
Local people in Yamate, Yokohama, chose Father's Day to celebrate the life of former resident William Copeland. Copeland was responsible for setting up the Spring Valley Brewery in 1869 which operated for 15 years before closing in 1884. A group of foreigners, including Thomas Blake Glover and his Mitsubishi connections, took over the facility the following year and built it into the company which soon became Kirin Brewery. For that reason, Copeland is often called the "Father of Beer" in Japan, and, every Father's Day, the head of Kirin's Yokohama branch office pours beer on his grave to commemorate his contribution. If Copeland cared enough about beer to set up his own brewery, you might think he wouldn't approve of such waste. However, there's also a party at the nearby Yamate Jubankan where the locals put beer to more practical uses and I'm sure he'd be happy with that.