Changes in Japanese Drinking Patterns

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Abstract
To examine changes in Japanese drinking patterns and attitudes, pre-1954 anthropological information on village societies was compared with the results of a survey in 1965. The commonest alcoholic beverage was sake (14-16% alcohol), a rice beer; shochu (about 25% alcohol), a distillate of sake mash, was the cheapest. Traditional, socially integrative drinking practices allowed heavy drinking and drunkenness in confined social groups and in well-defined situations. Drinking symbolized status change, ensured the benignity of the gods, diminished social distance and strengthened group bonds. From 1953 to 1963 the per capita (15 years and over) consumption of absolute alcohol increased from 0.9 to 1.3 gallons. In 1964, 468 gallons of beer and 262 million gallons of sake were produced; 82% of the population drank beer, 72% sake, 53% whisky, 50% grape wine and 5% shochu. The rate of alcoholism was estimated as 3% of the population in the early 1960s. In 1965 a survey was made of 170 residents (aged 19-70 years) of Nishinomiya (population 323,319) living in 1 rural and 2 suburban districts, to test the hypothesis that drinking to reduce anxiety was more common in the younger generation. Only 2 men and 5 women were abstainers. Respondents in their 20s were significantly more often aware that people may use alcohol to reduce anxiety than older ones. Characteristics related to this awareness were: male sex (p < .01); age 20-29 years (p < .05); drinking begun before age 20 (p < .001); 1st inebriation before age 22 (p < .001); recent drinking in places (bars, cabarets, stand-up stalls) tending to lack social controls (p < .01); alteration of behavior or mood by alcohol (p < .01); permissiveness toward drinking by women (p .001). Characteristics not so related were occupation, education, religious affiliation, and positive attitudes toward drunkenness, misuse of alcohol and alcohol as supportive of social solidarity. Compared with U. S. college students by the quantity-frequency index, the extent of drinking by Japanese women was almost identical: only 2 5% drank more than 1 drink on an occasion or more frequently than once per month. There was more drinking by the Japanese men (p < .001), 39% receiving the highest quantity-frequency rating (3 oz. or more of absolute alcohol, more than once a week); all of these drank frequently, but only 7 drank large quantities. The high rating was associated with white-collar occupation (p < .05), absence of religious affiliation (p < .05), drinking for personal rather than social reasons (p < .001), and the attitude to alcohol as supportive of social solidarity (p < .001). Beer and whisky were preferred by younger respondents, sake by those aged 40 or over. The modern changes appear to indicate substitution of a new type of modal drinking behavior for the traditional patterns. Recently disapproval of drunkenness has been increasing and gradually Japan is adopting the social ambivalence toward alcohol typical of some Western countries.

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