Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

12/3/2004, End of year party (bonenkai) at Seashore Hotel

In Japan, it is traditional to have a big end-of-year work party to forget the mistakes of the last year and prepare for the coming year.  We had ours on Friday.  It was held at a very fancy hotel, the Seashore Hotel, near the sea.  Everything is beautiful and meticulously decorated and cleaned.  When you sit down - anywhere - somebody appears and pushes your chair in behind you.  I don't know where these people came from.  You'd start to sit down, and then as if the chair had spring loaded wheels, it would just slide in under you.

The food was amazing.  I've had hotel food before, but this stuff was really good.  My favorite was the scallop (hotate) nigiri sushi.  It's my favorite, but I don't get to eat it very often as it's a bit expensive.  But, there was more than anybody could eat at this party.

At this party, as in most Japanese work parties, almost everybody got quite drunk.  They arranged transportation to various places where teachers live so nobody would have to drive.  I drank, but I managed to keep my pace low enough to stay well within the range of sobriety.  The thing is that people come around and fill your glass constantly and it is truly rude to refuse.  Many of the people pouring are school administrators such as the principal and vice principal.  So, it takes effort to stay sober.

Mr. Takei giving a speech on stage.

Mrs. Yokoyama having a chat with friends.

Mr. Inoue and Ms. Kizu.  Mr. Inoue teaches physics.  Ms. Kizu takes care of the library.

Our vice principal, Mr. Andou, giving a speech.

I was trying to take a picture of my buddy Mr. Shimizu, but our principal very much wanted to be in the picture.

So, I went ahead and took a picture of the both of them.  Mr. Shimizu for his part was perfectly sober.

Our vice principal, Mr. Andou, enjoying dessert.  Dessert, like everything else, was fancy and elaborate.  There was a little bit of ice cream, a small cake, a dish of fruit, and a couple other things.

With everybody this drunk, the ride home was, well, interesting.  We rode home in a little bus hired for the occassion.

I should make note that this is all payed for by a small monthly payroll deduction that we all pay.  This is not an abuse of public funds.

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