The efficiency of microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis of seaweeds for the production of ethanol was investigated and its effect on hydrolysis into reducing sugar and fermentation into ethanol evaluated as compared with those by conventional heating. A brown seaweed, Laminaria japonica (10-100g/L) was hydrolysed under dilute acidic condition (0.5N $H_2SO_4$, $100^{circ}C$) with two sorts of heating: microwave irradiation for ${leq}10min$ and conventional heating for 10-60min. Microwave-assisted hydrolysis was shown to be more efficient. A similar range of reducing sugar and ethanol yields as with the conventional autoclave heating procedure(${geq}30min$) was observed, but it was obvious that production of ethanol from microwave-assisted hydrolysis had a 3 times faster reaction rate leading to very short production times, lower energy consumption/loss than from the conventional heating mode, and higher biomass loading without significant reducing ethanol yield, thus microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis is a potential alternative method for more effective hydrolysis of Laminaria japonica.