SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» Japan’s new beer glass is designed to force you to drink…water [Video]

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Japan’s new beer glass is designed to force you to drink…water [Video]

Casey Baseel Aug 9, 2026
Tweet

Yona Yona has a furatsuku idea to promote responsible drinking.

One of the cruelest twists of fate is that on a hot afternoon few things feel more refreshing than an ice-cold beer, and yet beer, as an alcoholic beverage, does a poor job of keeping your body hydrated. Yeah, that first cold one might feel rejuvenating, but keep knocking back one beer after another, and they’re going to take a toll on you later on.

Of course, just like it’s not very helpful for hydration, beer isn’t all that good for boosting willpower or memory retention either. So should you find yourself needing a little outside help remembering to maintain a moderate pace and proper non-beer fluid intake levels, Japanese beer brand Yona Yona Ale has something for you.

They call it the Furatsuku (“wobbly” or “staggering”) Beer Glass, and while it might at first look like it’s half-empty in the photo above, that’s not what’s happening, and no, we don’t mean that in an optimistic “It’s actually half-full” kind of way. Those Furatsuku Beer Glasses being clinked together are both full, with no halves about it, because there’s a divider at the bottom that separates each of them into two sections.

You fill one section with beer, and the other with water, and as long as the amounts of liquid in the two parts are more or less equal, the glass won’t tip over. However, should you keep chugging away at the beer only without sipping any of the water, the center of balance will shift, and the glass will topple over and spill.

Ah, but what if you’re so fond of barley-based beverages that you weren’t planning on setting your glass down at all? It looks like the Furatsuku Beer Glass will still make sure you drink some water. As you tilt the glass further back to drain one section, the opposite rim also starts angling towards you. Drink too much beer without taking a water break, and you’ll end up with water cascading directly onto your forehead.

Technically, this means that the vessel won’t let you drink too much water without also having some beer, but considering that it’s called the Furatsuku Beer Glass, we can take it as a given that anyone using it had already decided to have some beer.

As of August 5, the Furatsuku Beer Glass is being offered as an option to customers at Yona Yona Beer Works pub in downtown Tokyo’s Shinbashi neighborhood, but for those who’d like one for their home, it’s also available for purchase through the Yona Yona online store here, priced at 13,750 yen (US$88), with shipping scheduled for mid-September. Until then, we’ll just have to drink from the other strange but clever glass that Yona Yona designed.

Related: Yona Yona Beer Works Shintora-dori (Shinbashi)
Source: PR Times via Impress Watch
Images: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!