Job Discussion Forums

[Tonester]

Well, this thread is a copycat from a similar thread in the China off-topic thread and the stories there were interesting. With all the Enkais, drinking with mates after work and culture shock which can drive people to drink I now ask:

Who in this forum became a drunk once they hit Japan?

My story: I drank pretty heavily as a uni student and since hitting Japan I've been drinking even more because I've made so many drinking buddies at the local izakaya in my town way up in the boonies of Niigata. That plus the enkais I go to occasionally has made me border on excessive. Am I a drunk? Well, I guess I am...........

PS Whenever I go to bed without drinking I feel much better the next day.

[chi-chi-]

Um. Ummm.
I think it is an easy accomplishment to become a drunk in any country.
Use your imagination!
You could become addicted to Pooh, Hello Kitty, great makeup, awesome sushi, Japanese kimchi (yum!) Japanese clothing, bonzai gardening, ikibana (sp?), pachinko, karaoke....
instead.

[Tonester]

Chi-chi,

Karaoke and Japanese food are also other addictions I have! What kind of songs are you into performing, J-songs or Western?

[The G-stringed Avenger]

My first 3 months in Japan I drank like a fish. After that, I almost gave it up entirely (Japanese alcohol doesn't agree with me), apart from the occasional social drink with friends. I tell you what, being sober a lot of the time gave me a bird's-eye view of the shocking behaviour of the drunks I worked with, further reinforcing my desire not to drink. It might not surprise anyone, but I worked at Nova and some of my co-workers were disgusting drunks. A typical night out often resulted in screaming matches (about politics) and even fistfights, deliberately pouring beer everywhere, stealing stuff and cracking onto any female in sight. Then these same people had the effrontery to complain when venues refused them entry or refused all-you-can-drink deals (the Nova teachers got a bad and not-undeserved reputation around the area). I also ended up being labelled anti-social because I preferred not to hang around these embarassments to western culture. Being in a foreign country doesn't give you a licence to act stupid.

[Canuck2112]

I am a complete and total drunkard. I figured the "drink anywhere" novelty of Japan would wear off after a few months. It didn't. I drink when I go shopping, I drink on the trains, I drink at temples, etc. I don't even particularily like Japanese beer; in fact, I think most of it sucks (yes you too "Yebisu"...your high price tag doesn't fool me). Oh well, when in Rome I suppose. If I were in SE Asia I know I'd be doing a ridiculous amount of opium instead.

[ntropy]

[bisca]

For me, I have some bad bad drunken memories of Japan. Did and said the stupidest thing which I 'd die if I'd been sober. Thankfully, most of them were as drunk as I was and didn't remember a thing.

The boys went drinking wayy more often than the girls (because Japanese salari-men would go up to them and offer them a night out with FREE drinks). Most days, they'd crash in the dumpster due to them not being able to cycle..

Nothing makes me laugh more than a drunk man on bicycle...

[Sam Adams]

I have become such a drunk since I came to Japan and I blame it all entirely on Yamaya. 1000 Yen Jim beam, Canadian Club whiskey, Bombay Saphire Gin. 1500 Yen Johnny Walker Black, you get the idea. Why is it so cheap? I don't know, and I don't care. Tax or no tax, you can't beat those prices anywhere.

[anthyp]

Looks like the posters in the China forum have a better sense of humor than you gaijin. Either that, or we're more comfortable admitting we're drunkards.

I didn't know beer was all that cheap in Japan, but that's definitely one of the problems over here. You can get it in the supermarkets for as little as $0.25 USD a 650 mL bottle. At the bars it might cost you around a dollar. But it's cheaper than milk and juice and everything else.

Ah, the joys of living in Asia.

How much is it over there? Is Japanese beer any good? I actually prefer to stick to local beer when I'm out, because the foreign stuff is so expensive (about what you'd pay back home!), and Chinese beer isn't so bad. The only problem is, Chinese beer can be pretty weak.

After four or five bottles, though, it's all good to me.

[small_human]

I had a similar experience to The G-stringed Avenger.

After completely overdoing it in my first few months in Tokyo I abruptly turned around and went the opposite way; teetotalism.

Then I found myself on the other side of the looking glass, so to speak. I saw people's drunken behaviour through sober eyes.

The horror..... the horror.....

The first 'party' I ever went to with co-workers was at a BLDY restaurant. They had (still have?) a horrible system ominously named the 'fruity bar'. At the time it cost 500yen for all the spirits you could drink.

Imagine the scene (I'm still trying to forget), twenty drunk foreigners in a family restaurant simaltaneously;

-arguing with the manager who refused to re-stock the liquor bottles that were all empty

-piling onto each other on the floor

-sitting on each other's laps and taking various items of clothing off

-having heated 'debates' (ie. getting ready to fight) on political issues

It was awful. I became a drunk after that experience trying to repress the memories.

[The G-stringed Avenger]

Wow, small human, I've had exactly the same experience! BLDY and the 580 yen all-you-can-drink bar..... mix that with a bunch of irresponsible and arrogant foreigners and you've got trouble.
After one of those outings (I didn't attend but I heard about it) the crew moved onto a karaoke bar. They were quite proud of stealing the microphones and swinging off the ceiling light fixture till it broke off - yes, reminiscing over it the next day as though it was totally acceptable behaviour, nothing more than a good night out.
And they wonder why the hostility?

[Tonester]

As we all know, a good drink is a great way to relax and let down your hair after a long shift in the trenches but it can also bring out the worst in human beings. I love my beer, but I've also had a really drunken Japanese bloke threaten me pretty badly for reasons I do not know at all.

[denise]

I drink more than I did in the States. I drank more during my time in Prague, too. Why? A couple of factors--

1) Money. It's much easier to afford drinks when you're working and getting a salary than when you're a student hemorrhaging money by the nano-second.

2) Lifestyle. For me, at least, I seem to end up around a more booze-oriented bunch of folks when I'm out of the States, and, while none of us are raging drunkards (I have never had any experiences to compare with some of the other posters'), we all enjoy going out for drinks fairly regularly.

I usually only drink socially, but every now and then... and I can hear that half-empty wine bottle beckoning me right now... I will pour myself a glass of wine or pop open a chu-hai when I'm home alone.

I have also gotten into the habit of making coctails. I've got this great little recipe book, and I've tried creating a few concoctions on my own. If any of you folks are ever in the area, knock on my door and I'll whip something up for you.

One note of shame--until I came to Japan, I had never puked after drinking. Now I have. At least it was in the comfort of my own home/bathroom...

d

[Tonester]

Denise,

If you ever want to try Australian Rum and are ever in or near Ojiya, knock on my door and I'll serve you some good stuff!

[kovac]

On 1st arriving to japan my boss (oogly adams appled nervous english posh boy) put a note on my personnel file because I drank too much booze at the "hey ! welcome to japan and eikaiwa life, its a partaaay were just caraaazy guys" welcoming-free-company-boozeup-thing...and as such falling blind drunk asleep outside my new apartment was branded "region alcoholic"....

Tis a funny thing tho, Im a hardened drinker from the perspective of not boasting, more embaressment, but you do see some awful drunken messy just out of college folks bouncing from lampost to lampost....Japan does seem to encourage large consumption of booze.....before I came here people told me the Japanese werent big drinkers...Im Scottish and even IM surprised....just this evening I passed a Nova-esque looking AmeriColGradJock sitting on the pavement half passed out with a jumbo can of Asahi dry clutched to his chest....

when in rome....