Kampai Tension

Some of the nicest things about Japan are the traditions, many pertaining to showing respect. There are always exceptions to the rule, I'll be the first to admit that, but one such tradition is the group "Kampai" (cheers!).

A major rule when at any drinking party is that everyone waits until everyone has a drink, then, and only then, can EVERYONE raise glasses together and clink yelling Kampai. Then the floodgates are open and usually at least one person passes out and another turns bright red, it's always good comedy nonetheless.

Usually one doesn't have to wait very long for the entire party/group/table to get all of their drinks, so it's not a problem. I was witness to a glitch in the system though last night.

I was at an all-Japanese bonenkai (end of the year party). It also doubled as a pot-luck meal. The party was due to start at 6 at a friends house, and since things run on time in Japan, I was ready at 5:30 after rushing like mad all day long. I should add, I didn't know many of the people there. So there was alot of nervous tension. Think back to when you need to break the tension meeting some inlaws, or at a high school get together, you drink. Well the food is getting put down on the tables, and the 6 of us that had arrived on time were sitting on the floor patiently waiting for the last 4 to show up.

I should remind you. Nervous tension+Booze=Everyone becomes best Friends.

But we could'nt open our beers, because not everyone had arrived. So Ive got a magically chilled tall can of Suntory in front of me, but I can't touch it. And I've got a spread of food (shrimp, guacamole, hummus, chicken etc) all in front of me, but I can only smell and ooh/ahh at how good it looks (standard practice), I can't eat it. At 7pm 2 more showed up. Then at EIGHT pm the final 2 had arrived.

Ill remind you again, 2 hours, nervous tension, awkward broken Japanese small talk, and no booze or food. It was almost comical, watching the Japanese folk with me try to save face and deal with this delay properly and politely. There were alot of "tabetaiiiii's"(I want to eat that!) and "nomitaiiiii's" (I want to DRINK that!), and awkward glances at the clock. I was passing out beers to the other guys there within 42 seconds of the last 2 people showing up, and I'm pretty sure I saw tears of gratitude in their eyes, as the strain had gotten to them too.

3 seconds after that, a round of cans popped open and a loud KAMPAI was shouted before the boozing began in earnest, time check, 8:05pm. The nervous looking guy across from me killed his beer in two drinks, and suddenly he was at ease, joking, telling stories, giving me thumbs up, and asking for another rum/coke (I should add, I was the only one to bring a 26oz bottle of rum, they thought it was interesting to no end). The other guy who nervously sat by his wife earlier, suddenly was drinking rum on the rocks, spilling rice, and laughing away. He lasted exactly 2 hours then passed out flat on the living room floor. He was covered up and a pillow put under his head, and the party went on with a body next to the table. I thought of what would happen in Canada, maybe one of the jokers would take crude pictures, maybe another would draw lewd drawings with a marker on his cheek, someone would definitely put his hand in a warm glass of water and giggle hoping he'd piss his pants.

Things just carried right on, no problem. On one side of the room a god awful SMAP concert DVD played with one lady (superfan) singing along, then at 1am an inpromptu yoga session went on (no, I did not partake in this). Anything goes, once the kampai tension has been broken.