Seaweeds are received high attending as one of new and renewable energy sources. In this study, the effects of organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on anaerobic digestion with Laminaria japonica were investigated using labrotory-scale semi-continuous stirred type reactors. The results demonstrated that anaerobic digestion of Laminaria japonica performed stably with OLRs in the range of 1.00 ~ 1.50 g-VS/L⋅d and HRTs in the range of 27 ~ 40 days. The maximum methane production obtained was 251.33 mL-CH4/L⋅d, which was achieved for an OLR of 1.50 g-VS/L⋅d and a HRT of 27 days. However, an OLR of 1.75 g-VS/L⋅d and a HRT of 23 days brought about a decrease in the pH and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation, causing the destabilization of the reactor and process failure. The reactors operated at a constant influent substrate concentration, i.e., 40 g-VS/L, thus OLR and HRT could not be treated separately and independently. According to the limited results of this study, it seems that the suitable OLR of anaerobic digestion of Laminaria japonica was lower than 1.50 g-VS/L⋅d and suitable HRT was higher than 27 days.