Greetings dear Reddit users! I am currently working on my Thesis, about drinking culture in Japan and its relation with tourism. The main aim for the project is to answer the following question: Is the Japanese drinking culture compatible with tourism? I´ve been in Japan only once as an exchange Student for a semester. I do have my own experiences about the topic. But I think those are disrupted due to the fact that I speak Japanese and have many native friends.
I would like to initiate a discussion in order to discover your perception and opinions as a tourist. Any kind of healthy and constructive comment is welcome. If you are a little bit lost just try to answer this question: Did you enjoyed drinking in Japan? Why or why not? *Note If you have never been to Japan, I would appreciate to know what is your perception about drinking in Japan.
I am really excited about reading your comments! Thanks for your time.
6 comments
As a starter for the discussion, I will describe one of my experiences. I always say that the best plans are not planned beforehand, this is not an exception. Everything started as a dinner meet up with a couple of friends in Shibuya. We went to a wonderful place called “Toriki” by the locals. A chain of Izakayas or Japanese style bars, a meeting spot for Nomikai (after-work drinking parties). In that place we sat close to a group of salary man enjoying after a long day of work. As this places are not usually visited by foreigners, my group stand out over the crowd. Surprised by the fact that we handle Japanese we were invited to join their party. After copious amounts of beer, sake and Shouchu, the party moved into a English style Pub. After the pub they invited us to a Karaoke. Where suddenly, several females joined us. Supposedly those females were friends of our hosts (but I highly doubt it). As the night went on and many of our new friends fall asleep or disappeared, we took a morning train back to our dorm.
Yes and no.
I live in Korea now but lived in Japan before and it’s very similar.
There are loads of bars and events focussed on foreigners where you simply have an international drinking culture.
However, it’s generally a bit challenging to pierce groups of natives at a more local bar. Groups tend to go to bars to hang out with each other and not meet new people.
Do you have to be a tourist to answer? I live in Japan.
I think there’s a Japan tourism subreddit that might have a better set of target redditers for you.
I am from LA, California. I stayed in Ikebukuro in an Airbnb for a 3 week vacation with my friends from Vegas in November, 2016. One night, we went to a bar in a crowded area, like a downtown part, of Ikebukuro. Pachinko places were abundant and it was near an Ichiran ramen spot. We went to said bar because the sign was a big Guinness logo. Sorry I do not remember the exact name of the bar. One of my friends and I sat down for a drink and waited for the other part of our group to arrive. Fast forward an hour. The gangs all here, we’re having a good time, occupying the table in the middle of the bar. There are 5 of us. The bar tenders both spoke pretty good English, so we had been talking to them for a while. We noticed 2 guys, one a little younger and one middle aged. They were sitting alone, separated on the bar stools. My friend in the red shirt is pretty drunk and gets really chatty when he drinks. He begins to speak to both of them and invite them into our group. They seemed willing and joined after red shirt had bought them a round of drinks. He’s kind of rowdy. There was another group of three that were in a booth and declined when red shirt guy went to talk to them. They seemed like they were co workers out after a day of work, but I could be wrong. Back to the solo guys that were at the bar. One was a college student majoring in English, Koya. The other was a salary man for an advertising company, Yuta. Koya was practically fluent in English, so talking to him was a breeze. Yuta was not bad, but sometimes Koya would have to help translate for us. Now with our new friends, the 2 bartenders, Koya, and Yuta, we had a great time drinking and talking about whatever. We all exchanged various social medias at the end of the night and it was genuinely one of the most interesting and fun nights I have ever had. To answer your question, “Did you enjoy drinking in Japan?”. Yes, I never would have thought that with no knowledge of Japanese language that my friends and I would have a wonderful time drinking, talking, and befriending Japanese people in a bar in Ikebukuro. It was one of the most memorable parts of my trip to Japan.
Other info:
-No one in my group knew any Japanese at all at the time.
-Our ages ranged from 21-26.
Some photos: https://imgur.com/a/kdoZq
Japan is a great place to drink. Smaller bars are often places to get to know locals and have some of the best conversations with the coolest and most open-minded people.
I would maybe advise caution about *izakaya* though, as the arrangement is that you sit in a small booth and order stuff. *Nomi-houdai* or “all you can drink” is frequently paired with food (many places also require that you order food if you get *nomi-houdai*) but it’s a great way to enjoy a night out. It’s also quintessentially Japanese.
I would warn though, that some really small bars I’ve been to in downtown Osaka straight-up ripped me off. But those were “snack” bars, or スナック. They’re typically run by a shrewd business-woman known as “mama-san” and she won’t hesitate to rip off a foreigner. There’s billions of them in Tokyo, so tourists should maybe stick to the more reliable brands and chains like Toriki.
Drinking culture in Japan is far less binge-drinking than most Western countries and often the alcohol level is much lower. If you end up touristing with Japanese locals it’s always fun to outpace their drinking and amaze them when you down your third beer.