Forum - View topicAnswerman - Do Japanese Businessmen Really Drink As Much As I've Heard?
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5132 |
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Whenever I drink alcohol, I become sick -- sick as in merged-to-the-toilet-bowl sick.
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4506 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I believe east Asians overall have lower alcohol tolerance anyway, so "heavy drinking" by Japanese standards would be a lesser amount than "heavy drinking" for people of European descent.
I don't think I'd fit in with Japanese drinking culture. I like having one beer (usually La Fin du Monde, a Belgian-style Tripel) or cider at home just before I go to bed as a nightcap but hate getting inebriated in public. But I was never a social person anyway. I'd be the perfect designated driver were it not for the fact that I don't drive. |
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Penguin_Factory
 Posts: 732 Location: Ireland |
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Apart from the formal boss/employee dynamics this all reminds me heavily of the drinking culture in Ireland. I worked at a large office and became a pariah very quickly when I wouldn't go out to pubs every Friday evening after work. Luckily it was only a six month work placement so I wasn't too worried about being popular.
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Kyjin
 Posts: 126 Location: Los Angeles |
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I'm in academia, so I've been invited to a number of drinking events with professors whenever I'm in Japan. The level of drinking is not exaggerated in the slightest.
My favorite experience was last year when I was in Tokyo, and I went out with three different professors this tiny little izakaya. We started drinking beer, and one of the profs asked if I liked nihonshu (sake). After I told him yes, he proceeded to order EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF NIHONSHU ON THE MENU. At least a dozen. I had to try all of them, and he exclaimed "This isn't nihonshu! This is rice water!" a few times, and then proclaimed which one was the best. He also went on about another foreign visitor who had come before me who didn't drink, and how they were a bore. In the end, the prof decided we were buds and wanted my number so we could drink again before I left. (No time, fortunately.) I did manage to stumble to the right subway to get home without any incident. A few months ago, one of my colleagues ran into him again. Apparently he asked "When is kyjin coming back? We need to go drinking." The moral of the story is if you're planning on working in Japan, be prepared to drink. A lot. o.o Last edited by Kyjin on Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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itachi06103570
Posts: 200 |
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That bad??? {Yes, that bad -- imagine me kneeling in front of the porcelain throne as one might kneel at church, and you get the idea. ~nobahn} On a related note my friend who studied over there last year confirmed that they go hard over there with drinks and I was honestly surprised when he showed me the pics. Other than that I can hold down liquor quite good as I can remember what happened after I drank. The best example was July 4th weekend I drank like there was no tomorrow and had grey goose mixed with grape juice, fireball shots, grey goose straight up no mix in shots. The night funnily enough ended up with me giving relationship advice to a girl who was drinking with me whom I had no interest in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRUH?!?!? That right there those how much dudes respect you if you could hold your liquor and humor them like that. Good job!! {Merged serial posts. ~nobahn} |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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Wow. I'd never make it professionally in Japan. I grew up with an abusive, alchoholic father; so I can't stand even being AROUND extremely drunk people, let alone drinking myself. Not drinking may not hold you back in a career here, it certainly limits your social circle. Having to explain to people you don't drink but aren't totally religious can get tiring. Sometimes people don't believe you and just think you're stuck up.
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Considering that falling asleep at your desk is seen as you've been working THAT hard and therefore is respectable, I doubt being in the office with a hangover is an issue. Also, for all the faults of their system I agree with Justin's comment on drunk driving being less of an issue. As noted, a LOT of Japanese take public transit, and there's also a whole industry of business setup around handling that period between when the trains stop and when they start again. I wonder if many salarymen keep a change of clothes in the office JUST for the times when they don't go home after (during?) a night of drinking. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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So, I was in the US Navy for 6 years. Most days, after the work-day was done, we'd start drinking... usually around 4 PM or so, and proceed to drink until around 11:30ish before heading back to get up the next morning and repeat the process. Most nights, I drank around 10 or so drinks (usually Jack-and-Cokes, as I preferred hard liquor to beer).
Once I got out, I stopped almost entirely. Drinking that much is expensive, and I only did it because that's what we all did. Just because you drink a lot, it doesn't mean you'll become an alcoholic. I still have few drinks now and then, but downing 10 drinks in one night is probably beyond me now... at least if I wanted to do anything the next day other than praying to the Porcelain God and sleeping. However, I will say that us going out and drinking back then doesn't seem to be the same thing as what's being portrayed here: the goal for us wasn't to get hammered, but just to BS, play darts and pool, and maybe get laid. Sometimes people went overboard and actually got pretty wasted, but most of the time we had to be up early the next morning, so we didn't go too far with the alcohol. |
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Raneth
Posts: 271 |
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Yeah, I'm curious as to how much alcohol people are actually consuming. Going out and drinking for hours is one thing, but if you're nursing two or three shots over those several hours, you're not going to get that drunk, if at all. Plus I've heard that a higher percentage of people living in China and Japan tend to metabolize alcohol differently, which means more people in those countries get sick quickly from drinking. How is this culture so pervasive unless they're actually not consuming all that much? I'm curious if others know anything about actual amounts. And even if it is a lot, at least its not as bad as Russia. |
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kizoku
 Posts: 47 Location: Ypsilanti, MI |
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My daughter also taught in the JET program and didn't drink anything, very much to the amazement of her fellow teachers. This was in a small town in Kyushu. She went out with them when they went drinking and simply didn't touch anything alcoholic. She had no problems and got along well with everybody. I suspect not drinking but still going out celebrating would work. Particularly if you don't do something stupid like telling people that not drinking is superior.
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Ninjajake12
Posts: 118 |
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These types of events don't happen every night though...not unless you're working with extremely active drinkers in the workplace who want to go out every night. I personally don't mind it at all...I think it's a lot more healthy than bottling up your frustration/anger and venting it on whatever poor victim you can find (if you can find one) or drinking alone (which is worse). It's not that I drink a lot, or that I like to hang out with drunk people, but I do like to drink alcohol to loosen up and help me talk since I'm incredibly shy. So I find it more appreciated than others who don't wish to drink. But again, I think these are more rare than they sound (but that's circumstantial).
Anyways, I don't think it's as big a problem as it seems. What I DO take seriously though is drunk driving. That's a huge no-no with me, and I would rather not drink and be the DD than have fun and play Russian Roulette. But it also helps when you have services that can get you home that are cheaper than cabs. Overall, I think salarymen and businessmen do drink a lot, but in other parts of Japan, it doesn't happen to such an extreme. And like someone said, they can hold their alcohol, but their tolerance is usually lower than Westerners (don't know why, but I believe it). |
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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A lot of teetotalers coming out of the woodwork here which isn't all that surprising from the userbase in this site. Not everyone who engages in heavy drinking is an abusive, uncontrollable lout of a human being. If you do happen to be in Japan and hoisted into these gatherings, one thing to do is just pretend to sip it while not having any of it go beyond your lips. Don't blatantly announce to everyone you don't drink like a buzzkill. Just play it cool. No one has to leave the night with disgruntled feelings that way.
I personally don't drink much because it's expensive, but I have no problem with alcohol. Rather, I much prefer drinking with people because I can leech off free booze and have some fun at the same time. I know I did when I went Izakaya hopping in Japan. Despite the acceptance of drunkenness in public places, hardly any violence ever happens in comparison to countries like the UK and Germany where Hooligans and alcohol are a recipe to disasters. For someone who enjoys beer and wine, Japan is one of the premier places in Asia that can serve you alcohol of all sorts. Last edited by Paiprince on Fri Aug 14, 2015 4:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Huh, so I think I'd rub some people the wrong way...
Don't drink. And, it has nothing to do with health or religion...just never found anything that was to my taste. And, I've sampled a lot of stuff (in small quantities). It's the aftertaste that gets me. Everything I've tried has a terrible aftertaste, so I rarely end up finishing my first serving of whatever drink I've set out to try. 
And, yeah, I'm told I make a face when I don't like the taste. Which is why I think I'd rub people the wrong way, if they have invited me out to drink and it turns out to be a drink I don't enjoy (again). |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I guess one of the few "good" things about sexism is that in most cultures women are not encouraged to drink as much as men, and Japan seems to be one of them.
I hate the feeling of getting drunk or worse, getting sick from alcohol. I do drink at holidays, weddings, religious functions, and the like but rarely do I drink more than some wine and maybe a shot of sweet liquor or a cocktail. I've barely had beer, no one in my family likes beer much at all. I couldn't imagine the social pressure to drink hard liquor, beer or sake (anyone know the alcohol percentage of sake?) I feel bad for those salarymen. What about Alcoholics Anonymous? The few people I knew who were involved were vocal about their alcoholic status, and frankly I admire the discipline of anyone who can stick with a 12 steps program, especially if they've hit rock bottom. AA is an international organization, so I wonder if anyone involved in AA Japan came up with ways to deal with the pressure and social stigma of not drinking over there. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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From my mostly ignorant understanding, I think -at least for foreigners- that so long as you say straight up that you can't/won't drink alcohol than there won't be a problem. It's if you wait till your co-workers/friends offer you a glass & then you say you can't/won't drink that it can be considered impolite.
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