In the past few years, it has increased, and will probably continue to increase for a long time. Even though the law sets a minimum age limit, it does not always get put into effect within a teenagers mind. Even though the amount of teenagers drinking have changed since the 70's and 80's, almost 80% of high schoolers have admitted to have thought about drinking. Most teenagers drink way before their legal age, and that is because school laws have changed. In the 1990s, if a teen was caught just once with one drink in their hand, they would be permanently expelled. School policies were much more strict than they were now. But those would result in a teen becoming suicidal for not being able to finish high school.
Reports also show that many alcohol- related crimes have decreased within the past decade.



"Understanding Alcohol Abuse - Issues, Controversies, Independent Analysis." Understanding Alcohol Abuse - Issues, Controversies, Independent Analysis. N.p., Apr. 2005. Web. 19 July 2012. <http://alcoholnews.org/>.

Why do parents allow their children to drink?

Since parents are the ones who teach their children a lot of things, with the exception of schoolwork, should they be the ones teaching their children how to drink responsibily? Some parents allow their teenagers to drink, not hard liquor, but light things, such as wine or beer. They assume that if they drink with their family, teenagers may be less likely to binge drink when they are by themselves or with friends.
Many parents however argue that underage drinking in any way is dangerous, and allowing their children to drink is like telling them that it is alright to break the law. The United States government have created a survey, trying to obtain information on how teenagers get their alcohol, and most of the times, the parents are the suppliers. By the time teenagers turn 21, 86% of American teens have drunk alcohol at least once, and 50% are going to be binge drinking (2009 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health). Teenagers are somewhat believing that as long as their parents are the ones giving them alcohol, somehow, the harmful risks of drinking are lifted.

Beck, Melinda. "Dad, I Prefer the Shiraz." The Wall Street Journal- Health Journal. The Wall Street Journal, 8 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 July 2012.

Answer to questions:
What are the differences between Japanese and American Drinkers?
Why does age mater? What is exactly the difference between 21 and 20?

The highest drinking age in the world is parts of India.
People are required to be 25 in order to drink alcohol. Even though the ages are different in most countries, such as Japan being 20 and America being 21, all countries are setting an age to encourage people to be more responsible. Apparently, in most countries, the legal drinking age is 18 years old.


The lowest drinking age is 16 (Countries in Europe). Countries such as Germany set 16years old as the minimum drinking age for beer and wine but 18 for hard liquor.

It is probably the amount of responsibility the person can handle, if children are taught to behave with alcohol since they were young, they are most likely to be able to handle it at the age of 16. In my opinion, I see it as if children are told not to drink until their legal age, they are most likely going to misbehave and abuse their privilages.


Smith, S.E., and O. Wallace. "What Are the Legal Drinking Ages Around the World?" WiseGeek. Conjecture, n.d. Web. 18 July 2012. .

Hello everybody! As Lika has mentioned below, I would like it if everybody can cooperate with this survey! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7MHNTKW We will post the results on this blog! Thank you in advance!

Before answering the survey, here are some brief knowledge about teenage drinking now.

In Japan the age limit for drinking is 20 years old under the law. This law has been made in 1922. However, it is said that alcohol is sold very easily to under aged teenagers at many places without showing their ID(ex. convenience stores, grocery stores etc). So at a glance it seems rather pointless to set an age limit. But do you know what happens if the country doesn't set any limit?
Actually, there are only a few countries that does not have a drinking age limit, for example China. But instead, most countries have a MDA and MPA.

MDA stands for- Minimum Drinking Age
MPA stands for- Minimum Purchasing Age


Regarding drinking age limits, it is divided into two; 'Regulate Drinking itself', and 'Regulate Buying/Selling Alcohol'. Drinking age limits, the place to drink and so on depends on the country's laws.
According to this website, the country that has the lowest MDA is Italy, Spain, France and Germany (16 yrs), and the highest is America and 3 other countries (21 yrs).
In Europe, the age limits depends on how high the alcohol degree is.
In the US, it depends on what country it is.

In a survey conducted to about 44,629 high school students in 2004 by Sapporo Beer Company, in Japan 76.6% of boys and 74.2% of girls (which means under-aged) have drank alcohol before.Although the law strictly forbids under-aged drinking, parents tend to encourage their child to drink as they get older. They do know that alcohol is bad for their health, but do they know what kind of causes occur?

As everyone can guess, drinking before the body develops completely can give great damage to the brain. Also, it affects bones and genital organs for both men and women. Another research says that younger people have higher risks in getting alcohol addiction. It can even change one's character. If you drink without responsibility, it does not only affect yourself but also the people around you. Take drunk driving for example. It can bring out about 430 cases of drunk driving related accidents in just one year.


I have LOTS more to research on, but for today I am going to BED! Good night everyone.

Here's the reference websites.
Asahi Beer Homepage
Reference Site

I'm sorry that they are in Japanese. But if you can read Japanese I think they can be useful.

Hello everyone.
It would be very grateful if you would answer this survey so I can use the results as valuable data. It would only take a few minutes to answer. Thank you very much for your participation :)


Click here to TAKE THE SURVEY!