The big news out of Suntory today via Kyodo News is that they sold a shitload of Jim Beam whisky in Japan in 2019!
How much is a shitload? Over a million cases!
That's 8.4 billion milliliters of whisky.
That's 66 milliliters of whisky for every person in Japan.
As Suntory's domestic supply of whisky runs dry, they've significantly stepped up their import game in recent years. For comparison purposes, in 2013, they sold 200,000 cases of Jim Beam here in Japan. So in less than 6 years, sales grew five-fold.
Suntory bought Jim Beam back in 2014 for some $16 billion. If that's not a damn good investment, I don't know what is!
Meanwhile, here's a recent Japanese Jim Beam commercial with their "image character" Rola.
Or maybe you prefer Leo?
I’m Whiskey Richard, and I am the founder of nomunication.jp. I’ve lived in Tokyo for over a decade, and I am a certified Shochu Kikisake-shi/Shochu Sommelier (焼酎唎酒師), Cocktail Professor (カクテル検定１級), and I hold Whisky Kentei Level 3 (ウイスキー検定３級). Click here for more details about me and this site. Kampai!