We are well into the Japanese "bounenkai" drinking party season. Today, I'm spending a quiet day "home alone" after two consecutive nights of "bonenkai" parties...
The literal meaning of "Bounenkai" is "forget year party" - a time when Japanese workers let their hair down and drink away all the stress and troubles of the old year.
bounenkai = 忘年会
忘 = bou = forget
年 = nen = year
会 = kai = meeting / party etc
What's the best way to do that?
Get absolutely hammered.
The city centre is crowded with groups of drunken colleagues spilling out of restaurants and bars and kicking up a racket.
Friday Evening Bounenkai
Two nights ago, I joined my vocational college bounenkai for an "all you can drink for a fixed price" [nomihoudai] dinner in a "French" restaurant, for ¥4,300 ($28).
nomihoudai = 飲み放題
飲み = nomi = drink
放題 = unlimited [from 放 = hou = release, let go + 題 = dai = limit, condition]
The grub was nothing to write home about, though the best dish of the evening was a plate of mussels. I stuck to beer at the restaurant while my colleagues on my table switched to white wine. Eventually, the ever-unsmiling waitress, got tired of constantly bring over fresh glasses of wine, and started filling up their empties from the bottle, so they got very good value for money.
After that about ten of us decamped to Friendz bar for the "nijikai" (second party).
nijikai = 二次会
二 = ni = two
次 = ji = next
会 = kai = meeting / party
At Friendz, I switched to gin and tonic as the bartender there makes a cracking good cocktail with Hiroshima's very own Sakurao gin:
https://www.sakuraodistillery.com/en/sakurao/
In spite of the gin and the boisterousness, I am pleased to report that I had enough presence of mind left to make my exit in time to catch the penultimate train of the evening back to my neck of the woods.
Saturday Evening Bounenkai
I was teaching and teacher-training all day yesterday, and then headed straight into town to meet up with a bunch of my former students who were on what used to be the "elite" "Global Studies in English" course at their university before falling numbers and woeful marketing caused the college to shut down the program.
Ours was not a typical "bounenkai," however. We began the evening at a games cafe where we played "Game of Life" for a couple of hours before heading to Molly Malone's, a well-known Irish pub in the middle of Hiroshima, for fish 'n' chips and, in my case, a pint of Guinness (photo).
An Irish folk band was performing so the pub was packed. We were lucky to be able to get the last available space for a party of six. There was a lot of table-banging to the beat of the music, so again, although there was a great atmosphere, it was not a typical Japanese bounenkai.
While we were there, the girls gave old sensei some farewell messages and a gift - a beer glass of course! - as they are about to graduate and head off on their various careers. We also celebrated the 24th (?) birthday of the queen of the class so there was a lot of gift giving and unwrapping and all the rest of it.
After that, we headed off to ... Friendz bar for our "nijikai" drinks and minced pies. It was my second nijikai at Friends in two nights - and another chance for a cracking Sakurao gin and tonic.
Once again, I was able to make my exit in time for the last train home. Dare I say that I am getting better at making timely party exits in my old age?
All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I managed to navigate my way through the mayhem and madness without suffering too much collateral damage.
Cheers!