Yeah, for the people who know me (or thought they knew me), I can and do drink a lot. Not many people saw me drunk while I was in Railway, simply because I usually don't get drunk after months of 'training'. But I did get quite wasted once while I was in Japan. Yeah. You would think that, in Japan, where everything is so expensive, I would spend a fortune to get myself in such a deep shit (At that time, I only had 4000yen left). But in reality, I only spent 2900yen. Incredible it may sound but I did. To see how I could do that please read on (especially you alcoholics out there).
Saturday, 7th December 2002. It started off as just another day on my Japan journey. Well, there were a few specials (beside alcohol) on that day. It was the day that I first got on a bullet train. It was the 18th day of my trip, which means I had only 3 more days before leaving Japan (my dreamland). It was the day that I tasted the best ramen in Japan (I have tried a few ramen while I was there). It was the day that I met 2 Kiwis!!! (Nothing is better than meeting the people that speak with exactly the same accent like you after being in a non-English country for 2 weeks) Ok, but what did I want to tell... Oh yeah, it was, of course, the night when I got drunk, too.
It started off as I was leaving an Internet cafe at Tenjin, Fukuoka. I met John (a Canadian) who was also leaving that place. I started asking if he knew any place in town where I could have a great time. He introduced me to the 'Crazy Cock', an international bar only a few streets down the road. We said good-bye to each other, not knowing that we would meet again in another bar! So I followed the given direction and found the bar eventually. I got to pay 2000yen to enter and then got down 2 free drinks. But maybe it was still early (it was 11pm already) or maybe the bar was just shit. I said to myself that I was not going to waste my time in such a boring place. So I left the 'Crazy Cock' and was basically 'wondering' around Tenjin with a beer in my hand (bought in convenient shop, 400yen) and one more at the back pocket of my jeans (the great NZ culture). I finished both beers and had spent 2400yen in total – but my night had not even started. I felt lost and was really looking for someone to lead me to some better bar. As I was waiting to cross a road, there was an African American standing beside me. So I said 'Hey, what's up man?' with a bit of my fake Maori accent. 'Wazzup,' a deep strong voice replied. Man! It was great. He actually answered me. We started talking and I got information about another bar called the 'Happy Cock'. Of course, I headed towards that bar right after our conversation. And it was definitely the best advice I had heard in a few days.
I took a lift and ended up on the top of the building. Music blasted towards my face and it was quite packed. I had a quick look around and could see a lot of European and Japanese faces. 'Great stuff!' I said to myself. So I decided to go to the toilet first and organise myself. As I was happily releasing the extra fluid out of my body, I caught someone speaking in a very, very familiar accent and so I said 'I am from New Zealand.' Having finished, I headed out of the toilet. And there was the Kiwi, Bonnie. I introduced myself and said I was a Kiwi, too. She wouldn't believe me, so I put out my NZ driving licence. The small magic piece of plastic cleared up everything. She guided me to a place next to the counter and introduced another Kiwi, Elena. They said I was the first Kiwi they had met since they had left NZ 2 months ago. They were both West Aucklanders. And even better: they were both around my age! I ordered the worst cocktail I have ever drunk in my lifetime –'sex on the beach.' It cost bloody 500yen. So till then, I had spent 2900yen in total (the amount that I could spend on that night) and it was only midnight.
I started complaining about the drink to my new Kiwi friends. They both agreed that 'sex on the beach' was not a good drink. I didn't scout the whole drink because I thought that it could be my last that night. Slowly 'enjoying' my drink, I started talking. Elena and Bonnie told me that they were teaching English in Japan. (Um... Sad to say but they both failed bursary!) I was really amazed by how much they got paid. Man, if I didn't look Asian, I could seriously earn twice as much as they did. This world is not fair. Anyway, I told them that I was only a backpacker travelling Japan by myself. They were really surprised when they heard about my adventure(s) and the kind of people I had met during my trip. After a while, I started to get sober again. The Kiwis joked about me and asked where my drink was. I told them that I couldn't spend more money as I still had one more day in Fukuoka. Amazingly, they passed me their drinks and said: 'you can drink these, we can get more drinks' They had 'all you can drink' passes and that's basically how I got my free drinks for the rest of the night.
I met a very familiar face at around 2am. It was John trying to order a drink but he couldn't get anywhere near the bar. So we helped him and got his drink. He told me that he was having a good night there and I could tell the same as he got one of his hands around a young Japanese girl.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about another important character in the bar that night. It was an old German man (See Photo below). Hahaha, he was pretty drunk and got his eyes fixed on Bonnie. I can remember that he asked Bonnie: 'You speak German?' while he tried to put his arm around her. Bonnie pushed him away immediately and retorted: 'I don't speak German. And stop touching me!' You would think that was the end of the story for that old German dude. But no, there were more incidents to come later on that night. A few times, I had to act drunk and half stumbled, half pushed him away from our small group of endangered Kiwis!
After 2 more hours of drinking (drinking the strong stuff- whisky coke, rum coke and "vodka") and talking (rather yelling) to a few Japanese girls... I had enough. I said thank-you to my Kiwi friends and left the 'Happy Cock' at around 4am. I 'walked' down a few stairs and got to the main street. Trust me, if you had given me a few more Tequila shots, I wouldn't have been walking down the stairs. The main street suddenly looked very strange I had lost my sense of direction completely. I was really trying to look for help but there was no one at hand. Lucky that I still had a compass. I knew that my hotel was on the east side of the city, so I headed east. I wasn't sure how long I had walked before I met a group of drunken Japanese.
'Sumimasen! Can you speak English? Can you tell me where I am?' they all turned and I repeated myself once more, this time speaking more slowly. A Japanese girl replied, 'Yes!' obviously she had drunk way too much. She needed her friends to hold her up. Another of her friends spoke and I can tell you that her English was very good. She explained to me that she was a local there and knew where we were in the city. She also told me that they were actually heading the same way as I was. So then, at 4 something am, somewhere in Fukuoka, I had made friends with a group of Japanese. The really drunk Japanese girl swung her arm over my shoulder and asked me where I was from. I told her that I was from New Zealand. 'I don't believe you; tell me more about the place where you live. I can tell if you are lying,' she replied. I told her about Auckland and that I went to university there. She said, 'now you are telling the truth! What are you majoring in?' 'Biomedical science,' I replied. 'I see!' Man! She was a crack-up. You wouldn't believe what alcohol does to these usually shy Japanese girls!
I somehow got back to my hotel at who knows. The last thing I could remember before I comaed on the bed was that my All Blacks jersey and my NZ wool jersey smelled like cigarette!