Japan: Kirin resumes shipments from brewery in earthquake and tsunami-hit Miyagi Prefecture

Kirin Brewery Co.'s Sendai brewery in Miyagi Prefecture resumed beer shipment on November, 2 for the first time since it was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Mainichi reported on November, 3.

"We now can ship products through cooperation with other plants in the disaster-hit region," Kirin Brewery President Koichi Matsuzawa said at a ceremony to restart the shipment. "We would like to help the disaster-hit region make a step forward."

"Just after the disaster, I was concerned that the brewery could be closed forever," Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai said there. "I am now relieved. From now on, I would like to invigorate the disaster-hit region with consumption."

The company plans to make contributions to the regional community by providing the brewery as a communication center as well as a disaster prevention center for the surrounding area that has no hills and is vulnerable to tsunami waves.

The plant shipped about 46,000 cases on November, 2 for sales in Miyagi and five other northeastern Japan prefectures, and Hokkaido.

It will limit production to canned and barreled beer until a bottled beer line becomes available for production next spring.

04 November, 2011