An interesting addition to Fukuoka’s nightlife

Among the many things foreigners find surprising when they first come to Japan is the country’s lax attitude towards alcohol. This includes 24 hour availability of alcohol in convenience stores, no laws against drinking on the street or public urination, and a remarkable tolerance of extreme public drunkenness. An unfortunate result of the latter is vomit, and on several occasions I’ve witnessed respectably dressed sarariman (salarymen=male office workers) asleep in a pool of their own vomit. More often than not though the ‘perpetrator’ has left the ‘crime scene’ immediately after vomiting, leaving a mess for someone else to clean up. I’ve seen these ‘pavement pizzas’ on trains, station platforms and even on an escalator, but more commonly on the street in pureisupotto (play spots=nightlife areas).

An effort to combat this unpleasant side effect of excessive drinking has been introduced in the oyafukodori nightlife area of Fukuoka. Rather than infringe on people’s right to get totally plastered, one bar there has introduced the ’sick bar’ (haki bar in Japanese) outside its premises. Presumably tired of cleaning up pavement pizzas every Friday and Saturday night, the owner has installed a sink with an amusing menu sign to draw attention to it. Whether the kind of people it targets are actually capable of either reading the haki bar sign or aiming projectile vomit at the sink is anyone’s guess, but it seems like a good idea to me. It’s just a pity I didn’t see it the previous time I went to oyafukodori, as it would have been handy after I drank too many kamikaze cocktails!

<<1>> The haki bar, the place to be seen in Fukuoka! <<2>> The menu. <<3>> A drunkard trying out the facilities.

Check out these other unusual photos - the Harajuku oddball, the claw machine with live lobster prizes, the ‘ultra big’ condoms’ and samurai Colonel Sanders.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 4:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Articles in English, Out and About in Japan, Food and Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.