Imagine a sweltering summer evening in Tokyo. You get off the Yamanote Line at JR Ebisu Station and suddenly, almost unconsciously, feel like having a cold beer.
As the train doors close, you wonder why the station’s departure tune is the theme from the 1949 film ‘The Third Man’, unaware yet that the tune is also the Yebisu Beer jingle is. As the train departs, billboards advertising Yebisu Beer and illuminated signs with the smiling god of beer logo come into view. “A beer would be perfect right now,” you think.
Thirsty, you follow the sweaty crowd out the western exit of the station, past a statue of that same god, Ebisu, the happy patron of fishermen and traders. Above him hangs a large poster for the recently opened Yebisu Brewery Tokyo, and it dawns on you that this is a beer city.
