Coincidence and Fortuity — The Wisconsin Brewery Rebuilding the Beer Shrine of Nippon
Last February, residents offered beer as a dedication to the year’s bountiful catches, good harvest, safety, and health, and prayed for peace in the coming year. In the fall, residents partook in a lion dance while Japanese flutes and drums created a cacophony of jubilation that marched from house to house before returning to the shrine. Phil Dawson, Great Dane Japan’s chief information officer, co-founder, and assistant brewer, says it is guzen—a Japanese word meaning coincidence and fortuity—to restore the beer shrine. It feels like something they should do and were meant to do, Dawson says. Dawson grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and married a woman from Japan.