Adventures in Tokyo - Part 2: Nomihodai (A Retrospective)

So Japan has this awesome concept at most restaurants and the like, called NOMIHODAI.  Nomihodai essentially means all-you-can-drink and for a set fee you can do just that within the limits of a pre-agreed-upon timeframe.  My first experience with nomihodai came on my second night in Tokyo, with a small group of fellow Melburnians in an underground basement izakaya...

After setting out from the hotel looking for a place to have a few post-dinner drinks, we met up with one of Michael's Japanese university friends', Daisuke, and found ourselves splintering from the pack (who wanted to head to some Irish Bar).  We spent some time chatting to the restaurant reps that line the Shinjuku red-light district streets, trying to find a place to grab a drink.  One young tough-looking guy talked us into a 1500yen/2-hour nomihodai deal at his establishment (note: that's roughly 20AUD for 2 hours worth of ALL YOU CAN DRINK) and we followed him downstairs to our smoky, dimly lit table.

From L-R: Me, Daisuke, Jacqui, Michael and Jarryd.

Coathangers hung from hooks on the wall and after hanging up our coats/cardies, we jumped straight into ordering drinks.  This was done by pushing a little button on our table that summoned a waiter.  Luckily, a few people at our table could speak/read Japanese and so the process ran both quickly and smoothly each time.  Our choices weren't limited - we could order beer, wine, sake, cocktails, whiskey, soft drinks, juices , anything we wanted!  We were also served little plates of food along the way, mostly random nameless Japanese entrees, but also cute little bowls of fried rice and the ever-present basket of edamame for the table.

I can't remember just how many nama biru's, cups of sake or umeshu roku's (sweet plum wine on the rocks) I had, but by the end of the nomihodai I was just a little bit trashed and predictably talking the ear off anyone who'd listen.  During our drinking session, I had also been taught the ever-useful, all-purpose word "sumimasen" and for the entire walk back to the hotel this is the only word I would utter to passersby.  Though much of it was a blur, I do recall our group stopping at a conbini (24-hour convenience store) to buy cigarettes and a lighter, posing for a photograph with a drunken group of female co-workers and dancing through the streets of Shinjuku to the bemusement of the salarymen passing by...

Day Two in Tokyo?  Nomihodai FTW.