Andrew Williams has already answered this question. The Dutch at Dejima introduced beer to Japan during the early 19th century, on a very limited scale. It is generally considered that the first Japanese brewer was the student of Dutch learning (Rangaku) Koumin Kawamoto (1810 – 1871) who produced beer purely as an experiment in 1853.
It’s slightly off-topic but readers might be interested to hear about the first foreign resident to brew beer in Japan commercially. He was born Johan Martinus Thoreson in Norway on May 18th, 1834. As a teenager he was a brewers’ apprentice and immigrated to the United States while in his early twenties. He changed his name to William Copeland upon becoming a naturalized American citizen. In 1864 he left America to seek his fortune in Japan. Copeland worked for a while on a dairy farm and later was employed by a transport company. While with both firms, he absorbed a working knowledge of how to conduct business in Japan.
He founded the Spring Valley Brewery Company in 1870, hoping to compete with both the imported and later, locally brewed beers that were gaining in popularity. The inspiration for his company name was the spring of gushing natural mineral water that Copeland discovered in the hills surrounding Yokohama. That same spring is now the site of a water fountain where children play.
The light, crisp taste of Spring Valley beer was a hit both with the growing foreign community and Japanese drinkers alike. He even attempted to market his beer as a healthy tonic drink by enlisting the help of local pharmacists! Initially at least, Copeland prospered to the extent that he felt confident enough to made a trip back to his native Norway in 1872 to find a wife. He met and married the fifteen-year-old Anne Christine Olsen and returned with her to Japan. Copland opened a beer garden in Yokohama. Things seemed to be looking up for the adventurous brewer and his spouse.
Tragically, Anne died in 1879 in her 22nd year and Copeland’s misfortune did not end there. From 1876, business had already leveled off and during the early 1880s, the economy took a downturn. Demand for beer was hit as with most luxury goods. Apparently, part of his trouble was in being unable to get a foothold in the tight network of Japanese companies.
The final straw came in 1884 when he was facing bankruptcy due to problems with collecting monies owed to him. Many of his clients would have been experiencing financial hardships as well. Copeland sold Spring Valley to the industrialist Thomas Glover. He spent a few years experimenting until he came up with a larger beer that he named Kirin after the mythical Chinese dragon. In May 1888, Glover launched the Kirin Beer brand. Glover helped found the Japan Beverage Corporation in July 1888. Mitsubishi bought the firm in 1894. They renamed it Kirin Beverage in 1907 after the flagship beer that had proved so popular. Even today, Kirin has about 50% of the domestic beer market.
In 1889, Copeland remarried a twenty-year old Japanese woman called Umeko. In 1893 the Copelands set off to try their luck in Guatemala. They remained there until 1901 importing and selling Japanese goods and barely scraping by.
The couple abandoned their almost fruitless commercial adventure and sometime during the year 1901 returned to Japan. William Copeland died on February 11th, 1902 aged 67. Both husband and wife are buried in the Yokohama Foreign Cemetery. The Kirin Brewery Company provided his tombstone inscribed with the words: “Brewery pioneer in Japan and owner of Spring Valley Brewery Yokohama 1870–1884.” There is also a memorial to the Norwegian-American adventurer on the original grounds of the brewery.
Although it was Glover who developed the almighty Kirin brand, the Kirin Beverage Corporation still credits Copeland with having provided the original inspiration for the company, even if his part in it ended in personal failure. Every year, the Kirin Corporation holds an annual remembrance celebration for Copeland in recognition of his achievements at his graveside. This is for having contributed both to popularizing beer in Japan and indirectly assisting Glover in establishing the company that would later become Kirin Beverage.
In July 2014, Kirin Company Limited announced its intention to revive the Spring Valley Brewery brand as a subsidiary company to focus on producing microbrewery style beers using traditional ingredients and brewing methods.