飲み会 (nomikai)
お久しぶりです。 It's been a while since I last posted an article here. I've been busy posting in my blog in Spanish.
My kenkyushitsu (research students room) mates organized a nomikai set as of yesterday. I was looking forward to taking active part in common activities with them. I missed the summer camp in early August and really wanted to sharing leisure time with them. We are always in the kenkyushitsu reading and studying, but it's different when the environment is set not to study... This was my chance.
Some came by bus, others by train and others by bike. Drinking and driving it's banned by law. Legislation in Japan is harsh and the fine for this case is worth 3 million yen (you can buy a brand new car with this money!). Anyhow, it was kind of funny seeing my neighbour in the kenkyushitsu, a 40-year-old captain of the Japanese Infantry branch of the Army, arriving in his bicycle.
I've heard plenty of stories about this nomikai practice, but my experience was far from what I had expected. It was really a great time for us to get to know each other a little more. Time to talk about movies and hobbies in a loose fashion. Nobody got pissed drunk as I thought I might witness that night. We then went to karaoke. Unfortunately, they are strangers to some foreign practices and some of them laughed out loud at my performance of 'La Bamba'. I wonder why they laugh, when I know they are being entertained amused in astonishment. It's hard for a Japanese person to be spontaneous, even harder to shake it like Shakira! (I'm not Shakira, by the way). As a friend of mine (who is married to a Japanese girl) said: Japan is an island thereso still isolated to some Western customs and clueless about how to deal with foreigners.
Anyhow, we are now ready to start the next semester with all impetus.
Unfortunately I don't have graphic documentation of the gathering, as I forgot my camera. I had left my house very early that morning, doing a lot of stuff, including an unproductive expedition to Osaka.
My kenkyushitsu (research students room) mates organized a nomikai set as of yesterday. I was looking forward to taking active part in common activities with them. I missed the summer camp in early August and really wanted to sharing leisure time with them. We are always in the kenkyushitsu reading and studying, but it's different when the environment is set not to study... This was my chance.
Some came by bus, others by train and others by bike. Drinking and driving it's banned by law. Legislation in Japan is harsh and the fine for this case is worth 3 million yen (you can buy a brand new car with this money!). Anyhow, it was kind of funny seeing my neighbour in the kenkyushitsu, a 40-year-old captain of the Japanese Infantry branch of the Army, arriving in his bicycle.
I've heard plenty of stories about this nomikai practice, but my experience was far from what I had expected. It was really a great time for us to get to know each other a little more. Time to talk about movies and hobbies in a loose fashion. Nobody got pissed drunk as I thought I might witness that night. We then went to karaoke. Unfortunately, they are strangers to some foreign practices and some of them laughed out loud at my performance of 'La Bamba'. I wonder why they laugh, when I know they are being entertained amused in astonishment. It's hard for a Japanese person to be spontaneous, even harder to shake it like Shakira! (I'm not Shakira, by the way). As a friend of mine (who is married to a Japanese girl) said: Japan is an island thereso still isolated to some Western customs and clueless about how to deal with foreigners.
Anyhow, we are now ready to start the next semester with all impetus.
Unfortunately I don't have graphic documentation of the gathering, as I forgot my camera. I had left my house very early that morning, doing a lot of stuff, including an unproductive expedition to Osaka.
posted by Cecilia Fernández at 3:50 PM
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