Pecora Beer

In Asao Ward, Kawasaki, right in front of Satsukidai Station, there’s a small brewery called Pecora Beer, and the owner, Yuta Fukuzawa, is such a great guy.

It means “sheep” in Italian. The name comes from the idea that beer foam looks like fluffy sheep. Fukuzawa interned in the U.S. while in graduate school, and that was where he became completely hooked on craft beer. After returning to Japan, he trained at a brewery while working as a company employee, and even earned a beer judging qualification.

Their flagship beer, “Woolly,” really proves it, winning silver at JGBA 2025. It’s a clean, well-balanced American-style beer with restrained bitterness, striking that perfect line between playful and easy to drink.

And they also placed at JGBA 2026, plus they were entrusted with brewing the original beer for the Kawasaki Brave Thunders basketball team, called “THUNDERS LAGER.”

They also run something called the Asao Hop Project, growing hops together with local residents. They hold seminars and workshops for children too, and then make beer with the hops they harvest. It’s a system where people in the town can take part in brewing beer.

They always have around nine beers on tap, and at the attached Pecora Beer Kitchen you can pair them with dishes made from local vegetables. Satsukidai is a bit away from central Tokyo, but it’s a brewery worth going out of your way to visit.