Behind the Times: On Drinking

This country is very good at its own PR– a lot of images foreigners have of the Japanese have to do with an entrenched respect for culture, an environmentally conscious society, with healthy food, long life spans, and technological savvy to boot.  While a case can be made for some of these things, the effectiveness of Japanese public relations can often lead to disappointment when someone, newly arrived, finds littered beaches, fried everything, and lots of people who can’t use e-mail.

There are, however, some places where Japan really is ahead of the game, and one of them is definitely drinking.  From the drinking establishments themselves, to safety, and even the day after– the Japanese have thought out going out for a glass of beer to near-perfection.  Akita, in this regard, is even more special, with the highest alcohol consumption rate in the country and home to some of the richest fire-water that Japan has to offer.

Drinking Out

Like any other country, Japan is one littered with drinking establishments.  There are probably more pubs and dives in this country than beauty parlors, and that’s saying something.  Bars open and close in such frequency that there’s always somewhere new to try, if you but look.  This sort of creative destruction has given birth to plenty of staples to the Japanese alcoholics’ diet, both good and bad.

An example of the good (albeit perilously so) would be the nomihodai, perhaps the best recreational option for impoverished young people surrounded by nothing but rice fields.  Pay a certain amount, and drink all you like for a limited time.  Want to drink yourself into a coma?  Doozo.  You’ll still have enough money left over to pay your hospital fees.  In a country where a regular beer can run near $5, a decent nomihodai can at least make the next day’s hangover a little less painful, as you won’t wake-up to an empty wallet.

An easy example of the bad would be 発泡酒, a beer that, though healthier, is a mixture of rice and wheat– has an aftertaste that ranges somewhere between dandruff and armpit. Even more villainous is the barmaster who claims to be selling real beer, while actually pushing this nasty near-beer on his customers.  Though it’s certainly a good deal if you’re the barmaster, as happoshu runs a lot cheaper than actual, flavorful beer.

Safety

With all this drinking going on in a country loaded with people, narrow roads, dangerous sober drivers, and even more dangerous elderly people crossing the streets– you’d think the Japanese would be constantly running each other over, crashing into buildings, and taking out large lines of preschoolers in adorned in yellow hats and carrying sexist backpacks.

That probably would very well be the case, if, at least, it weren’t for Japanese drinking and driving laws and the government endorsed 代行 system.

For public employees especially, Japanese drinking laws are mercilessly strict.  Drink even a sip of alcohol and drive and you can be charged inordinate amounts of money and will have your name dragged through the mud.  Of course, if you drink and actually cause an accident, things will be even worse.  Your choices are largely black and white.  Go out, stay sober and drive home– or go out, drink and find somewhere to stay.

Or, if you’re going home with enough people, there’s the 代行 (daiko).  Cheaper than a taxi thanks to government subsidy, two drivers come, pick up you and your car.  One driver takes you and your fellow drinkers home, one driver drives your car home.  No risk, nobody hurt, and all for a little extra expense.  Daiko is essentially your own designated driver for hire.

Never become two-days drunk

With all the nomihodai action out there and not having to worry about driving home intoxicated, you’d think there’d be a lot of people waking up on Saturday morning with a massive headache and the urgent desire to stay out of the sunlight or, as the J-folk call it, 二日酔い, or “Two-Days Drunk.”

Nobody enjoys feeling hungover, and if your night included any Japanese sake, your hangover may indeed be severe.

But yes, the Japanese have even found their way around this, relying on nothing more than a dose of Turmeric.  A glass before you go out on the town, and the next day you will feel fine and dandy.