Another anecdote from me too; I was working in Japan for 12 years, and a lot of it was as a self-employed IT consultant. I don't drink and I never drank ever a

Another anecdote from me too; I was working in Japan for 12 years, and a lot of it was as a self-employed IT consultant. I don't drink and I never drank ever and was fairly well off by the end of it all. This is not a rare situation anymore either; I know a lot of younger Japanese people who simply refuse to drink. It's no surprise either; alcohol is not cheap on excursions, and the company doesn't pay the bill very often anymore.