I just don't get the bar culture. Well I used to
enjoy the sitcom "Cheers", but I still wonder till this day why
people go to the same smelly dark place every night and drink with the same
people who they don’t even consider friends. To swap jokes with them - the jokes they feel funny
only when they are sufficiently drunk? To flirt with girls they think hot only when they are wearing the beer goggles? Sorry, but I have a real hard time understanding the whole thing.
Are they afraid to stay home alone? Don't they have
any hobbies? Is that why every night after work, they go home, shower and change
so that they can go out again feeling pretty and smelling enticing, and then spend the evening
sitting there drinking with all the other lonely people?
Maybe I am just an antisocial loser. Maybe people don't understand why I'd rather stay home and read, write, play music, or watch
Seinfeld again. In my defense though, I do occasionally go out with
a friend or two, sample the best food Tokyo can offer, and have a proper
conversation over some drinks. I stay away from the gym due to my allergy to
sports, but I would love to start dancing tango again. An evening at the opera,
concert or movies would also be wonderful.
But Japanese have their unique bar culture too.
After an exhausting day in the office, their choice of the evening entertainment is
to grab a bite to eat at an izakaya (Japanese beer house) and drink until it’s
time to catch the last train home.
The most interesting thing is, their choice of
drinking companions is usually their coworkers - yup, the people they see all
day every day. And together they bad-mouth everybody they know, especially their
boss - which is called “nominication” in Japan, meaning “communication through
drinking (nomi.)”
It simply amazes me what people have got to do to unwind. Hmmm, perhaps I just don’t have enough stress!
3 comments:
Aha! Maybe drinking with like minded souls allows you to relax in a way that is not comprehended by non like minded souls!
Why do you say the people in the bars are not their friends? Most of them are. That is the point of going to the same bar often. Of course you have to go to other bars to look for new girls with your beer goggles on too ;-)
i totally agree. we all have different ways to relax, and different definitions of "friends."
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