Fuji to Hood was founded and first held in Portland, Oregon in 2018 by Red Gillen, Ezra Johnson-Greenough, Michael Walcott, and Tomas Sluiter.

In 2019, Nobuhiro Tajima founded and organized the first “Hood to Fuji” sister event in Japan, where it was held again in 2023 after a pandemic pause. Tajima-san is the editor of Transporter Beer Magazine, a craft beer publication published in Japan and South Korea. He also consults for the craft beer industry in Japan, creates recipes, and has been instrumental in starting up breweries such as Black Tide Brewing and Fukuoka Craft.

After a 2 year pandemic hiatus, the Fuji to Hood festival returned to Oregon in 2022 and became a biennial event (called Hood to Fuji in Japan) taking place every other year in either Portland or Tokyo.

In 2024 the Oregon organizers of Fuji to Hood founded “Beer Friends” a 501 (c)(4) nonprofit parent company to present Fuji to Hood and new expansions of the concept like MXPDX. Beer Friends has expanded to include 5 total board members with the additions of beer and nonprofit event veterans Nicole Kasten and Jeremie Herrig.

Each year the Oregon and Japan organizers collaborate to select, pair, and facilitate the brewery and cidery teams’ collaborations while welcoming the visiting country and upping the ante on local hospitality.