At no time in my life was I ever a marathon drinker, but I definitely went to my fair share of parties in college and the years after. The most drinking I ever did was probably during my first time in Japan, where I used to meet coworkers and friends for drinks almost every weekend and fairly often during the week. Drinking during the week back then wasn’t much of a big deal, since I started work at noon and had plenty of time to sleep a hangover away.
More recently, back in America most of my hangouts with friends and family included drinks of some kind, though never to any kind of excess. I also used to pick up new beers to try at home, usually with dinner, but occasionally after a hard day (or a very hard day) at my Day Job. Drinking alone wasn’t (and still isn’t) appealing to me unless it’s a new, interesting, or particularly flavorful beer with dinner, and that’s always been the extent of my solo drinking.
Now that I’ve gotten adjusted to my setup in Japan, though, that’s all changed—and to tell you the truth, I kind of like it.
My Drinking Habits Changed Without My Even Thinking About It
Moving to Japan involved a lot of major changes that shook up my old routines and required building new ones to suit an entirely new set of demands. Sometimes this shakeup caused me to spend more time on stupid things like excessive smartphone use, but the plus side is that some other old habits went by the wayside, one of which being my drinking frequency.
I drink a lot less with my current setup for two reasons:
1. I Don’t Attend as Many Social Functions, and Those I Do Attend Often Don’t Include Alcohol
Don’t get me wrong—being on JET definitely involves a fair number of welcome parties, farewell parties, end-of-the-semester parties, and let’s-randomly-meet-some-important-person-for-food-and-drinks parties, but these happen a lot less frequently (let’s say once a month on average) than I was used to back home.
I also find myself meeting people now for dinner and no drinks, or coffee, or some other social activity that doesn’t involve drinking (sightseeing, going to a museum, etc.). Sometimes this is out of necessity (e.g., because someone’s driving and Japanese drunk driving laws are SUPER strict), but more often it’s because the fun thing we’re doing instead of drinking is the main focus, so it doesn’t feel like we’re missing anything.
It’s also relevant that I made some friends here who don’t drink at all, or who rarely drink, or who always have to drive (again, in Japan you can get sent to jail for driving after just one beer!), so that by sheer virtue of who I’m with there’s less inclination to involve alcohol.
2. Japan Has Less of a Craft Beer Scene
While there are plenty of craft beers for me to check out in nearby Kanazawa or through Unazuki Brewing here in Toyama, they aren’t exactly easy to find. Whereas back home I could choose between fifty decent beers at my local grocery store and find hundreds more within a ten minute drive from my apartment, accessing cool beers in Japan requires time, planning, and a better location than mine.
In a lot of ways this has been a disappointment. There’s a lot of things I miss about being away from the States (board games with friends, my NES, and chocolate peanut butter ice cream, etc.), and delicious beers are one of many things on that list. But again, since there are so many other things I’m missing, not having a few craft beers a week doesn’t hit me as hard as some of the others.
All Told, I Feel Pretty Good About This
I’ve never considered my drinking habits to be a problem, and can count only a handful of times when drinking interfered with my daily life, usually because I did something stupid while drunk or had to do something important while hungover.
Still, there’ve been enough times when drinking got in the way to a milder degree, usually because I stayed in bed too long on a Sunday after going out the night before and lost some valuable creative time. I never considered this to be a problem big enough to take action on (and you know I take action when problems get big), but in the grand scheme, has this loss of time set me back from accomplishing my goals?
Yeah, it kind of has.
The other issue is that drinking, whether I was doing it out with friends or at home with a nice Belgian wheat, costs money. That money I was spending on drinking was money I could have been saving for other things (including financial freedom!), though I wasn’t noticing this because my old drinking habits never broke the bank or threw me over budget.
I think a lot now about how, simply by virtue of my living in small-town Japan and working at elementary schools, it’s easy for me to reap the benefits that come with drinking less in a way that doesn’t feel like I’m giving anything up because I’ve got so many other things to engage with here .
Yeah, But Aren’t You Getting Older Too?
True, and that’s also a big part of it—by sheer virtue of who I’m hanging out with, the priorities I’ve set up for myself, and what I’m naturally interested in now, marathon drinking sessions (or even minor ones) hold less appeal than they used to because they’ve naturally been replaced by other priorities (you know, like writing).
There’s also the physical problems that involve drinking as a thirtysomething, like my becoming prone to heartburn and stomach trouble and just plain not being able to sleep well after more than two drinks. These problems also drive me to drink less, both to avoid the physical discomfort, and because they’re more likely to affect my productivity the next morning.
Bottom Line: I’ve Got a Lot of Problems, But Alcohol Isn’t One
Drinking’s gone from being a mild interference in my old routine to just one of many things I occasionally do and spend money on when I’m not working toward my goals—and I feel really comfortable with the frequency at which I do it now.
I wrote this post in part because I wanted to openly share my reflections on my own drinking (or lack thereof), which I think everyone should be able to do without either bragging or being judged by others. If you have insight into how drinking or not drinking has affected your routine or creative work, leave a comment below or drop me a message—because at the end of the day, this stuff matters more than we usually talk about.
Oh yeah, before you go….
But I Also Have a Day Job on Facebook
My Instagram where I post cool pics from Japan