Suranjana Tewari<\/span>Asia business correspondent, Tokyo<\/span> and<\/span><\/p>\n Peter Hoskins<\/span>Business reporter<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Only four bottles of Asahi Super Dry beer are left on the shelves of Ben Thai, a cosy restaurant in the Tokyo suburb of Sengawacho.<\/p>\n Its owner, Sakaolath Sugizaki, expects to get a few more soon, but she says her supplier is keeping the bulk of its stock for bigger customers.<\/p>\n That’s because Asahi, the maker of Japan’s best-selling beer, was forced to halt production at most of its 30 factories in the country at the end of last month after being hit by a cyber-attack.<\/p>\n While all of its facilities in Japan – including six breweries – have now partially reopened, its computer systems are still down.<\/p>\n That means it has to process orders and shipments manually – using pen, paper and fax machines – resulting in much fewer shipments than before the attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Asahi accounts for about 40% of Japan’s beer market, so its problems are having a major impact on bars, restaurants and retailers.<\/p>\n The company has apologised “for any difficulties caused by the recent attack” but has not yet said when it expects its operations to be fully up and running again.<\/p>\n The BBC visited convenience stores and supermarkets in Tokyo and Hokkaido – where workers said they were selling their current stock and hadn’t been able to place new orders for Asahi products, which also include water and food items.<\/p>\n Hisako Arisawa, who runs a liquor store in Tokyo, says she is worried about her customers as she can only get a few bottles of Super Dry at a time and expects the disruption to go on for at least a month.<\/p>\n The problem isn’t just affecting beer, she adds, there are also shortages of Asahi’s soft drinks, such as ginger beer and soda water.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last week, some of the country’s biggest convenience store chains warned their customers to expect shortages<\/a>.<\/p>\n FamilyMart said its Famimaru range of bottled teas, which are made by Asahi, were expected to be in short supply or out of stock.<\/p>\n 7-Eleven halted shipments in Japan of Asahi products, while Lawsons also said it expected shortages.<\/p>\n Mr Nakano, who didn’t want to share his first name, works for an alcohol wholesaler.<\/p>\n While some shipments from Asahi have resumed, he says he is only getting about 10-20% of the normal amount.<\/p>\n His orders are now handwritten and taken by fax. Asahi notifies him by fax when lorries are ready to leave its factory.<\/p>\n Asahi also owns big brands in Europe – such as Peroni, Grolsch, and the British brewer Fuller’s – but the firm has said those operations have not been affected by the cyber-attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ransomware group Qilin – which has previously hacked other major organisations – has claimed responsibility for the attack on Asahi.<\/p>\n It operates a platform that allows users to carry out cyber-attacks in exchange for a percentage of extortion proceeds.<\/p>\n Asahi has not confirmed the nature of the attack on its operations but has said data suspected to have been leaked in the hack had been found on the internet.<\/p>\n It is the latest in a series of cyber-attacks by other hacking groups that have hit major firms around the world, including carmaker Jaguar Land Rover and retail giant Marks and Spencer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Travellers were delayed at a number of European airports in September after a ransomware attack disrupted check-in and boarding software.<\/p>\n Back in Japan, a cyber-attack paralysed operations at a container terminal in the city of Nagoya for three days in 2024.<\/p>\n Japan Airlines was also hacked last Christmas, causing delays and cancellations to domestic flights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While Japan’s image around the world may be of a technologically advanced nation, some experts have warned it does not have enough cybersecurity professionals and has low rates of digital literacy when it comes to business software.<\/p>\n![\"Reuters](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/8158\/live\/45652770-a571-11f0-b928-f10695b5e201.jpg.webp\")
Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20251007-082128-301112d266-web-2.31.2-2\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/54f8\/live\/b13aa550-a63a-11f0-80ad-c7b4a9e7527b.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"AFP](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/bb07\/live\/1dcd23f0-a63b-11f0-80ad-c7b4a9e7527b.jpg.webp\")
AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n