pm in Singapore) on Sunday. The fire took six hours to put out, reports said. The force of the explosion shattered glass windows in at least 20 buildings, some as far...

Anchor’s aweigh, indeed. An era came to an end Thursday when Anchor Brewing, the maker of the famous Anchor Steam beer that has slaked the thirsts of everyone from longshoremen and servicemen to tech industry wunderkinds since Grover Cleveland was president, sold itself to Japanese beer giant Sapporo. Reports put the sale price at $85 million, but neither Anchor nor Sapporo confirmed that amount. The deal is expected to close Aug. 31. But while Anchor will remain at its Mariposa Street location in San Francisco, the days of independence for what many call the original craft brewery are coming to...

Got a cold? Treat yourself to a cold one. A new study, reports Agence France-Presse, suggests that a chemical compound in beer can help the human body fight the virus behind the common cold. Of course, there are some important caveats. First, the study was conducted and published by Sapporo Breweries, a Japanese beer manufacturer, through its Sapporo Medical University. And secondly, an adult would have to drink about 30 cans of beer to get enough humulone, the compound said to have anti-viral properties. The humulone found in hops, one of beer's three main ingredients, gives the alcoholic drink its...

SAPPORO, Japan - This year it was almost the Snow Festival that wasn't when an unexpected thaw struck opening day of the internationally renowned Sapporo ice sculpture fair. Blame it on climate change or just bad luck, but temperatures well above freezing and a steady drizzle reduced thousands of visitors to slushing through coffee-colored mud. They watched helplessly as the lovingly hand-crafted crystalline artworks withered away before their eyes. "I was really worried. Parts of the sculptures were falling off," said Masaya Ishikawa, chief of promotion at the Sapporo Tourist Association, which administers the event. February temperatures normally average -3.5...

A large scale snow statue depicting Japan's Nagoya castle. Visitors gather around a snow sculpture depicting South Korean actor Bae Yong-joon. The illuminated old City Hall of Leipzig, Germany.