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Drinking Gathering in Japan

How do you define “fairness”? A more specific question like the following would illustrate Japanese society and culture: “A group of 5 people work together on a project and get $100 for the project. How would you divide the amount among the 5 group members?”



















When you ask Japanese people this question, quite a few of them, of course not all of them, would answer “$20 for each.” Westerners, on the other hand, would claim that “$100 should be divided based on each member’s contribution to the project. Some members could get nothing whereas only one member could get all the $100.” Japanese people would counter-argue that the work was done in a group, insisting that the money be divided “equally.”

This unique notion of fairness is applied to a drinking gathering. If you are not familiar with this uniqueness, you might get very frustrated or upset when you get the check after drinking. The waitperson normally does not ask if we prefer one or separate check. The amount each participant owes is obtained by dividing the total amount, which include all the dishes and drinks for the entire group. We each are expected to pay the divided “fair” or even amount. You might feel “unfair,” especially when you feel obligated to come to the gathering while surely knowing that you cannot consume the fair amount of food and alcohol. Don’t worry! There is one solution for your frustration: Try “nomihoudai” (English: all you can drink). When you order “nomihoudai,” you have to pay extra but only pay a fixed amount regardless of however much you drink.