How's Japan? asks the masses

I've decided to quit drinking. Mostly.

So I met some more English teachers last weekend. They live in various areas south of Tokyo, if I remember right. They're great people. They're writers, dammit. I didn't realize how much I missed talking about writing with folk. One of them, who we'll call H, doesn't drink. I've met one other person so far who didn't drink, but I didn't give it a lot of thought, to be honest. But, last Sunday, a big group of us were all-nighting it in Shibuya (one of the bigger cultural districts in Tokyo), and so H and I had a long time to chat. (Incidentally, this is after I went to a club for the first time, had a blast, and went to a pool hall, which I also forgot I missed terribly.) During said chat I realized I had gotten away from what I liked about drinking: the conversation. I had started to fall in love with the feeling of being drunk, which would land me in a way bad position later in life, espeically with my family history. It was the best kind of revelation to me, since it sort of occurred to me on my own terms. I understand where I was with drinking, and how I got off track from where I began. So I think I'm gonna cut it down to a trickle, like I used to, and use it only when it would help a situation, like pasta dishes, or intelligent conversation, or, until I practice some more, to induce dancing skills.

Plus it's healthy.

Plus I won't end up a drunken slob during my mid-life crisis.

Plus I'll save a fuckload of money to go sightseeing with.

Plus you should check out this comic, and then the rest of em.