This is a photo series that I envisioned as an exercise in sobriety, and an exercise in street photography. It takes me out of my element a bit as I have always shot scenes, landscapes, and city architecture. This is a chance to combine my journalism skills – my part-time job in my last year of college was actually journalism at that Nichibei Times in San Francisco – with photography skills that have developed since I got my first camera at the age of nine. It was an old Ricoh 35mm with a fixed 35mm lens. More recently, I have spent over 20 years in this metropolis and amassed well over 5,000 good pictures, but this set is different. This tells a story.

A couple months ago while laying in bed, thinking about starting the day at five in the morning, I thought about how much better light renders photos during the golden hours – an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. Then thought it would be interesting to go out for a walk with my camera to take some street photos in the early morning when the drunks were trying to get home.

According to World Population Review, Japan ranks number three in alcohol consumption behind Denmark and Australia. The United States – with a larger population – comes in fourth. After spending a few months in the country after living here, foreigners often realize, unfortunately usually as an after-thought, that they are headed toward alcoholism. Being surrounded by a healthy female population, even makes this experience much deeper socially, since drinking is usually a part of the dating and pickup scene as well.

The Lion coffee shop is a classic and a landmark. When you walk in through the front door, you immediately notice two massive speakers with natural wooden cabinets mounted to the wall facing the patrons. You are immediately confronted with the smell of cigarette smoke but most noticeable is the lack of conversation among the patrons. Most are sitting alone working on a laptop PC, iPad, or reading a book. It is a quiet place to enjoy a smoke and very good sound.

While this picture does not show the scene because the landmark is more important, every direction surrounding the Lion is a bar, ramen shop, live house, or love hotel. We will get to love hotel culture in another series.

Socially drinking is so common, that even on radio stations and television people often comment as if ‘adults can enjoy themselves too’ when another person points out that alcohol is served. In fact, Japanese counter-parts will immediately react awkwardly if you tell them you do not drink. The reaction is exponential if you tell them you have quit drinking alcohol. Interestingly, despite such high rates of alcohol consumption, Japanese seem to be quite functional alcoholics – on the surface anyways.

Japan does not even rank in the top 10 for alcoholism related sicknesses, according to World Population Review. This is not surprising since, like most things reported outside of Japan, the local authorities under-report everything. Japan has a serious alcoholism problem that is not even recognized by the authorities and people themselves. The average Japanese male has one drink a day, but like most alcoholics, does not recognize this as a potential dependency.

Tucked away at the very top of Dogenzaka hill is this Shinto shrine squeezed in among the bars and buildings. A cultural quagmire for most foreigners – a mix of religion and sin. Taking pictures of a shrine like this is not common among Japanese, but they do not openly call you out for taking pictures. I just loved the colors and the mix, so took advantage of the moment.

In an older statistic, Our World Data reports a statistic from 2016 that shows about 60% of the Japan population have consumed alcohol in the past year. The only conclusion is that alcohol is consumed in a functional, regular manner. However, 30% of the population reports having had a heavy drinking (binge) in the past 30 days in the same report.

The same report from Our World Data above shows that 71.3% of the male population consumes alcohol regularly. This is a common scene when taking early morning walks on the weekend. Alcohol and alcoholism are generally accepted in Japan society.

This is the other side of Dogenzaka, which is the perfect concoction of tiny shot bars, drunk women, and love hotels. This picture was taken the morning after Halloween, hence the gentleman walking with the pumpkin colored trash collection bag and tongs.

While life in Japan is generally safe, healthy, and progressive, you have to keep a high level of consciousness about daily life choices and how you actually live your life at the outset. Otherwise, all of the aforementioned life qualities – safety, health, and progress – will no longer apply.