Minors serving!? (Page 1 of 4)

Hah, yeah, I know all about the vending machines. Theres a pretty funny blog of a guy who lives in Kyoto and used to teach middle school kids English. If you're interisted I'll give you a link.

I'm frusterated beyond belief right now to tell the truth. I will (technically) be 21 on March 1st (not my real birthday, but I don't have one this year so....), so it drives me nuts I'm just not there yet. ESPECIALLY since Wheel of Fortune is doing show try outs the week before! I'm lame I know, but I really like that show a lot. And I'm pretty good to boot. The only one probably better then my in my family is my dad. Yet I have to wait at least another year before I can even try out!

My mom won't even let me drink beer on my birthday. Augh!! >_<

Drinking should just be banned entirely, actually. It destroys families, lives, and people. If everything around you is so awful that you have to drink, then maybe you have to reconsider your life. It turns people into something else. It makes them do horrible things, things they would never even consider doing otherwise. What if an emergency happens while you're drunk? And you stand there and laugh at it cause it's funny, when if you were normal you'd never even have had the emergency. What about holidays? Especially if you have kids. What kind of message does that send them that daddy has to drink to make it through spending a day with them, a day where you're supposed to be with your family and have good clean fun with them? What about the taste factor? I've never tasted beer itself, the smell starts me gagging before I get that close. So how do you get started drinking it then? Plug your nose till your taste buds die? Wine's even worse! I've actually thrown up before just from the smell. I had a tiny sip before (holding my nose), and it wasn't there a millisecond before I spat it up all over the place, the reaction was so immediate. People claim it's fun, or that it enhances fun things. What about good fun? Clean fun? The kind of fun you get from, say, sitting down and reading a good book? Or playing a video game? Or hanging out with friends? Must it involve making yourselves into lesser, more inhuman versions of yourselves? Me and my sister used to hang out all the time. It involved pizza, ice cream, music, games, and movies. We had so much fun, we were laughing and having the best time of our lives. All without drinking. It's really not hard to have fun without it. Oh, and then there's the health thing. What happens when your liver finally says, "**** you." and dies? Besides, what of the money wasted on it? 15.99 for a pack? Do you know what 16 dollars can get you? It can get you two, maybe three days, worth of meals. It could by you some action figures or other toys. It could get you a new keyboard for your computer. It could get you some sort of improvement for your house. Or you could save it and at the end of the year when you look at all the money you might have spent on alcohol you'll be surprised by how much money you have. Also I've heard it makes you depressed. Does anyone really need to be any more depressed? Do we really need any more suicides? What about drunk drivers? What about all the innocent people who have died because someone just had to go and drink. What about people who get drunk and wake up next to someone they don't know and don't remember? How is that good in any way? What about if you don't remember where you live and end up two towns over? What about the addictive factor? Cause it IS addictive. And I just feel sorry for those who are easily addicted to things who think they might want to have a drink. Or two. ...or maybe three. One more. Just one more. ...ok, I'll stop. No, just one more. ... What about the wife and/or kid/s that get beaten whenever he drinks? And people with kids who drink I don't even look at as being humans anymore, they're complete monsters, not only destroying themselves and their lives, but destroying their kids lives too. They don't deserve kids. Beautiful, pure, innocent, helpless, little children. It's like taking an angel and tainting it with the darkness of hell. Who knows, that poor little kid will probably, after a lifetime of seeing mommy and daddy doing it, will fall into that darkness completely. Especially if they see their friends doing it and their friends pressure them into doing it.

The age limit is there for a reason. On drinking, it should be a lot higher. On other things, I don't care so much. I mean, I understand the other things, because when I was 18 I was a complete idiot. Looking back on it, let's say there's something you can do at 21 that I wanted to do at 18. Now that I'm 22 I can go, "Wow, thank God that limit was there I would have done something that would have made everything awful." Not that there was, but I can see it from that perspective. It's to stop the stupid people from, well, doing something stupid. I don't think they should work at an actual liquor store, but I know that here at least you have to be 18 to sell it.

And I know there'll be some people who respond back to me and try to start an argument or discussion, but don't bother because I'm not coming back into this thread just to avoid that kind of thing. I can make great opening statements, but once I get into a discussion I'm hopeless. I can't keep anything straight inside my head and I word everything wrong. So, this is all I have to say and I'm out.

Actually they did try to ban drinking,remember learning about Prohibition in history? Do we remember the outcome? I don't think it is the government's place to band something like that at all. Its the MISUSE of alcohol that is the problem. It is getting DRUNK, not the enjoyment of a cider or glass of wine with dinner with friends. Its the MOTIVES behind drinking. Some do drink to hide and run from their problems, no question that's not the right thing to do. Yes OVER drinking causes all sorts of harm to families, relationships and health. Its a choice. You don't have to like the taste of beer. Don't have to drink if you don't want to. I don't know where you buy your beer Miba, but 16 is WAY more than most 6 packs sell for around here. Red Wine is considered very healthy, in MODERATION. Drunk Driving IS UNFORGIVABLE. Driving drunk is wrong, very wrong. But taking away the legal right to drink will not necessarily make the roads safer. There will still be bad drivers that do foolish things as the drive. People will still drive when they are too tired to drive. Old people will still refuse to give up driving even though they shouldn't be on the road. Many things are addicting. It depends on the person honestly. I think that you are equating with drinking as the same as being and getting drunk.

I'm not trying to argue or anything, but I feel like i must provide a counter point to what you have said. I'm not trying to change your mind on anything, as it is your right to have those opinions.

I feel that the issues that the United States has with drinking stems a lot from the fact that we as a nation are not open about drinking. It is seen as taboo, a vice. When it can be enjoyed in moderation as another flavor and enjoyment in life. If we taught our children responsibility and respect for drinking, it would greatly cut back on drinking related problems. As it is now, we encourage bad drinking habits, because people will want what they can't have. That is why there are thieves in the world too.

I admit that I've always had issues with age limits in general. Age is NO standard for maturity and ability. I've been drinking since I was 17 or so. But I had my first drink years before that. I don't drink to get drunk. I drink because I like the taste, and wont drink something just because if its got alcohol in it but tastes bad to me. I personally like the taste of most beers, especially with some foods. Same goes for wine and other drinks.  I DO NOT drive if i've had more than a drink or two. I also refuse to drive if I have taken some of my stronger pain killers as I don't trust it to be safe for me and others on the road. Who determined that 21 was the right age to drink? Who decied that 18 you can choose members of the government. Who decied age of concent? It should all be based on the individual's maturity level. (if only this was something that they could enforce.) I know horrifically immature and irresponsible THIRTY year olds.  Age means NOTHING there.

I think the drinking age should maybe be lowerd to 16, but not entirely abolished, it would be weird to see 8 year olds buying booze.

I hate hearing dumb grade niners always bragging about how they get "super smashed", do some thing stupid and how they lipped off the cops. If there wasn't an age limit there would be an utter dumb *** epidemic. I just dont think 14 and under, Are quite matured enough for booze they're at that stage in there life where they think people will think that they are cool if they do stupid things. (No offence to any 14 yr olds on here, once you're a senior in highschool you might understand)

Highly motivating, I like how you roll.

Damn straight. A little liquid courage never hurt anyone.

Although I appreciate many of Miba's sentiments and do agree that alcohol can cause a lot of problems in life...I would also say that the way it functions in a society is largely culturally determined. By US standards well over half of the Japanese population would be considered clinically alcoholic. Alcohol is part of the culture here. I believe our European friends would agree that we make too much out of the issue in the states.

Another significant factor is our modes of transportation. Here in Japan, as in many places in Europe most people use some form of public transportation. This limits greatly the chances for accidents related to alcohol.

The last thing I would say is that, like war, sex, hate, sunrises, love and all the rest, alcohol has been part of human history for a long, long time. They drink a lot of alcohol in the Bible, read it, really, really read it before you jump on me about that statement.  People didn't have supermarkets and convenience stores in 300 b.c. and many people even made their own. Drinking wine and beer was normal. So again, as with other topics I am trying to take the middle road here. I don't see it as a bad thing or a good thing. It's just something that humans do and sometimes it gets ugly. But I bet there are just as many stupid things that were done while NOT under the influence of alcohol there were done while drunk. I do them all the time.

Right on! All things in moderation.

liquor in vending machines?

my sisters would die.

I've seen batteries, porn (DVDs, sex toys, magazines etc.), ice-cream, cameras, gloves, umbrellas and as mentioned above all and any kind of liquor you would ever want, whisky, sake etc. Oh yeah, and cigarettes are everywhere.

Ah the infamous panty vending machines. Supposibly they were pulled from vending machine circulation in the early 90's, but if that was the case, then you wouldn't hear reports of them from most tourists who find them...never mind INSTRUCTIONS to actually find them to see for yourself.

....Up until this moment, I never really considered Japan a "MUST" place to visit. Until now. Of course even if I ever reached its shores by the time I did, I'd be well past legal in the US. D'oh!