Kirin confirms merger talks with Suntory

In a development that has convulsed the Japanese food and beverage sector, Japan's largest beer company Kirin Holdings on Tuesday confirmed a media report that it is in merger talks with Suntory Holdings to create the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world. However, Nobutada Saji, Suntory's president and a member of the founding family, insisted that the two companies had taken only half a step.

Nevertheless, it's an exciting development. For decades the Japanese beer industry has been frozen, with Asahi, Kirin, Suntory and Sapporo in that order carving up the market between them. As is traditional with Japanese companies, the idea that a merger or an acquisition...