Karaoke after enkai

Enkais, Karaoke and other excuses to get drunk

The Japanese L O V E an excuse to drink. When we travelled to Aizu Wakamatsu a few weeks ago for our homestay, it seemed that the most commonly asked question (apart from “Can you eat raw fish?”, and “Can you use chopsticks?”) was “Can you drink alcohol?”

And with the price of alcohol being sooooo low, its not surprising that the consumption of alcohol is the national past time. A six pack of beer sets you back about 16 Aussie dollars, but you can get a litre of vodka (decent stuff too) for about $12, and a couple of litres of sho chu (dodgy sake) for 8 bucks!

Needless to say we’ve had quite a few large nights since we’ve arrived. As you may (or may not) know, despite my non existent karaoke “skills” I am quite the microphone hog. We’ve had a few good nights at the karaoke place…

Since we’ve arrived, we have been to a number of enkais (“drinking parties” that are work related). They usually follow a strange kind of ritual. Everybody sits down, usually in an assigned place, and waits for the “kanpai” (Japanese version of “cheers”) before they can start eating and drinking. The MC usually says a few words as a toast. Often something along the lines of: “We will now open the opening ceremony for this enkai. The enkai is open. Cheers!”

Then the party starts. There is always heaps of food and drink. In Japan, its considered rude to pour your own drink, so what you do is pour somebody else’s, even if they’ve only taken the tiniest sip, and then they will fill your glass. It makes it difficult to work out how much you’ve drunk, so it’s just as well that the blood alcohol limit for driving is 0.00%.

Often, to close the party, they will “Open the closing ceremony”, and then do a group clap. This is a weird phenomenon, where everybody does a single clap in unison, which is then celebrated with rounds of applause and lots of back slapping.

Then the second party begins. In Shirakawa, this usually means a trip to the karaoke place… and then to somebody’s house where the drinking continues… repeat ad nauseum.

The good thing about the enkai is that you can get away with saying all kinds of stuff to virtually anyone, and it tends to be “forgotten” when you next see the person. This is particularly handy for some people.