Hyuga Brewery

Did you know Tokyo has a brewery at its southernmost point? It's Hyuga Brewery on Kozushima in the Izu Islands. It's the only craft beer brewery in the Izu Seven Islands.

The owner, Fumiko Miyagawa, originally ran a liquor shop on the island, but for more than ten years she kept thinking, 'I want to make beer with Kozushima's spring water.' The water that wells up from the foot of Mount Tenjo is amazingly clear.

When Tokyo was chosen to host the 2013 Olympics, she thought, 'This is a chance to get people outside Tokyo to learn about the islands,' and sprang into action. Then in February 2017, it opened as a brewpub.

Their signature beer is "Anji." It's a light ale made with ashitaba, a specialty of the Izu Islands, and the herb-like, distinctive aroma of the ashitaba and the bitterness of the beer bring out the best in each other. Because the sweetness stands out more than the bitterness, it's easy for even people who don't usually like beer to get into it.

They also have a brown ale called "Akari," which has a gentle caramel-like sweetness; "Himawari," a white ale; and "Sawa," a light ale with a clean bitterness and a bright aroma. All of them are themed around women's names.

Maybe. It's a restaurant where you can see the brewing equipment, open only at night, and it's a 10-minute walk from Kozushima Port. Drinking beer made with the island's spring water and island-grown ashitaba, right on the island, is an experience you can only have there.