Why Young Adults in Japan Are Being Encouraged To Drink Alcohol
It’s to do with a drinking competition of a different kind.
I’m fortunate that I don’t have a negative relationship with alcohol but I do sometimes wonder what it might take for me to reach that kind of place. As the cliched line goes “I enjoy drinking in moderation”; whisky with ice, vodka and tonic, a tall glass of red wine…I enjoy that relaxing feeling that alcohol imbibes me with, the slowness with which my mind moves is calming, and everything has a slightly humorous and positive tint to it. However, the next morning (or the whole the next day if I’ve drunk enough) most of these positives are forgotten as tiredness, brain fog, and an upset stomach besieges me. At those times the thought of another alcoholic drink repels me, I see a half-empty whisky bottle on the kitchen table and I wince. In those moments I sometimes wonder what it would be like to feel compelled to keep going, to wake up and feel like I had to have another drink to function. The thought seems so absurd at that moment but I know that it happens to people, alcoholism is an insidious addiction that can snake its way into your life, common enough to be “one of the world’s largest risk factors for premature death”
I wonder what it would take for me to feel like I had no choice but to drink my way through…
