Go home Mr. Tie, you're drunk.

Sometimes you've got to party till the wheels fall off. Other times, moderation may be best. Especially when you are here as a student and have put it all on the line to make it here and to this point. But when in Tokyo you should do as the Tokyoites do, right? At least as far as euphemisms go. However if you value your liver, stomach, intestines and sleep try not to do as the sarariimen do.

     In my advanced lifetime, I have had various times where my need and endeavors to celebrate to Keith Richards leveled proportions have outdone my ability to do so and function usefully the next day. Heck, in my heyday I could outdrink circles around most of my peers and still be up for anything the next day. "Go big or go home" would have easily been my motto. However those days have come and gone as I've gotten older and hopefully more mature/responsible. Here in Tokyo though, more than any group of young 20-somethings from my school in party mode, the sarariiman go hardest of all. Their motto may be "turn down for what"!

     Here in Tokyo, more than any other place I've traveled (including Tijuana) I've seen more things culturally ingrained geared toward drinking throughout the regular work week. Every night beginning after about 7pm, the ambient scent of my train lines change from varied degrees and varieties of body odor to the scent of alcohol as sarariiman cram the trains and head home after nomikai (drinking party) with their co-workers. However here being that drinking with bosses and coworkers is more of an institutionalized practice there is less negative stigma, sideways glances, and surliness regarding drinkers. Rather a stronger sense of camaraderie and respect-of-sorts exists. 

     More times than I can recall I have noticed neckties left along walkways and in trains and wondered what the story is behind them. Also, I noticed that at train station newsstands and conbini they sell plain, nondescript packaged neckties and oxford shirts. No doubt for people who have lost theirs or those who missed the last trains and have to go directly from party-mode into business warrior mode. For me seeing the abandoned ties on the street was intriguing at first. Now however they just blend into the background, as much a part of Tokyo as vending machines.