During my time at my present employer, I have of course been drinking with my colleagues on quite a few occasions. It’s always fun and we have a laugh. Last Tuesday was different...
With the arrival of the hot weather in Japan, the office has gone into “cool biz” mode. The temperature gauge has been turned up and the ties are off. The Summer is also the time for an event called 暑気払い(“shokibarai”). This phrase literally means “to beat the heat away” and it’s an opportunity to let out all of the pent up heat and the stress of work. Tuesday was the first time that I had participated in such an event.
Just like any other nomikai, the first thing to do is to assign a person to the role of kanji (幹事). The kanji must organize everything and co-ordinate the entire event. It’s a real pain and naturally the job usually rotates between the more junior members, of which I am one. For this reason, I was surprised when my boss took the responsibility.
The first thing the kanji must do is establish the date for the event. This usually works by passing a calendar round the office. Each person takes their hanko and stamps all of the dates that they are unavailable. The calendar is passed to the highest ranking person first and it works its way down.
After that, the kanji sent the following email, which gave me an indication that this was not the usual nomikai:
| 営業部暑気払いの開催日が６月３０日（火）に決まりましたので、 取り急ぎご連絡申し上げます。 お店は丸の内界隈のお店を予定しておりますが、追ってご連絡いた します。 当日は１人１芸を、＿＿＿さんのみ２芸（１芸では足らぬとの弁）をよろしくお願いします。 | This to quickly inform you that the date for the marketing department’s shokibarai has been set to the 30th of June (Tuesday). We are planning on choosing a venue in the marunouchi area. I would like to request that each participant prepares one performance, with the exception of Mr. ___ who must prepare two (the consensus was that 1 was insufficient). |
“Performance? What the *$#?”, I thought to myself. This was the first time that such a request had been made.
Next, came the following email:
| 営業部の皆様 暑い季節を目前に控え、鬱陶しい梅雨空を吹き飛ばすべく、営業部・懇親会を開催することになりました。 皆様ひとり残らず、奮ってご参加くださいますよう、宜しくお願い申し上げます。 日時：６月３０日（火） １９時スタート 場所：パセオ・銀座店（カラオケ居酒屋） 個室、カラオケ機器、ダーツ ゲーム付です。（ダーツはワンゲーム１００円の課金） なお、飲み放題２時間限定（！）、でありますので、遅刻などなきよう、この日ばか りは仕事を割り切って、１８時３０分頃に、みんなで揃って、こっそり退社と致したく、ご協力宜しくお願いいたします。 幹事・＿＿＿ | With the Summer heat near at hand, in order to drive away the overcast and rainy skies, we are holding a party for the whole marketing department. I would like to invite everyone, without exception, for active participation in the event. Day/Time: June 30 (Tue) 19:00 Start Place: Paseo, Ginza (Karaoke Izakaya) It’s a private room, with a karaoke machine and darts. (A darts game costs 100 yen). We also have an all-you-can-drink deal for 2 hours(!) so lets all finish our work on time and be sure that we’re not late. It would be very much appreciated if we could meet at 6:30 and quietly exit the office. |
Sure enough, on the day, we had the unusual pleasure of everyone finishing on time and we quietly met on the first floor of the building as instructed. The karaoke room was quite large and the seats were arranged in a U shape, with a flatscreen TV and karaoke machine at the other end. Our deputy director, who likes to drink, had been looking forward to this event for quite a while and it was reportedly his idea to go for karaoke. As soon as the first round arrived, he enthusiastically stood up and kicked the evening off with a speech and a hearty “Kampai!”.
We then spent two and a half hours singing and drinking a lot. We were also served a course meal, which was very good, but lacking in quantity. Obviously everyone got fairly hammered and after Japanese pop, came some Enka singing from the older participants. Once one person was finished singing, the deputy director that I mentioned earlier started a trend where the singer’s name was chanted, and people clapped in time as the individual was forced to down his/her drink. I’ve been drinking several times with my department and this was the first time that this had happened.
One peculiarity of going out in Japan is that there are some people who can’t drink. When I say “can’t drink”, I don’t mean that these people can drink less than other people, I mean that they literally can’t drink. There is one guy in our marketing department who never drinks a drop. He says that if he has one beer, it will take him out of the game for the rest of the evening. He is a legend in the office for being a really funny guy and he’s also reasonably bulky (in a good way!). You would expect him to be able to drink substantial amounts. He spent the evening drinking ginger ales and cokes and acquitted himself admirably with a few renditions of Japanese pop songs where he was hilarious in each.
Things progressed to the next level, where a new song was introduced. It goes something like this: (to the tune of “Do Re Mi” from a Sound of Music)
| ドーはドーナツのドー♪ レーはレモンのレー♪ ミーはみんなのミー♪ ファーはファイトのファー♪ ソは青い空ー♪ …. | Doh is for DONUTS! Reh is for Rehmon! Mi is for Minna! Fa is for Faito! So is the so from Aozora! |
Rehmon = Lemon, Minna = Everyone, Faito = Fight, Aozora = Blue sky
Before singing the song, the victim had several drinks lined up in front of him, with the next drink being of a smaller quantity than the previous. This made the line up look like a xylophone. Everyone sang “Doh is for DONUTS!” and the person had to down the first drink. Then everyone sings “Reh is for Remon!” and the second drink is consumed etc.
I managed to avoid that one but the non-drinker in our group wasn’t as fortunate. Instead of beers, he got a ginger ale, a coke, a bowl of salad and a mango mouse pudding.
