enkai

I was at a school enkai ('drinking party') the other day & thought I'd note down what happens at them. It's pretty much the same every few months:

• One of the teachers is given the task of reserving a hotel room to cater for 40-80 people.
• Staff put a circle next to their name on the sign-up sheet if they want to come, or a X to decline.
• A memo is put on the desk of all the teachers, with a mini map showing location & date and time.
• On the day of the party, teachers are allowed to leave school about an hour early, to be able to get to the venue on time.
• Just before the start time, people show up at the hotel, hand in their coat to the cloakroom & pick from a draw to ascertain which round table they will sit at.
• Small talk is made at the table (of about 8 people) before the opening speech.
• Another speech is made & everyone stands up for the kampai (cheers).
• At which point people have poured beer for each other around the table. (It's rude to pour your own drinks.) The beer comes from massive bottles of beer on the table. [At this point there is only beer or oolong tea to choose from to drink.]
• More speeches start, food arrives and people start eating. The food is usually brought out onto a lazy sue in the middle of the table. At a posh restaurant, the waiter/waitress will serve out the food onto 8 small plates which will be passed out. In slightly cheaper places, food will be produced on a large platter but it will fall to one of the guests (always a woman) to serve it out for everyone.
• In a break in the speeches, people will jump up, grab a bottle of beer & go to other tables and start topping up other people's glasses. At which point it is curteous for the person being poured for to hold up their glass at about 45 degrees and hold it with both hands. The person pouring should also hold the bottle with both hands. Now, other drinks are available or upon request from a mini bar at the side of the room.
• Whilst this is going on, more food will come - about 10 small courses or so seems to be the norm! It's often a mix of Western (rare roast beef, pasta...), Chinese (veg etc) and Japanese (occasional noodles or rice towards the end), and a dessert.
• During the evening, speeches will continue, at which point people will return to their seats, drink and eat up some of the many dishes in front of them. As Japanese people are missing an enzyme in their bodies that helps them break up alcohol, they get drunk extremely quickly. And because at school everyone is earnest and hard working, as soon as they get a chance- often when they take a couple of gulps of beer, they relax.
• You can often have interesting conversations with members of staff you've never spoken to before, on these evenings. Also it's a good chance to practise speaking Japanese & occasionally you find out other teachers have surprisingly good English.
• At the end there's a closing speech, and all the teachers stand up, form a massive circle, link arms over each other's shoulders and sing the school song.
• THen the music teacher invariably goes to the front and does this weird chant/ howling thing I've never quite worked out. Occasionally other teachers try it too, but not to such a good effect.
• Then there is the nijikai (2nd party). The party animals and other sociable teachers end up going to another bar or for karoke or something, to continue eating and drinking. At which point, female teachers/ALTs usually have to be on their guard from dodgy Japanese men who've had too much to drink, whose actions verge on the sekuhara (sexual harrassment).
• Then mostly staff have the weekend to recover, but occasionally have to go back to school the next morning if it's mid-week/ they have club activities. And go back to being sensible at school again.