Beer on the mountain

Japan has wonderfully adopted the concept of beer garden. This all-you-can-drink summertime event, which has somehow escaped widescale abuse thus far, is a great way to spend a humid Saturday afternoon. Usually found on the rooves of department stores (in Tokyo anyway), these are very popular and you can expect to line up for up to a few hours if you haven't reserved or arrived early. Typical price is ¥3000 to ¥6000, depending on where you go.

I've been once this year, last Saturday. Seeing as how beer gardens close at the end of September, I wanted to make sure my one visit was something special, so I packed my Kuriko up and headed over to Mount Takao.

Admission was ¥3300 for me, ¥3000 for Kuri, and included unlimited food and drink for two hours (and ¥500 for every half hour thereafter). Good deal if you ask me. However, there's a catch:

Now for us this line moved a bit quicker than what it looks like. We made it in within 30 minutes of opening time. Sadly, many others did not.

Once in, we parked ourselves at the edge of the balcony and gave 'er. All-you-can-drink/eat isn't the drunken gong show that it would be if you tried this in Canada. I think I saw the party beside us get up twice for refills. This is saying a lot, given that you can get Heineken on tap. Don't get me wrong; it was loud and roudy, but not so much that it stopped people from bringing their kids there.

And check out this nifty little invention:

The rain really added to the experience. Every look at a forested mountain in the clouds and wonder what it's like up there? It's wet. And awesome. I sat there eating raw octopus and watching the fog roll in and out. Good feeling for someone whose Vancouver upbringing conditioned him to like rain more than sun.

You can view the entire album here. Can't wait until next year.