Alcohol in Japan

There are quite a few things to be said about alcohol in Japan. First of all, it's really easy to get. While the drinking age in Japan is 20, this rule is not strictly enforced and I have never been asked for ID when purchasing. There are alcohol vending machines in many places and while some require you to scan your ID, the older machines do not. If underage people want to get alcohol they can probably do so quite easily. While parents of such kids probably aren't thrilled, the police don't hunt them down as rabidly as police in the US.

While in the US glass bottles are a must for the reputation of fine alcoholic products, in Japan this is less so. Many fine brands of sake come in paper cartons much like juice cartons in the US. It is also possible to by very large quantities of even expensive brands of spirits. Suntory whisky is a household name in Japan and has won many awards both domestic and abroad. The company puts a lot of effort into maintaining the prestige of its products and is usually depicted in trademark honeycomb glass bottles (pictured right.) Despite this, it is also possible to purchase fine Suntory whisky in giant plastic bottles (pictured center.) It seems to me that breaking out the ol' 4 liter of Suntory at a fine dinner party seems in poor taste, but it might be different here.

Finally, a bit about how alcohol is referred to in Japanese. While in the west, "sake" refers to traditional Japanese rice wine, in Japan, "sake" refers to alcohol in general. For example, you might ask someone if there's, "sake" in a beverage referring to whether or not the drink is alcoholic. The Japanese word for traditional rice wine is, "nihonshu." For this reason, asking for, "sake" at a Japanese restaurant may lead to some confusion.

It's also worth noting that while drinking in public is frowned upon in Japan, being drunk in public seems to be somewhat accepted as late at night it is extremely common to see inebriated salarymen stumbling home from the bar. Because of the well developed train systems, it is quite easy to get home without driving. This may explain the general acceptance of male public drunkenness.

Curved Escalators

While I don't doubt these exist in the US, I hadn't seen one until I came to Japan and since then I've seen several. While I've seen some installed in places where space is limited such that a regular escalator wouldn't fit, I think the escalator pictured here was installed simply because it's so terribly stylish.

Real Sushi

I had the pleasure of eating at why my host family says is an authentic sushi shop. While the sushi doesn't spin around on a conveyor belt, it was exceptionally tasty.

A few years ago my father was hired to transform an empty shop space into a full sushi restaurant. In the process he become close friends with the owner and his wife. Throughout the evening my family conversed with the owner as he prepared our meals with great speed and skill.

In addition to the fresh fish clearly visible from the counter, there are many menu items I wouldn't commonly associate with sushi. For example, my host mother ordered Dobin Mushi which is basically a tea made from fish and a rare type of mushroom. While the idea of drinking fish didn't sound terribly appealing it was actually kind of good. My family also ordered a dish that was basically a giant fish's head cooked in butter. My mother explained that the best parts of the fish are in the head. Though it took some skill to pick the tiny pieces of meat from the face, they were very tender and the sauce the head was cooked in was delicious. While in the US we're rather taken aback by food with a face, in Japan it is quite normal. In the name of freshness there were even some live fish which could be slaughtered and served in a matter of minutes on request.

While you typically order individual pieces of sushi, there are also special platters such as the one in the picture. It contained an assortment of extremely beautiful vegetables and fish prepared before our eyes.

It's probably worth mentioning that the whole meal cost around $200 for 4 of us. While I can't say I though it was worth it, it was my host father's treat and it was truly amazing food.

Donut Tourism

While traveling to downtown Osaka with my host family, we had some time to kill so we stopped at a Mr. Donut in the subway station. It was much larger than the Mr. Donut in Hirakata. I had a mysterious fluffy chocolate pastry thing with coffee-flavored filling. Of course it was delicious. Sometimes I think about converting this into a donut tourism blog. It's a pretty big part of my life at this point.

The Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things that make Japan so nice. For example, toilet paper that doesn't need a roll. Other examples include: melon-flavored things, clothes that fit people like me, small stylish cars, Mr. Donut, and friendly store clerks.

Interesting Post

I see posts like this all over the place in front of commercial as well as residential buildings. They provide a barrier to discourage people from walking/biking/parking on the owner's property. When not in use they can be lowered completely into the ground. It appears that the latch mechanism for this post has broken. The owner remedied the situation using a pair of disposable chopsticks. quite ingenious

Looking out for Others

From what I've experienced, driving in Japan is absolutely terrifying. Most residential roads barely have room to accommodate two cars. Whenever two cars meet, a delicate dance is performed as they stop, and then barely sneak by each other. When pedestrians are added to the mix it is beyond me how people aren't getting hit left and right. In reality, Japan has roughly half as many fatalities per 100,000 vehicles as the US so they must be doing something right. This statistic takes into consideration the fact that many people in Japan don't drive.

One thing likely keeping people safe are these convex mirrors installed throughout many residential areas. I've found them quite helpful in keeping track of cars as a pedestrian.

I'm especially proud of the fact that I was able to take this picture without my reflection appearing in either mirror.