Top 3 Bars / Drinking Spots (Notes from Under the Tatami Mats–59 … My Adventures in Japan)

Few countries are that civilized when it comes to holding a beer in your hands.

One of the great things about living in Japan is that you are generally allowed to drink alcohol anywhere.  

Have a drink … anywhere!

In Japan, you can drink while standing on the sidewalk.

You can drink while sitting on the sidewalk.  

You can drink in the public parks. 

You can drink while waiting for your ride in the train station or the bus station. 

You can take your beer on the subway. 

You can take your beer on a bus. 

You can take your beer on the bullet train. 

You can spread picnic blankets in the middle of a sidewalk in the heart of the city, plop down a few coolers full of beer and food, sit down among the flow of pedestrians, and have your own little private party – well, actually, "public"  party – while the pedestrians politely detour around your party spread.     _{(Image source)}

Have a drink … any time of the year

So, after work on Friday evenings, a few dozen of us foreigners would pop a few beers out of the nearby beer-vending machine. We’d gather in Sapporo’s Odori Park, a broad, leafy oasis stretching through the center of town. Then we’d relax by the fountains, sipping and chatting during the long, cool evenings.   

Until the frost set in.

Sapporo is what the Japanese call a “winter city.”  That’s because it’s way up north, where it gets cold. Real cold, like, minus-20 at night, or maybe minus-19 during the day. Therefore, by late October, it was much too cold to hang around an open park in the evening. (Fortunately, the entertainment district was just a convenient 5-minute walk away.)   

Also fortunately, it was not as cold during the daytime. My friend Graham and I used to meet in the early afternoon at the American Center library, and then go to the nearby park where we would have a beer or two for lunch. And we continued drinking outdoors as late as October or November – when the temperatures hovered around zero and the ground was covered in snow. By December, however, even the daytime got too cold for park-bench beers.   _{(Image source)}

Gaijin are foolish, but we don’t care

In Canada or the US, anyone who is stupid enough to drink outside when it’s cold enough to freeze the beer would soon be busted and fined for “drinking in public.”  Just like when it’s warm outside. 

In Japan, on the other hand, anyone that stupid is made to feel welcome – and probably pitied.    

Few countries are that civilized when it comes to holding a beer in your hands. Kudos to Japan for being so sensible in that regard.    _{(Image source)}

   Introduction to – “Notes from Under the Tatami Mats”  _{(right-click on title)}

Top Porn Star in Japan

Top 7 Evocative Bowie Lyrics Referring to Japan

Top 3 Japanese Band Names

... and more

Links to my Other Series …

      Introduction – "Intro to Vocab-ability"   _{(right-click on title)}
      Guide – "Guide to Entries"   _{(right-click on title)}
      Index– "Index" to all Chapters and Sections   _{(right-click on title)}

      Lou Reed – "Anthology of Memorable Lyrics, Part 1"   _{(right-click on title)}
      Lou Reed – "Anthology of Memorable Lyrics, Part 2"   _{(right-click on title)}

_{Images sourced from Google Images, unless otherwise indicated or unless my own.}