Man's greatest invention

My favorite Japanese word is "nomihodai" which means "all-you-can-drink". The nomihodai is a fairly widespread phenomenon in Japan. Hell, even places in Fujiyoshida have nomihodai! Here's how the nomihodai works: First you go to a bar/karaoke place and just ask for the nomihodai. They're usually set up by the hour and have a set price (about $10-$15/hour). Next, you get the drink menu and you can have your pick of anything you want on the drink menu for as long as the nomihodai lasts. You can have as much beer, whiskey, cocktails and mixed drinks as you can possibly drink in that set amount of time. Essentially it's the cheapest way to get drunk in Japan, especially since a pint of beer will run you about $5 at most bars.

I've nomihodaied twice since I've been in Japan. The first nomihodai was a better quality but more expensive bar in Tokyo that was about $25 for two hours. For the extra price you get to choose from better quality beers and liquors. I also nomihodaied last night at karaoke...

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that I don't sing very often. People nicknamed Mono usually aren't known for their singing prowess; however, I agreed to go pretty readily at the mention of the word nomihodai. The cost was 1000 yen or about $9/hr which included karaoke. That's an insanely cheap price. Needless to say it came with insanely cheap booze, but it got the job done (except now I have the hangover to hell, I think the beer we drank was the Japanese equivalent of Mickey's). I got insanely drunk and even sang a lot of karaoke. Everyone pretty much just laughed at me the whole night. I'm glad I provided a little entertainment but at the same time I think I cried a little bit at the same time....

Afterwards we went to Hell AKA Michael's pub and drank even more. I'm not really sure what happened after that, but at least I got home safely and I didn't wake up in a pool of my own vomit. It's the little things in life that you need to be thankful for...