The Sake Bomb

Having been in Japan for over 3 months, I surprisingly hadn't tried any Sake. There's just something about it that doesn't appeal to me that much. Maybe it reminds of Korea's firewater, Soju or maybe I'm simply a beer person..I'm not sure. I've just never really had any reason to seek out the best Sakes like I do for the best beers. When I heard that there was a Sake Festival near Hiroshima in October, I just had to check it out.

So Sake Festival was a ton of freaking fun! The Sake festival was actually part of a much bigger festival (and I have no idea what that is). I celebrate alcohol and nothing else, after all. More affectionately called Sake Fest, we had to pay all of 1,800 Yen (18 bucks) to drink all of the Sake we could stomach in a roughly 6 hour time frame. That's virtually unheard of in America. All you can drink for 18 bucks...to quote Ralph:: "That's unpossible." You're first given a small Sake cup and then they set you loose. The whole place is just a big enclosed park filled with drunken madness. All of the areas of Japan are represented: Hokkaido, Kibi, Chugoku, Kinki, Chubu, etc.

My goal at Sake fest was to find the best Sake, but after a few shots, I  lost track of what I had drank and what I had tried. I remember that number 51 was good and that the Kinki region was to be avoided. I also remember that I liked spicy Sake better than the sweet kind and also that Chairo Sake (brown Sake) was better than the clear type. After about 30 shots of Sake, how I was I supposed to keep track of anything? However, I think Sake is pretty good. It's a very clear sort of inebriation. I certainly don't feel hazy like when I drink wine and I don't feel angry like when I drink Four Loco. My head felt clear and joyful. I think Sake is quite good in honesty, but I'm most definitely not a lover. I'll stick with beer.

Overall, the whole day was quite nice. We met a lot of people there: foreigners and Japanese. When everyone is under the influence of alcohol, interactions tend to be more interesting. Either way, I don't remember much about leaving the festival. I remember that I ended up in an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is basically a Japanese pancake and it's a specialty of Hiroshima. I would like to say I loved the food but I was too drunk to really eat anything. After feeling better, we headed to Karaoke and some dancing. A good day, I'd say..

Sad story about Sake Fest: The drunken G-Pa.

At one point while a group of us were sitting down and chatting, An older Japanese man (extremely drunk) was trying to initiate conversation with us. A couple of hours later, we saw this same man with his grandchildren. His grand children were crying, and he was incredibly drunk and basically telling them to leave him alone. I just can't believe you would take your grand children to such an event, especially after you were entrusted with taking care of them. And then to be so irresponsible as to drink to the point of being unable to care for them. That's just sad.