Japanese Drinking Manners by Megumi

As winter comes, many Japanese people will drink together with friends and co-workers. This event is called ”忘年会” (year-end party) in Japanese.

<strike>Japanese likes punctuate. </strike><<<<<<<<Sorry, I don't understand what this means. Do you mean Japanese people like being punctual? Or do you mean they like to abbreviate phrases? Or even that Japanese people like grammatical punctuation marks?>>>>>>>>>>

忘年会 is <strike>also </strike>for celebrating the end of the year and looking forward to the next year. During the party, we will review the year  and show their one year's gratitude to each other.

When we get drink together in formal way, there is a rule where to sit at restaurants or izakaya (Japanese style bar). If you go drinking with your co-worker, or you are invited formal party, you should pay attention to where you sit. First of all, if your don't have any titles in the company, or if you want to show respect to other people in the party, you could choose the seat nearest to the entrance. This is called the ”下座” ( shimo za) seat. In contrast, if you have a superior title in the company or if you are the main person at the party, you could sit the farthest from entrance. This is called the ”上座” (kami-za) seat.

In the drinking party, there is also a custom ( it is not a mandatory, but most people do) called "お酌”(oshaku). This custom is to pour beer/sake into other people's glasses. We can do this action even if the glasses are not empty. In turn, other people also come to you to pour alcohol into your glass. If you have not drunken too much, you had better <strike>to</strike> accept other people's oshaku. This is called ”お酌返し”(Oshyaku gaeshi). At oshaku time, people intend to talk to you personally and oshaku makes good friendships <strike>with you and others</strike>. <strike>You </strike>Just enjoy each others oshaku and conversation!