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The heat of early summer is upon us. Beer Garden’s have rolled
back their roofs, stocked up on beer and opened for business. I recently went to
one such rooftop with a bunch of students, whom after a few handles have now
become firm friends. I enjoy the drinking culture in Japan; beer is the
lubricant of communication, business and friendship. I was asked if New Zealand
had similar types of restaurants. The simple answer is no. Any business offering
a combination of all you can eat and drink for two hours would go out of
business in the first week of operation. Not only would it be against the law,
for promoting unrestrained consumption of alcohol, but also the social pressure
to get your money’s worth would put many people in hospital with alcohol
poisoning. The drinking culture in New Zealand is very BYO, bring your own. You
BYO beers to parties, even BYO wine to a restaurant, and always pour your own
glass, all to self-monitor your own consumption.
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Alcohol is not viewed as the social lubricant of business and
friendship, but rather a hindrance. Overindulging is part of the youth culture.
In New Zealand, often when a boy becomes a man at the age of twenty-one, he is
required by his friends to drink a yard glass of beer (2.5 liters) all in one
skull. I quietly was happy to be sitting on a rooftop in Matsuyama, chatting
with new friends, smugly knowing I would not be suffering the dreaded hangover
of overindulgence the following day.
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English Academy