Day Six: May 23rd (Part Two) – Getting Cultured and Drunk in Japan

First of all, just to inform you that I uploaded kml files (aka Google Earth files) of the trip locations for every day and every entry. Just click on the little Google Earth icon at the end of each post if you’re interested.

Coming back from Ogi Jima, we visited the Takamatsu History Museum that retraces the history of the area from the first human arrivals (during the Ice Age, when the Seto Inland Sea was a huge plain, and Japan was linked to Korea) until after World War II.
It was really interesting, but I can’t really summarize it here, I’ll just mention the beginning and the end, as they were both striking in different ways.
The beginning because it’s very interesting –even though not a surprise- to see that the first humans that came to Japan were no different from the “cavemen” from Europe, same technology, same habits, same art (though, they didn’t find painted caves in Japan to my knowledge). And then, little by little, through the years (or rather the centuries) things started to change and to differ more and more.
The end: because it deals with WWII, and the Japanese seem to have a strange way to deal with it. I won’t go in length about it here, but there hasn’t been the same “self-questioning” about the war in Japan as there has been in Germany for example, to the point that most Japanese don’t know (or don’t want to know) what really happened, and what role did Japan actually play then. And in the summary of the war, one could hear things such as: “tensions grew between Japan and China to the point they escalated to a full-scale war that lasted 8 years” without any more details, especially not the ones like the fact that Japan was the aggressor, invaded most of East Asia, etc. Same thing with the reasons why the US bombed the country to ruins (Takamatsu was basically razed on July 4, 1945). On the other hand, I’m not sure that in the US many people are aware of the damage the country has done to civilians in Japan (and Germany), but that’s another debate.

A residential street in Takamatsu
(it's actually 康代's family's)

Takamatsu from the sea

the red lighthouse on the way to Ogi Jima

Takamatsu is also a fisherman's town

At night, we finished the day on a much lighter note as we got together with two of 康代’s best friends to have a dinner and drinks. And I got to finally experience what it is to drink in Japan.
First of all, there are no such things as bars per se, just restaurants were you eat and drink. But they’re not normal restaurants either, they’re really restaurants where you go with the purpose of drinking (or even to get drunk), eating being something you do while drinking. And actually it’s not a bad idea, it prevents you from drinking on an empty stomach (as most Japanese workers, the infamous Salarymen will go and get drunk right after work), and the more you drink the more you tend to order food to the joy of the bartenders.
One doesn’t really eat real dishes there though, it’s more like little dishes one shares, in a not that different manner from Spanish tapas really. And then you drink… A lot usually…
Actually it was interesting to see 康代 and her friends drink (or not for that matter), as 康代 and one of her friends don’t really drink. Her friend doesn’t seem to drink at all, 康代 has nothing against it, she even loves it, but she has one major problem, she gets drunk with one glass, really drunk with two and sick with three.
On the other hand, her other friend drank as much as me (i.e. a lot) if not more (I was trying to behave, meeting her friends for the first time and all) and the way she was holding her alcohol was quite impressive indeed (I’m sure she could outlast a good number of the French and American people I know).
I had already noticed that with my Japanese student a couple of years ago, we never tried, but I’m pretty sure she could outlast me.
康代’s explanation for that is that as she works in an office with a bunch of Salarymen, she must be a big drinker or not survive the experience, or something like that.
Yes, the Salarymen, let’s talk about them as the place is almost entirely devoted to them.
We were Saturday night, and still, most of the customers were Salarymen, although I don’t want to draw any conclusion from this, it’s totally possible that this bar was a Salarymen bar, and there are also numerous Student bars or else in town.
And when Salarymen drink, they’re funny…
You may have heard the stories, and they’re all true.
All those people that never talk to each other in the street, that follow such a rigid lifestyle, really do unwind in bars at night.
There were two tables of Salarymen near us, two tables of people who didn’t know each other, and before the end of the evening the two tables had become one, where everybody was singing loud, being best friends, being obnoxious with the waitress, and barely able to stand up when it was necessary to go to the restroom and finally to go home (to their wives).
Another set of two tables was quite interesting as one was full of men (Salarymen too I assume) and the other one of (single?) women. At the beginning of the evening, they were all talking with their respective friends, until of course -the men being drunk enough- they started to chat up the ladies, and I was surprised by the fact that they were being quite responsive. I assumed that it was “bad” for a woman to talk to a drunk man like that. I guess not in bars on Saturday night.
But when it was time to leave the place, they all left they separate ways as if they hadn’t talked to each other almost all evening long.
And actually by 11PM the place was empty, we were the last customers, and we left soon too.
It’s totally normal according to 康代, I guess it is when one drinks (almost) every night right out of the office and has to go back to their family afterwards.