Hashigo is the Japanese art of barhopping. While every country has its share of barhopping, leave it to the overworked Japanese salaryman to take the art to its extreme. My girlfriend taught me this exotic eastern art and the bars in Columbus will never forget our hashigo adventures.
The word "hashigo" is written in katakana (ハシゴ if you have Japanese fonts). Its full name is "hashigozake" (ハシゴ酒); the "zake" part is the same word as the "sake" drink you know and love. The word "hashigo", in its non-slang sense, means "ladder" or "stairs". The slang sense is figurative: you're climbing the "ladder" and each bar or club or tavern is a rung. How high can you get in one night?
Here's a famous old Japanese song about Hashigo. "Hashigozake" by Keiko Fuji.
In order for your wild night to really count as hashigo, you must visit at least 3 separate bars/clubs/taverns/etc. and drink at all of them. If you know Japanese, you can count your "rungs" with the counter-word "ken" (軒, the counter-word for houses and bars).
Keep track of your highest "ken" that you achieve, and try to beat it and set a new personal record. Eventually you'll run out of convenient bars in your city, and might have to travel beyond the city limits. Keep separate records for different countries. Hashigo is much easier in the U.S., where bars are very open and cheap. In Japan, where the art originates, bars tend to be more hidden; and Japanese bars are expensive. (A drink which would cost $1 or $2 in the U.S. will easily be 500 yen in Japan, which is around $5. And don't bat an eye if that Japanese nightclub wants 3000 yen or more just to get in.) Another thing to consider is how late bars stay open in your country. Obviously when the bars are open later, that allows for higher ken.
The word "hashigo" is written in katakana (ハシゴ if you have Japanese fonts). Its full name is "hashigozake" (ハシゴ酒); the "zake" part is the same word as the "sake" drink you know and love. The word "hashigo", in its non-slang sense, means "ladder" or "stairs". The slang sense is figurative: you're climbing the "ladder" and each bar or club or tavern is a rung. How high can you get in one night?
Here's a famous old Japanese song about Hashigo. "Hashigozake" by Keiko Fuji.
In order for your wild night to really count as hashigo, you must visit at least 3 separate bars/clubs/taverns/etc. and drink at all of them. If you know Japanese, you can count your "rungs" with the counter-word "ken" (軒, the counter-word for houses and bars).
Keep track of your highest "ken" that you achieve, and try to beat it and set a new personal record. Eventually you'll run out of convenient bars in your city, and might have to travel beyond the city limits. Keep separate records for different countries. Hashigo is much easier in the U.S., where bars are very open and cheap. In Japan, where the art originates, bars tend to be more hidden; and Japanese bars are expensive. (A drink which would cost $1 or $2 in the U.S. will easily be 500 yen in Japan, which is around $5. And don't bat an eye if that Japanese nightclub wants 3000 yen or more just to get in.) Another thing to consider is how late bars stay open in your country. Obviously when the bars are open later, that allows for higher ken.
My best Hashigo night in Japan was 3-ken, or 4-ken if you include the 7-Eleven. That was in Roppongi with a bunch of guys from the JGH Tokyo youth hostel in Nishikawaguchi. Also the first night (well, morning, technically) that I got propositioned by a hooker. Did you know in Japan, there are no open-container laws? You can walk on the street with a beer in your hand, or even go on the trains or subways. Relive my Japan trip with me through my Pictures From Japan series. In the U.S., I don't even know what my best hashigo night was, but it was probably around 5-ken or 6-ken.
TRAVELING ON VACATION
Hashigo is a great way to get more out of a vacation. The novelty of new, unexplored bars makes the whole art of barhopping even better. And you don't even need to worry about anyone you know seeing your drunken antics.
THE RESTAURANT VARIATION
A variation my girlfriend and I invented during our Florida trip was "hashigo, restaurant style". We did this in Orlando and in St. Petersburg. Just switch alcoholic beverages with appetizers and switch bars and clubs with restaurants. You can even mix the two types of "ladder", eating appetizers AND drinking fine drinks.
FURTHER READING
"Hashigozake" is "hashigo" plus "sake". For some other fascinating breakdowns of Japanese words, check out my article, Japanese Vocabulary Words You Already Know. Japanese is very big on combining littler words to make bigger words. Often, you know the bigger words already from their English loanwords; all you have to do is see how they break into the littler words, and you get the littler words for free.
I actually never drank a drop of alcohol until age 23. I had nothing against alcohol, it just wasn't ever "in my reality", because my parents never drank it... ever. So what changed when I turned 23? I joined the seduction community. Alcohol drinking wasn't the only thing that changed drastically in my life then. I'm no longer a pickup artist any more, but you can read about the time I was one, in My Time In The Seduction Community.
By helping circulate the word "hashigo" through the English language, I'm actually secretly doing work to merge Japanese and English together. Read my speculation about language merge in my article, Will The Languages Of The World Ever Merge?
TRAVELING ON VACATION
Hashigo is a great way to get more out of a vacation. The novelty of new, unexplored bars makes the whole art of barhopping even better. And you don't even need to worry about anyone you know seeing your drunken antics.
THE RESTAURANT VARIATION
A variation my girlfriend and I invented during our Florida trip was "hashigo, restaurant style". We did this in Orlando and in St. Petersburg. Just switch alcoholic beverages with appetizers and switch bars and clubs with restaurants. You can even mix the two types of "ladder", eating appetizers AND drinking fine drinks.
FURTHER READING
"Hashigozake" is "hashigo" plus "sake". For some other fascinating breakdowns of Japanese words, check out my article, Japanese Vocabulary Words You Already Know. Japanese is very big on combining littler words to make bigger words. Often, you know the bigger words already from their English loanwords; all you have to do is see how they break into the littler words, and you get the littler words for free.
I actually never drank a drop of alcohol until age 23. I had nothing against alcohol, it just wasn't ever "in my reality", because my parents never drank it... ever. So what changed when I turned 23? I joined the seduction community. Alcohol drinking wasn't the only thing that changed drastically in my life then. I'm no longer a pickup artist any more, but you can read about the time I was one, in My Time In The Seduction Community.
By helping circulate the word "hashigo" through the English language, I'm actually secretly doing work to merge Japanese and English together. Read my speculation about language merge in my article, Will The Languages Of The World Ever Merge?
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment