unforth | Muggle, Part 2

Today has been a nice day. I wandered Akihabara with Minh, didn`t spend any money cause I didn`t have any, and ultimately I found a bank and got money, which enabled me to buy groceries. All around, a nice way for things to go. It was great to get to talk to someone, and equally great to hang out with an old friend. On the way home, I stopped in a store, and held an entire - admittedly generic - conversation in Japanese with someone, and left feeling rather proud of myself. And when I got home, there was another e-mail from the muggle, and we`ve set up a meeting, and I`m nervous. Tomorrow, 7 PM, at the most generic meeting place in Tokyo, that`s right, the statue of Hachiko in Shibuya. :) What the heck am I doing meeting someone for drinks? I don't drink!! It's me acknowledging something I knew: EVERYONE in Tokyo drinks, and I'm gonna have to drink a little if I want to be able to spend time with folks. Sigh. Ah well, I'll cope.

Wish me luck! :)

Edit: Well, the muggle has e-mailed me saying he's not feeling well and can we do Wednesday instead. This makes me distinctly more nervous, but I agreed...I guess we'll see!

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I've met someone at the Hachiko statue before! Hee.

I also don't drink...in that situation, I just get something like a virgin strawberry daquiri or something. Though perhaps you feel doing the お酒飲まない thing is a bad first impression? I always feel like it's better if people know that sooner rather than later in these situations. ;) I guess it depends on some other factors too.

I figure I'll make up something when the time comes. I've been known to drink occasionally, if I'm in the mood - it's not like I'm allergic to alcohol, or some such. But I like your virgin daquiri idea - maybe I'll get something virgin and explain that I don't normally drink. At least I won't have to attempt to explain in Japanese - beyond osakenomanai I don't think I could get much farther in attempting to explain why I don't drink...mmm....lemme think...(I consider it a mental exercise to try to figure out a way to explain difficult concepts with my limited vocabulary...)
子供の時に父はたくさんビールを飲みました。私は飲まないからあのようになりたくない。
I guess that's a REALLY basic and only some what inaccurate explanation. (for my non-familiar readers, it says, "When I was a child my father drank a lot of beer. I don't drink because I don't want to be like he was." It's not the whole truth, but it's not untrue. Hmm...お酒飲むときにこの変な気持ちを知りますか。私はその気持ちを本当に大きらいよ！ That's another part of it...yeah, trying to explain wouldn't be any fun at all. I can hardly explain it in English! ("You know that feeling you get when you drink alcohol? I hate that feeling!")

Anyway, even in the states I've heard first hand accounts of how declining a drink can be seen as a bad introduction. Sigh. Damn you alcohol!!

Yeah, well, I think those people who think it's a bad introductio need to be smacked. :-p (But yeah, I say that easily now, but of course I also have worried about it.)

I have a history of alcoholism on both sides of my family...I really do not think it was passed on to me, and quite frankly I was a non-drinker before I even knew about that, but I find it's a good excuse now. Or, if I don't feel like mentioning that kind of personal thing, people in Japan seem to buy the "alcohol allergy" thing. (Can people even be allergic to it? I didn't know they could...I figured Japanese people just believe it's a white person thing, but maybe it's real.) I also don't like the feeling of being tipsy. The few times I have had drinks, it just makes me even more fuzzy-headed than usual, and therefore quieter than usual. Social lubricant, whatever. :p

I do that mental exercise too! I think for your one example, you might trade the -kara clause around, like this: 子供の時に父はたくさんビールを飲みました。あのようになりたくないから私は飲まない。

Good luck, whatever you decide!

That seems perfectly reasonable. (: I know I don't know quite enough about Japanese culture, so I hope I don't say something silly here... but is it just the alcohol, or the action of going out with people to share? (Whenever I'd go to kendo tournaments, where there were a LOT of Japanese guys, there was always the trip to the "second dojo" afterward. (; I went along, and explained why I couldn't have the sake, and they were all, "OK, here, have some soda! Now, raise your glass!")

Good Luck!

Be sure to check-in afterwards - or else we shall be sending out the ninjas and the pirates to look for you.

It's not so much that everyone drinks so much (although they really do...), it's more an issue of how drinking has become such a large part of the culture out there that it's difficult to get anywhere (at least in the business world most definitely) without having a drink.

Of course it's been a while since I've had a real drinking buddy, so maybe I'm just talkin outta my ass, but there are plenty of drinks you can order that have so much non-alcohol crap in them such as to render the two shots of rum meaningless. Think for the most part, anything excessively fruity or chocolatey. Although the little Claire is definitely right - if there's an a small chance this guy is some crazy ass mothafucka, you don't want to leave your comfort zone just to appease someone like that.

I am talkin outta my ass. Good luck out there babe
-- Gerardo

LUCK! And I hope you have a wonderful time. :)

Muggle, Part 2

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