Jasutin goes to Japan: 4th of July and Takasaki-yama

Here's a quick update...

4th of July

Some of the other Americans and I went to a bar with some Japanese, European, and Canadian friends. I was introduced to something new: nomihoudai (I am pretty sure America has no equivalent). "Nomimono" is the Japanese word for "drink" (not just alcoholic, but any kind of drink) and "nomi" is just an abbreviation of "nomimono". "Houdai" basically means "as much as you can/like". So, you have probably already figured out that "nomihoudai" means "all you can drink" (any kind of drink).

Japanese Beer Accounting 101

I'm not that much of a drinker; so, ordinarily I wouldn't be particularly interested in something like nomihoudai, but one thing that I definitely didn't count on when coming to Japan was the cost of food and beer. Like I said, I'm not a big drinker; so, in the States, I usually drink beer or wine. Back home, you can get a 6-pack of imported beer for like 7.00USD and you can get domestic beer for substantially less. In Japan, a 6-pack of cheap domestic beer is like 12.00USD (wine, on the other hand, is cheaper than in America). At a bar in Japan, a domestic beer is at least 5.00USD usually. Nomihoudai, on the other hand is usually around 18.00USD. So, if you plan on going to a bar and drinking more than three beers, nomihoudai is the better way to go financially.

Me arm wrestling with one of the bartenders. ---

Takasaki-yama

I woke up hungover the next day and went with a group to a place called Takasaki-yama (also known as Monkey Mountain, but this isn't a translation; it's just a different name). So... hmm... how should I describe Monkey Mountain? Uhm... well... you see... Monkey Mountain is exactly what it sounds like. It's a mountain with a bunch of monkeys (over 2000 if I remember right). It's kind of cool. 2000 monkeys just roaming around freely, and you can walk amongst them and that sort of thing. If you look at them straight in the eye for too long, they will attack thinking that you are a threat. I don't think there is anything quite like that in America because Americans are too sue happy. So, it was definitely a new experience.