Nicholas Barr

Advisors:

Dr. Yoshiko Saito- Abbott

Dr. Chikaomi Takahashi

DRINKING CULTURE IN JAPAN AND AMERICA

OUTLINE PAGE

• Significance of Study

• Research Question

• Background Research

• Research Method

• Research Findings

• Conclusion

• Bibliography

• Acknowledgements

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• What are the differences in the acceptable drinking practices in regards to when, where, and with whom between the two countries?

• How do the reasons differ for drinking between the two cultures?

• What factors affect the way each culture views the consumption of alcohol.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

• People drink all over the world. I am one of those people. My time in Japan exposed me to a whole new culture of drinking.

• Drinking culture is an integral aspect of both American and Japanese social structures. So I want to compare the difference between the two cultures.

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

• Historical views on drinking in Japan

• Historical views on drinking in America

• Positive drinking practices

• Underage drinking in both countries

HISTORICAL VIEWS ON DRINKING IN JAPAN

• Traditionally only adult males drank alcoholThe drinking of alcohol by women and young men was frowned upon before the

Meji period. When women did drink they would drink less than the men.( Higuchi al, 2003)

• Increasing consumption of beer Beer became popular after the Meji restoration. It was easy to produce and

drink. ( Higuchi al, 2003)

• Alcohol vending machinesJapan is the only country in the world that has an abundance of alcohol vending

machines. ( Higuchi al, 2003)

http://www.icap.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tMW8of1JAgU%3D&tabid=199

HISTORICAL VIEWS OF DRINKING IN AMERICA

• Colonial AmericansMany people in the colonies drank alcohol on a daily basis. The beer was cleaner

than the water available because it had been boiled. People would treat spirits like coffee and drink it morning noon and night! (Crews, 2007)

• ProhibitionCaused more problems than it solved. It created a country of law breakers where

most everyone was in someway involved with the underground production and consumption of alcohol. At the peak of prohibition 1000 people a year were dying because of the poor quality of the alcohol. (Crews, 2007)

http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Holiday07/drink.cfm

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/

CULTURAL DRINKING PRACTICES• American and Japanese practices may be different but serve the same purpose of

bonding into new social groups. The people involved promise to trust their new group and be a reliable member of the group. (Tiger, 2007)

Japanese example American example

The oyabun and kobun relationship in the yakuza. The boss and initiate share sake where the sake represents blood. The boss is served more alcohol because he is more important. The initiate then swears to put the yakuza above all else in his life.(Anthony Bruno)

Drinking is one of the most common forms of fraternity hazing. It is used to make the initiates more comfortable and facilitate closer bonds with the existing members. Initiates must also server the members that have been there longer thus showing the hierarchy. (Cornell.edu)

POSITIVE DRINKING PRACTICES

• Health benefits of drinking

Reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, impotence, catching a cold, dementia. One drink a day for women and two for men. (Daniel and Schmidt, 2012)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460312000408

UNDERAGE DRINKING IN JAPAN

• A prevalent problem in Japan with %50 of junior high school consuming alcohol and %70 of senior high school students consuming alcohol. (WHO Global status Repots on Alcohol, 2004)

• There was a direct link in the decrease in drinking within these age groups when alcohol vending machines were halved in number around Japan. However most children obtained alcohol from home or convenience stores . ( WHO, 2004)

http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/japan.pdf

UNDERAGE DRINKING IN AMERICA

• 40% of High school age children in America said they drank alcohol in the past 30 days in a survey done by the CDC. A further 20% said that they had consumed an alcoholic beverage before age 13. Both of these figures are much lower percentage than their Japanese constituents.

• 40% of those who consumed alcohol said that they received the alcohol from someone else and did not purchase it themselves

http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm. http://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Results.aspx?TT=&OUT=&SID=HS&QID=H44&LID=&YID=&LID2=&YID2=&COL=&ROW1=&ROW2=&HT=&LCT=&FS=&FR=&FG=&FSL=&FRL=&FGL=&PV=&TST=&C1=&C2=&QP=G&DP=&VA=CI&CS=Y&SYID=&EYID=&SC=&SO=

DRINKING LAWS IN JAPAN• In 1922 Japan passed a law to ban under age drinking and made it illegal to give alcohol to

anyone under the age of 20.

• In 1961 Japan also passed a law that states that people should drink only in moderation and not force others to drink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age

http://search.proquest.com/docview/389014863

DRINKING LAWS IN AMERICA

• Drinking laws concerning age restrictions in America were different on a state to state basis until 1988. Congress passed the national Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984 which leveled fines against states that did not raise their minimum age to buy alcohol to 21.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_the_United_States

THE STUDY

Research Questions

1) What are the differences in the acceptable drinking practices in regards to when, where, and with whom between the two countries?

2) How do the reasons differ for drinking between the two cultures?

3) What factors affect the way each culture views the consumption of alcohol?

RESEARCH METHOD• Study Participants

• 76 University Students

• 40 American Students (21 Male; 19 Female)

• 36 Japanese Students (14 Male; 22 Female)

• Research Instruments

• Online Survey (Google drive)

• English Japanese

17-20 8%

21-25 55%

26-30 28%

31+ 10%

39%

53%

0%

8%

America JapaneseAges

RESEARCH QUESTION 1

• What are the differences in the acceptable drinking practices in regards to when, where, and with whom between the two countries?

DRINKING AROUND STRANGERS

In regards to the question “Rate your level of comfort drinking around people who you don’t know on a scale of 1-5.

AmericanJapanese

We can see that Americans are more comfortable drinking around strangers with over half the responses saying they are either very comfortable or not bothered

DRINKING WITH DIFFERENT SOCIAL GROUPSBehaving differently around different social groups like family/ friends/ and coworkers when drinking.

Japanese Americans

The Japanese responders were overwhelmingly likely to change their behavior. But the Americans were only just under 50% likely to change their behavior.

DRINKING ALONEDo you ever drink alone?

Japanese Americans

Over 60% American responders said they drank alone. 58% of Japanese said they never do.

FREQUENCY OF DRINKING

How often do you drink?

Japanese American

American responders drank slightly more often than the Japanese.

RESEARCH QUESTION 1 ADDITIONAL STATISTICS

• 72% of Japanese responders said it was important to go drinking to develop better relationships compared to only 38% of the Americans.

• 69% of Japanese said they go drinking with club members sometimes or often while 68% of Americans said they never go drinking with fellow club members.

• Both Americans and Japanese said they were more likely to drink at a friend’s house or their own house over a bar or at a restaurant.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH QUESTION 1 Q) What are the differences in the acceptable drinking practices in regards to when, where, and with whom between the two countries?

• Japanese drink more as a bond strengthening practice whereas Americans drink for bond building purposes.

• Americans feel comfortable with their relationship bonds and are okay drinking with strangers and new people.

• Japanese change their behavior in different situations where alcohol is involved between different social groups

RESEARCH QUESTION TWO

• How do the reasons differ for drinking between the two cultures

PEER PRESSUREHow often peer pressure affects drinking amount?

Japanese American

Americans were less likely to be pressured into drinking more, with 90% saying they had little to no influence from friends to drink more than they regularly would. The Japanese

had a much wider spread of responses

WHEN DO YOU DRINKFollowing are percentages showing the reasons that Japanese and Americans drink.

The responses were very similar.

PEER PERCEPTIONWill your friends think less of you if you don’t drink?

Over 80% of Americans and over 70% of Japanese said that they disagree that their peers will think less of them if they did not drink.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH QUESTION 2Q) How do the reasons differ for drinking between the two cultures?

• The reasons for drinking in both cultures were very similar.

• Both Japanese and Americans said that drinking was more about socializing with established peer groups.

• Trying to find potential love partners or new business associates are not important reasons for drinking.

RESEARCH QUESTION THREE

What factors affect the way each culture views the consumption of alcohol?

VIEWS OF PUBLIC INTOXICATION

Do you think it is okay to be drunk in public?

Americans were more accepting of public drunkenness with 31% saying it was okay to be drunk in public.

VIEWS OF PUBLIC INTOXICATION

How would you feel if sitting next to a drunk person on public transport?

.

Japanese American

90% of the Japanese said they would be uncomfortable. A larger portion of the American responses said they would be irritated or indifferent

CULTURAL IMPORTANCE

Is alcohol an important part of your culture?

Japanese American

Most of the responders said it was somewhat important or not at all important. Very few thought it was important.

FREQUENCY OF DRUNKENNESSHow often do you get drunk when you drink?

Japanese American

14% of Japanese and 18% of Americans said they often or always get drunk when they drink. With over 61% of Japanese and 53% of Americans saying they only sometimes get

drunk.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH QUESTION 3 Q) What factors affect the way each culture views the consumption of alcohol?

• Americans think of drinking as being an important part of their culture more so than the Japanese. This is contrary to what I thought at the beginning of the study.

• While in Japan I saw a lot of people drunk in public and no real consequences for it. While in America I rarely see that and there are harsh punishments for being drunk. But in my findings the Americans were more accepting of public drunkenness.

CONCLUSIONS & DISCUSSIONS • Japanese and Americans have different customs related to alcohol, but the practices

serve the same purposes. My survey results showed that both groups use alcohol to relax and spend time with their friends. A surprising number of the results were very similar.

• Socially I think that drinking is important to both countries. I thought it would be viewed as more important to the Japanese because it makes socialization more easy, and breaks down a lot of barriers in communication.

• What was surprising were the differing views on some of the responses. Americans were more comfortable with public intoxication than the Japanese. Which is the opposite of what I expected. Also the Japanese responded that they didn’t feel that alcohol was as an important part of their culture as the Americans.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• The number of participants was too low to make conclusive statements.

• Male and female respondents were unequal for both Americans and Japanese

• The wording of some of the survey questions were vague and could be interpreted differently by different respondents. More black and white answers to the questions could make information more concrete.

FUTURE STUDY

• Compare more drinkers to non drinkers in both countries and see what the difference in social interactions are.

• The amounts and types of alcohols that are consumed in each country.

• Compare the difference between the young and old in drinking practices.

REFERENCES.Bruno, A. (n.d.). THE YAKUZA. Oyabun-Kobun, Father-Child — The Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/2.html Crews, E. (2007, January 1). History.org: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's Official History and Citizenship Website. Drinking in Colonial America: Rattle-Skull, Stonewall, Bogus, Blackstrap, Bombo, Mimbo, Whistle Belly, Syllabub, Sling, Toddy, and Flip : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Holiday07/drink.cfm Daniel W. Capron, Norman B. Schmidt, Positive drinking consequences among hazardous drinking college students, Addictive Behaviors, Volume 37, Issue 5, May 2012, Pages 663-667, ISSN 0306-4603, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.02.002. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460312000408) Hazing.cornell.edu a revealing look at hidden rites. (n.d.). Alcohol & Hazing. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://hazing.cornell.edu/cms/hazing/issues/alcohol.cfm High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2011. (2011, January 1). CDC - .: Application Page :.. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Results.aspx?LID=TX 

REFERENCES.Higuchi, S., Suzuki, K., Matsushita, S., & Osaki, Y. (n.d.). Young People’s Drinking Behavior in

Japan . Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.icap.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tMW8of1JAgU%3D&tabid=199

 

Lerner, M. (n.d.). Prohibition: Unintended Consequences. PBS. Retrieved January 5, 2014, from

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/

 

Borovoy, A. B. (2005). The too-good wife alcohol, codependency, and the politics of nurturance in postwar Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Correia, C. J. (2012). College student alcohol abuse a guide to assessment, intervention, and prevention. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

 

Osaki, Y. Drinking practices, alcohol policy and prevention programs in Japan. International Journal of Drug Policy, 17, 358-366.

 

Tiger, L. Alcohol and Pleasure. Annals of Epidemiology, 17, S112-S113.