Feature
Japanese beer is sold in milliliters, from a 135ml mini can to a 1,957ml party bottle, with the 633ml "large bottle" size dating to a 1944 wartime tax law.
A sortable table of all 15 Japanese beer container sizes in milliliters, cross-checked against four brewers' product pages and 14 cited sources.
By Mina Kuroda · · 1 min read
Yes: Japanese beer is measured and sold in milliliters, not fluid ounces. Cans run from a 135ml mini can to a 500ml long can, bottles from a 334ml small size to a 1,957ml party bottle, and draft-glass pours vary by izakaya since jokki sizes aren’t standardized. The common 633ml “large bottle” traces to a 1944 wartime tax law that averaged four brewers’ mismatched bottle stocks into one figure.
Sort and filter. Click a column header to sort the table, or use the chips above it to narrow to cans, bottles, or draft glasses.
Full Size Reference15 of 15 rows
Click any column header to sort. Cans and bottles are cross-confirmed on brewer product pages; draft-glass (jokki) sizes are not standardized and carry ranges — see Gaps below.
| Container Type | Japanese Name | Romaji | Volume (ml) | Volume (US fl oz) | Where Encountered | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| can | 135ml缶 | hyaku-sanjū-go mirikan | 135 | 4.6 | konbini | Smallest standard can; Kirin Ichiban Shibori lineup lists it as a single quick-drink size |
| can | 250ml缶（ミニ缶） | ni-hyaku-gojū mirikan (mini-kan) | 250 | 8.5 | konbini, supermarket | "Mini can"; confirmed in both Kirin Ichiban Shibori and Suntory Premium Malt's lineups |
| can | 350ml缶（レギュラー缶） | san-byaku-gojū mirikan (regyurā-kan) | 350 | 11.8 | konbini, supermarket | The default can size on shelves; confirmed on Kirin, Sapporo Black Label, Sapporo Lager, and Suntory Premium Malt's product pages |
| can | 500ml缶（ロング缶） | go-hyaku mirikan (rongu-kan) | 500 | 16.9 | konbini, supermarket | "Long can"; confirmed on Kirin, Sapporo Black Label/Lager, and Suntory Premium Malt's pages |
| can (fresh-jokki style) | 生ジョッキ缶 | nama-jokki-kan | 340 | 11.5 | konbini, supermarket | Asahi Super Dry-only format: a can whose full-open top and etched interior make it foam like poured draft; confirmed on Asahi's own product page |
| can (fresh-jokki style, large) | 生ジョッキ缶〈大生〉 | nama-jokki-kan (ōnama) | 485 | 16.4 | konbini, supermarket | Larger version of the same Asahi Super Dry fresh-jokki can |
| bottle (small) | 小瓶 | kobin | 334 | 11.3 | izakaya, restaurant, supermarket | Set at 334ml in 1944 by the same averaging process used for the 大瓶; confirmed on Kirin, Sapporo Black Label, and Suntory Premium Malt's pages |
| bottle (medium) | 中瓶 | chūbin | 500 | 16.9 | restaurant, izakaya, supermarket | Became the de facto standard after Takara Sake priced it at a flat ¥100 in 1957 (per Tanoshii Osake); confirmed on Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory pages |
| bottle (large) | 大瓶 | ōbin | 633 | 21.4 | izakaya, restaurant | See gaps/note below for the full 1940-1944 origin story; confirmed on Kirin Ichiban Shibori and Sapporo Black Label/Lager product pages |
| bottle (extra-large / party) | 1,957ml瓶 | issen-kyūhyaku-gojūnana miri-bin | 1957 | 66.2 | restaurant, izakaya (shared/table pour) | The Brewers Association of Japan (ビール酒造組合) names this as one of the 7 bottle sizes still in current use alongside 633/500/334ml |
| draft glass (small) | 小ジョッキ | ko-jokki | 200–300 | 6.8–10.1 | izakaya | No legal or manufacturer standard; shop-to-shop range per Japanese izakaya-culture write-ups |
| draft glass (medium, nominal) | 中ジョッキ | chū-jokki | 350–500 (435 cited as a de facto standard) | 11.8–16.9 (14.7) | izakaya, restaurant | Most-ordered size; one Japanese source states all four majors (Kirin/Asahi/Suntory/Sapporo) commonly use a 435ml glass sized to fit a 350ml can plus foam |
| draft glass (medium, actual pour) | 生中（実飲量） | nama-chū (jitsu-inryō) | 280–400 | 9.5–13.5 | izakaya, restaurant | A hands-on test poured a 350ml can into a medium jokki and measured ~320ml of liquid once foam is accounted for — the glass's nominal capacity overstates what you actually drink |
| draft glass (large) | 大ジョッキ | dai-jokki | 700–800 | 23.7–27.1 | izakaya, beer garden | Not standardized; some izakaya write-ups put the floor as low as 500-700ml, others as high as 700-1000ml — treat as approximate |
| draft glass (mega/novelty) | メガジョッキ | mega-jokki | 1000+ | 33.8+ | izakaya, beer garden (novelty/theme) | Marketed as a novelty oversize mug exceeding 1 liter; not a standard size |
US fl oz values are a direct unit conversion (1 ml = 0.033814 US fl oz) computed from the sourced ml figures, not independently sourced. Can and bottle sizes are cross-confirmed across at least two of the four major brewers' own product pages. Draft-glass (jokki) sizes are not standardized by law or by brewer spec — they vary by izakaya/manufacturer glassware, so those rows carry ranges sourced to Japanese consumer-facing explainer sites rather than brewer product pages.
Sources14
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Lists full can lineup (135/250/350/500ml) and full bottle lineup (334ml 小びん / 500ml 中びん / 633ml 大瓶)
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Lineup: cans 250/350/500ml, bottles 334/500/633ml
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Bottles 500ml (中瓶) and 633ml (大瓶) regular; cans 350/500ml limited-run
Japanese. Direct WebFetch returned 403; retrieved via r.jina.ai reader proxy. Confirms 500ml can
Japanese. Direct WebFetch returned 403; retrieved via r.jina.ai reader proxy. Confirms 350ml can
Japanese. Direct WebFetch returned 403; retrieved via r.jina.ai reader proxy. Lists mini can 250ml, regular can 350ml, long can 500ml, small bottle 334ml, medium bottle 500ml
Japanese. Direct WebFetch returned 403 on this and other asahibeer.co.jp pages (cookie-consent wall); this page succeeded via r.jina.ai reader proxy. Confirms 340ml and 485ml ("大生") fresh-jokki cans
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Used because Asahi's own bottle/regular-can lineup pages stayed behind a cookie wall even via the jina proxy; corroborates the same 135/250/350/500ml cans and 334/500/633ml bottles already confirmed on Kirin/Sapporo/Suntory pages, plus keg sizes not otherwise used in this dataset
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. The primary historical source: quotes the 1940 (昭和15年) liquor-tax-law unification, the 1944 (昭和19年) survey of existing large-bottle capacities across Dai-Nippon Breweries' 10 plants and Kirin's 4 plants (largest 3.57 合 / 643.992ml, smallest 3.51 合 / 633.168ml), and the decision to standardize on the smaller 633ml figure so larger existing bottles could still be used; states 小瓶 was fixed at 334ml by the same logic; lists 7 current bottle sizes including 633ml and 1,957ml
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Corroborates 334/500/633ml bottle sizes and the 1940-1944 liquor tax law origin of 633ml
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Corroborates 633ml/500ml/334ml history; adds detail that 中瓶 (500ml) became standard after Takara Sake priced it at ¥100 in 1957; states can sizes 350/500ml standard, 250/135ml mini
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. States chū-jokki nominal capacity 350-500ml, poured beer (net of foam) ~280-400ml, and that all four major brewers commonly use a 435ml glass sized around a 350ml can
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. Hands-on test pouring a 350ml can into a Premium Malt's jokki, measuring ~320ml actual liquid after foam; gives ko-jokki 200-250ml, chū-jokki(生中) 300-350ml, dai-jokki(生大) 500-700ml as shop-observed ranges
Japanese. Direct fetch, 200 OK. States dai-jokki exceeds 700ml and mega-jokki (novelty) exceeds 1 liter
Method
Sourced via WebFetch against DuckDuckGo's HTML/lite endpoints (WebSearch was already at its session quota). Several brewer domains — asahibeer.co.jp, products.suntory.co.jp, suntory.co.jp — returned HTTP 403 to direct fetch (a cookie-consent gate) and were retrieved through the r.jina.ai reader proxy instead; Asahi's general product-listing pages never cleared that gate even via the proxy, so its core can/bottle lineup is sourced to Japanese Wikipedia rather than asahibeer.co.jp directly. All US fl oz figures are computed conversions (1 ml = 0.033814 US fl oz), not independently sourced.
Gaps
Honest caveats
Asahi Super Dry's core can/bottle lineup (135/250/350/500ml cans, 334/500/633ml bottles) could not be confirmed on asahibeer.co.jp itself — every URL on that domain except the fresh-jokki-can product page returned a cookie-consent shell to both direct WebFetch and the r.jina.ai proxy; those figures are sourced to Japanese Wikipedia's Asahi Super Dry article instead, which is a secondary source, not the brewer's own page. Draft-glass (jokki) sizes are genuinely unstandardized across izakaya — we couldn't find one authoritative figure for ko-jokki/dai-jokki, only converging ranges from consumer-facing sites, so those rows carry ranges rather than a single confirmed number. We did not find a current 酒税法 (Liquor Tax Law) statute text directly specifying 633/500/334ml; the Brewers Association FAQ describes 633ml/334ml as fixed in 1944 under the 1940 tax-law unification, but whether today's bottle sizes are still a legal mandate versus an industry convention that outlived the wartime law was not independently verified against the current statute — we couldn't find one that confirms this either way.
