Public Drunkenness

Last week Eddie and I went out for lunch at a really cute restaurant where we enjoyed omelet and rice meals. The meal came with a rather shocking sideshow though. There was a large, drunk Japanese man trying to eat lunch nearby. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. [Don't read this if you're eating]

First, he stood up, undid his pants, tried to pull them up over his big stomach, redid them, and sat back down. Then his food came and he started eating it while swaying back and forth from side to side. Whenever he put salad in his mouth, he choked a little and spit most of it back out. There were a couple times when Eddie and I just stared at him to make sure he could still breathe on his own. While he drank his soup, he kept coughing it back out all over his shirt. He wasn't cleaning himself up and he didn't seem embarassed at all. Meanwhile, the people sitting at three other tables in the restaurant, acted as if nothing was going on, even when the man (very loudly!) came very close to needing the Heimlich. Nobody called the police, nobody asked if he needed help, nobody kicked him out, nobody called an ambulance. It's possible that we didn't stick around long enough to witness a response, but after 30 minutes, we couldn't take it any longer and left.

I've put off writing about this topic because the generalizations I'm making are really big and most likely don't include all Japanese people. However, after being here for six months and talking about it with other foreigners, I feel as though I should still mention it on my blog.... with this big disclaimer.

As most foreigners living in Japan will most likely agree, alcoholism isn't really acknowledged here. I'm not sure if it is acknowledged as a disease here, but I have noticed that as long as someone is legally old enough to drink, nobody is looked down upon for really heavy drinking. Nobody is really ashamed of it either.... not that they should be. I was really surprised (when I first got here) when I noticed that a well respected woman that I know always mentioned "drinking alcohol" as one of her hobbies. All other Japanese people in the room usually just smile as if she had just said knitting was her hobby. I just wanted to make this observation since many cultures do in fact look down upon it.

I've heard a lot of stories from other ALTs about going out to parties with Japanese people. It is not uncommon that a foreigner goes out for a couple drinks with Japanese co-workers, and no matter WHAT happens, the next day everyone acts as if nothing happened.

I should mention that drunk driving is very taboo. The legal blood-alcohol level for driving is zero, so driving seems to be the only reason that Japanese people accept for refraining from refilling your cup. Japan, or at least Shikoku, has a service called daiko. It's a taxi service that brings two drivers when you call. One taxi driver drives your car home with you in it and the other taxi driver follows to take the first taxi driver back once you're home. It costs just about the same, if not less than a taxi so there's no reason not to use it. I wish the US had something similar. I wonder how many lives it would save.