Drinking Age
 

So I'm going to Japan in a few months and I'm 19 years old. I read somewhere that the Japanese drinking age is 20? I was wondering if this is true so please enlighten me! Also, is it age 20 in the Asian sense in that when you are born, you are 1 year old as opposed to the western sense in that when you are born, you're 0?

Frankly I wouldn't worry too much about it. I was never carded in Japan as a 21 year old. The law is 20 though, but as long as you aren't causing a disruption I can't imagine you will have any problems.

No. It's age 20 in the sense of 20 years after you were born.

When I first visited Japan, the customs official was unwilling to allow me to bring in the bottle of whisky that I'd brought as a gift for my host family (I got someone else to bring it through customs). However, he smilingly reassured me that I'd have no problem getting served alcohol in bars and clubs up and down the country.

My understanding (as someone who is far beyond 20) is that you will be fine. The legal age is 20 but no one will probably even ask you for ID (and especially if you are non Japanese)

Getting carded (for drinking) is very rare in Japan, in fact I have never seen it happen when out with student groups.

With that said though it's always good to "follow the laws" of the host nation even if there is no chance you'll get caught or not. At least that's how I operate, but I'm a goodie two shoes.

But you shouldn't have any problems if you wanted.

Getting carded to enter clubs is another story (at least in Shibuya), everyone was carded at the places I went to.

Of course I have no problems, I was 20 years old ages ago...@_@

Back when I was teaching Japanese, another teacher told me about accompanying a group of middle school children to Japan. One of the boys, a very mature-looking 14-year-old, went into the hotel bar late in the evening and was served (and served and served) without any trouble. The chaperones had to deal with his severe hangover the next morning.

My point is that no one asked this kid for proof of age.

The only places I've seen that card people are the assorted Gaspanic clubs and bars.

By law, the drinking age in Japan is 20. But as mentioned, it is almost never enforced. Keep in mind that there are still vending machines that serve alcohol in Japan, so it isn't all that hard to circumvent anyway.

The concept of counting age starting at 1 and adding another year to the count on Lunar New Year is based off of Chinese tradition and used to be widely followed in Sino-influenced cultures. See here for a detailed explanation. To keep it on topic with Japan, this practice has all but disappeared. Quite a few of my Japanese acquitances are completely unfamiliar with the concept.

Yes, the custom of counting people as one year old when they're born is called kazoé-doshi in Japanese, but I've seen the word only in older literature or historical documents.

One custom that is still alive, though, is of counting years by imperial eras instead of by the Western calendar. On an official form, you're just as likely to see Heisei 22 as 2010, and even in conversation, people will talk about having been born in Showa 35 (1960) or Heisei 2 (1990).

Some of my fellow students seriously (but only briefly) considered giving up drinking and smoking when they reached the age of 20. Since it was legal to do so it wasn't as much fun any more.

I get carded at the door every time I go to Womb in Shibuya.