Gaijin Tonic - A drunken I mean, exclusive interview

On September 10, 2007 in Interviews, Uncategorized, bloggers

Hi All!

Today we are rocking out (gee, I hope people still say rocking out :/ ) with Roaf, the writer of GaijinTonic.com-Drinking Adventures in Japan.

He’s all set to take us on a wild tour of some Japan’s “weirdest watering holes” and outlandish rock bands. So I hope you came prepared for some fun!

But first let’s meet and greet our guide:

I arrived in Japan expecting a spiritually-enriching cultural experience. Five years later, all I have is a truckload of dodgy drinking stories, which I’m writing now in an attempt to pass my partying off as valuable “research” (rather than pissing my life away.)

On my site you’ll find reviews and information about weird watering holes, and true stories of booze-induced bad-behaviour and mishaps that I’ve experienced first-hand, or been told by friends, here in the land of the rising beer glass. Hence the drink-related title, “Gaijin Tonic.”

(Reminds me of that Garth Brooks song about friends in low places <– my favourite karaoke song by the way)

Anyway, to the interview!

Daily J: Let’s start with the most important question of all :What’s your favourite beer?

I guess my favourite Japanese beer is Ginga Kogen beer, which is very fruity. It’s pretty obscure. Look out for the can with reindeer on it.

Daily J: In short, what is the vital mission of Gaijin Tonic?

Merely to provide a glimpse of the drinking/social culture in Japan, with a focus on the fun and quirky side of things. And this, of course, conveniently justifies my own drinking and socializing- I can put it down to research for my site!

Daily J: You crack me up! Research, right….

Yeah, I’ve already dedicated a lot of time and energy into that “research” so i won’t be running out of material anytime soon.

Daily J: So if you had to pick, what is your favourite place to conduct, er…, “research” and why?

Well there are too many cool bars in Japan to count. My favourite is probably “Kagaya” in Shinjuku, simply because the man who runs it is such a lunatic, always putting on surreal costumes and bringing out crazy games for the customers to play.

Daily J: Of course you talk about a lot of bands too. A lot of obscure and likely tone-deaf bands I guess they do it mainly to be funny and it is fun to laugh at them while they do it?

Well, going to gigs and clubs ties in with the whole drinking theme. Believe it or not, I actually like those weird bands! They are deadly serious, but I enjoy their outlandishness and imagination. People always say I have awful taste.

Daily J: So how did you come up with the name Gaijin Tonic?

It’s a pun. “Gaijin” means “foreigner” in Japanese, and “Gin Tonic” is how the Japanese say “Gin and Tonic,” so I combined the two, since the site is an English blog about drinking in Japan. It could also be interpreted as a “tonic” for Gaijin folk in Japan, a pick-me-up after a hard day at work. I like that idea, actually. It’s like an online version of “Cheers.”

Daily J: I really like the analogy that your site “is like an online version of ‘Cheers.’ ” Kind of a place where everybody knows your name, right?

Exactly. Although, ironically, I write under a fake name, so nobody knows my name! But the site is a place for beers and laughs, like “Cheers”. Although, come to think of it, I don’t recall anyone in “Cheers” violently puking into a toilet bowl or attending a “penis festival,” so maybe the analogy doesn’t stretch!

All I can say is wow. It has been fun and a little crazy chatting with Roaf here on Daily J. And we will continue that chat tomorrow with some more on what motivated Roaf to start the blog and some neat ideas he wants to incorporate into the blog in the future. So be sure to visit “‘Cheers’ for Gaijin,” drop Roaf a line, and then report back here tomorrow for the rest of the inside scoop!

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