TOKYO – When Japan loosened its brewing laws in 1994 to lower production requirements, smaller breweries started popping up around the country, The Japan Times reports. That has led to an explosion of craft beers in a country that is ruled by Asahi Super Dry light lager, which led the market in the early 2000.

Despite the increase in the number of breweries, craft beer only has less than 1% of the Japanese market. Most craft or ji-biiru brewers only put out between 60,000 liters to 450,000 liters of beer annually. Yo-Ho Brewing, which produces popular convenience stores brands Ao Oni IPA and Suiyoubi no Neko Belgian white ale, produces 5 million liters a year.

Experts view the Japanese craft beer market as having the potential to advance between 1% and 4%, as investors are beginning to pour money into some ji-biiru breweries, such as Echigo Beer and Baird Brewing. Baird Brewing is focusing on smaller, more American-style homebrew batches.

As in the United States, the large brewers have started to keep an eye on craft brewers, sometimes even investing in a smaller brewery. For example, Kirin, one of the largest brewers in Japan, bought a minority stake in Yo-Ho two years ago.

These days, domestic craft breweries have started to rise again, along with the sales volume of craft beer. Fueled by more distribution channels, analysts see Japan’s craft beer as having a promising future.