Volume 22　お酒の楽しみ方


Drinking the Japanese Way 

Ann: Now what about in Japan, where of course drinking is very popular as well -  what did you find when you came here, things you noticed about customs around drinking? That kind of thing. 

Michael: The first day I arrived, the first thing I, well that night, first thing that happened was I went to an izakaya and that was just a very interesting experience, 'cause it's not something that I had experienced in the U.K. - the Japanese drinking establishment in Japan. I think the first thing that struck me was that food is tied in very closely with the whole experience. Whereas in England a pub, not so much nowadays because things have changed, but certainly when I lived in England, pubs were for drinking. Food was just secondary, it was an add-on. There was nothing particularly spectacular about the food. Whereas in Japan the drinking and the eating is very, very closely tied together. And there's also the sharing aspect of the whole experience in Japan. A bottle will arrive and everybody gets their own little glass and one person will pour out the beer amongst everybody - something that never happens in the U.K.

Ann: Yeah, yeah, that, I remember when I first came, one of the things that surprised me, also, is that you can, you're not supposed to fill your own glass, ha-ha.

Michael: Right. Though in England of course we have our own unique form of interaction, which is that we have the round system, which I may have actually mentioned before, in which one person in the group is responsible for buying all of the drinks. Then for the next drink, the next person is responsible for buying all of the drinks. Do you have that in the States?

Ann: We do. And I was just thinking but you don't see it here, right?

Michael: No, I've never seen that here.

Ann: Yeah, yeah that's interesting. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us this month and we will look forward to being with you next time.

Michael: So take care, and we'll see you then. Bye-bye.