Getting
drunk in Japan
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 ¡V 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 ¡V'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.![](photos/fukdrunk.jpg)
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. ![](photos/fukdrunk1.jpg)
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!![](photos/fukdrunkass.jpg)
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!
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