And then there’s Japan. Drinking is a huge part of Japanese culture; whether it’s going out to a bar with your friends, or hitting an izakaya with your coworkers, it’s hard to find a social occasion that doesn’t involve kicking back a few cold ones.

But there are also plenty of problems with alcohol in Japan. Today, Japan chugs down 6 times more booze than they did 50 years ago. The crown prince of the Japanese royal family had to be treated for alcoholism, and a few years ago, the Japanese finance minister held a press conference drunk:

Maybe nobody is more notorious for not being able to hold their alcohol than Japanese salarymen. Just a couple of beers (even light, watery Japanese beers) send salarymen stumbling down city streets late at night, neckties around their foreheads, faces beet-red.

You might think that salarymen are wusses or lightweights for getting drunk so easily, but there is actually a scientific explanation behind why the Japanese can’t always hold their liquor.

Drunken Science

A big reason so many Japanese have trouble with alcohol is because of a condition called the “alcohol flush reaction,” (or “Asian glow”). It’s a genetic condition that affects something like ⅓ of all East Asian people.

What does this Asian glow do to people? In a nutshell, it means that the body can’t break down alcohol all the way, causing even light drinking to result in really bad hangovers and bright red faces (hence the name “Asian glow”).

For relaxing times...

But besides the obvious, visible effects of alcohol on those who have the Asian glow, there are other things going on beneath the surface, chemical reactions within the body.

Japanese Mutants

Typically when somebody drinks alcohol, it’s processed by the body in two basic steps. First, alcohol is broken down into a harsh chemical, then into a milder chemical that’s basically vinegar.

The enzyme in your body that makes that important second step happen called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH).  ALDH makes sure that alcohol is only in that harsh chemical form for a little bit of time.

But for some reason, about 40-45% of Japanese people are mutants.

No, not cool kind of mutants, but the regular ol’ boring kind. These people have a different kind of ALDH (called ALDH2) that doesn’t break down the alcohol as well nor as fast, leaving the alcohol in the body at that harsh chemical state for longer.

So while people with the Asian glow might not be able to shoot lasers out of their eyes or have Adamantium claws (they’re only Vibranium), this mutation is still pretty important, especially in a culture where drinking is so prominent.

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Help A Salaryman. Watch This Video.

It’s come to my attention that Japanese wives have been getting more and more stingy with their husband’s spending money. While in 1990 Japanese salarymen received on average 76,000 yen per month to spend on lunch, beer and other fun things, salarymen of today only get on average 36,500 yen per month (that’s around $450 thanks to the good Japanese→Dollar exchange rate, so it probably feels more like $350). This decrease is due to the economy (and more recently) the earthquake. Japanese are just getting more careful with their money all around. But that’s exactly why I decided to create the “Save The Salaryman Foundation” over 20 years ago. I want to help these poor, sober Japanese salarymen drink again.

“Keeping Japanese Salarymen Drinking since 1991″

In a “traditional” Japanese family, the husband goes out and works all the time while the wife stays home and takes care of the child/children, cleans, and deals with all the money stuff. Along with this “money stuff” comes the responsibility to give money (back) to the husband for spending money. They spend their money on things like lunch, snacks, beer, and other fun things. Basically, it’s their “spending money.” Their “allowance” if you will.

The economy in Japan, though, hasn’t been all that great lately. The earthquake, of course, didn’t help, and people all over Japan have been holding onto their money more and businesses have been seeing less business. When a business sees less business they can’t pay as many of their workers are much, and so they spend less money because of that. It’s a terrifying circle if you ask me, but it’s the salarymen, of course, who are really suffering (they need their beer money!). All those smart housewives have been giving out less as a result.

Some ways Salaryman money has changed:

• In 1990 Salarymen got 76,000 yen vs. the 36,500 yen they get now.
• Japanese salarymen bring lunch to work a lot more often now (to save money).
• On average, they spend 490 yen for lunch.
• Salarymen eat out 2.9 times per month and spend 3540 yen each outing (compared to 6000 yen only 2 years ago, in 2009).
• The last time it was this low as 1982, which is nearly 30 years ago.

Hope you enjoyed this just-for-fun post. All joking aside, though, go buy a salaryman a beer. He probably needs another more than you think.