Morioka Baeren Brewery & Pub Oktoberfest!

Oktoberfest: The word brings to mind visions of golden brews splashing on pants, suggestively long sausages (or wurst), leiderhosen, braids, and the Chicken Dance set to merry melodies of brass horns. There is no such thing as a lousy Oktoberfest. Anyone who goes always walks away with a story to tell, and here is mine:

Japanese taxi! #1 rule: Don't open the door yourself!

Morioka's Baeren Brewery and Pub was hosting an Oktoberfest over the weekend and on Sunday, I journeyed north for the event with a few friends. It was beautiful weather and there was a respectable crowd at the brewery. Tents with tables and chairs were set up as well as the customary food carts. The nomihodai concept, paying a flat fee and then drinking as much as you want/can for a set number of hours was made for Oktoberfest. At one table was a sentry post of kegs ready for consumption. There were four set up, all beers crafted locally and you could taste each or just stick to your favorite until you couldn't stand anymore. Myself, I sampled a few, including the house specialty, but found the lemon beer was my favorite.

Now, I was told ahead of time that this was a BYOC (Bring Your Own Chalice) event, so the night before, I ran out to the local 100 yen store and bought a kitschy plastic mug. But I'm a quirky gal so I grabbed one of those mugs with liquid inside it so that you freeze it overnight and the ice inside the hollow mug keeps your bev nice and chill. 

You'd have thought I had the freaking Holy Grail in my possession. The (drunk) Japanese men who noticed my mug were at first impressed that it was always so full...then they peeked inside to see what I was drinking that had such an oddly green tint. They then reeled backwards in surprise when they saw my empty mug! At this point, the liquid had melted so I laughed and told them "This is my magic mug!" and would proceed to "pour" it out over my own head. They were astounded. Flabbergasted! And they loved it.

And because parents need to have fun too, there was a big bouncey bunny set up for the kids. 

I ended up chatting with a few of the Japanese locals who speak very good English and some of the other ALTs for the afternoon. I also met a very, very, very sadistic German who was walking around with a plate of red peppers and trying to get people to eat them. I made the mistake thinking they were no big thing, but oh my God...Satan's hemorrhoid-filled anus could not be spicier. 

Taking a break from beer with chess...classy

I thought I was going to vomit but instead began hiccuping, which is not fun when you've been drinking beer as your hiccups take on a very unpleasant taste. Fortunately, a friend took me over to the tent when some other teachers were snacking and he offered me his remedy: cashews! 

I've used yogurt and milk and cream to stifle spice but I had never heard of using fatty nuts. Believe it or not, they work! So while I healed, I watched the entertainment: some very skilled jump-ropers...rope-jumpers?

But, as all good things must come to an end, Oktoberfest wrapped up and our party decided to move on out. However, it was only early evening, so we first went to a local bar for snacks and drinks. We met some very genki young men presumably back from a wedding. They also were not shy about talking to us as we explained where we were from, why we were in Japan, why we were in Morioka and which of us what the bigger "baka." For some reason, it was me, but it was also agreed I was the cutest so I'll take that. 

Shameless

Afterwards, we continued on to a local karaoke bar, Pirates. We met up with our friends Limor and Annik and chatted for a little while before deciding it wasn't nearly rowdy enough and the karaoke remotes came out. As the night went on, the bar filled up and we met some very fun Japanese patrons. The highlight of the night was definitely when someone chose "Salve Maria" from Sister Act and everyone sang it perfectly...even the Italian! I wished my voice wasn't shot so I could have belted it out too but I sang as best I could because this is Japan: sing even if you can't and sing as loud as you can! 

AAARRRRRRR!

Drinking culture in Japan is something else. There's actually a common belief that there is no "alcoholism" in Japan, just a lot of people who like to drink a lot. There are alcohol festivals, deals like nomihodai and business parties called "enkai" where the goal is for a team to bond over alcohol, food and maybe onsen. I don't think even is my wildest dreams I could compete with the Japanese way of drinking, but it's amazing to see this part of the culture in such fervent action. Kanpai!

3am jya jyamen: Morioka style ramen

Like one of your French girls

Red-eye? What red-eye?