Drinking age in Japan

[Yuriyuri]

In Japan, the official drinking age is 20. In some other countries it is 18 or even 16.
I wonder why Japan has one of the highest drinking age when Japan has probably one of the strongest drinking culture.

[Thanh Binh]

yeah, I have the same curious too But, one of my friends told me that in Japan, the age that really mature is 20. Because of this reason, Japanese people think 18 or 16 is still so young and not mature enough to drink. However, I met a lot of 18 or even younger Japanese teens drink alcoholic

[taylor]

The legal drinking age in Japan is 20. While this age differs from country by country, as long as you're over 20 years of age, you're free to drink in Japan. (Just be sure to bring your passport with you for ID.) As in many other countries, people under the legal age of 20 also cannot purchase alcohol.

[jesse]

Plenty of vending machines on Japan's streets selling alcohol, and plenty of teens taking advantage of them

[J girl]

It's true, you can buy alcohols from vending machine. When I was kid, my father always asked me to buy Japanese sake and cigarette from vending machine.
it was my fun time at the time.

[Jackson Roy]

I think Japan must take this into consideration and stop those teens from using vending machines.