Japanese Drugs

"Japanese Drugs"

You've gotten everything ready for your semester or your year abroad in Japan? But during summer break you've gotten yourself hooked on drugs? Weed, prescription pills, ecstasy? And now soon you're heading off to Japan and you haven't even thought once about how you're going to score some, have you?

Japan is a different country with a different drug culture--for both legal and illegal drugs alike.
Let's start with the basics, the lightweights, and move up to the heavies, known as 'Ma-yaku' (まやく)

Cigarettes

Japan was once known as "Smokers Heaven", but in the last few years it has been slowly decending down to "Smokers Hell". Consider yourself lucky if your school is in a rural area or inaka; you'll still be able to light up in any public places like resturants, cafes, bars, train platforms, whenever you please -- thats the heaven side.

The hell side is that now smokers in big cities will have to get their nicotine fix caged up in protective plexi cages, like plagued paraqueets.

You also will have to use this age-verification card if you want to buy your cigs from a vending machine.

On the heaven side, price per pack is still a steal at nearly half those in America. If you're gonna pick up the habit at some point in your life, Japan is still the place to light up!

Sake

Legal drinking age is 20 but you wouldn't know it because it's never enforced. It's kind of like having a speed limit, but never posting it anywhere along the highway so you can fly as fast as you want.

You'll see it's quite the opposite of a law, when without warning despite your age, you're encouraged to drink up, and drink up often.

During homestays, during dinner, during lunch, during train rides, during ceremonies, during damn near any social gathering. Sake, Shochu, Umeshu, can-cocktails, beer, wine, whiskey...

You'll be expected to get tipsy along with everyone else or you risk insult. Just make sure to scream "Kanpai!".

Marijuana

Unfortunately, for us gaijin potheads in Japan, marijuana has never been the casual drug that it is back home. The J-Weed has always been overpriced and underrated. The stiff penalties with actual jail time for possesion an overreaction. You can't just skip out and take a short stroll to your corner conbini and grip a dub from your dealer. So if you're stuck in an inaka you're out of luck. But there's still hope! J-Weed has been in the national news a lot lately, increasing the interest, and we hope the availability of it among the youth:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/27/japan-shocked-by-marijuan_n_170568.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/08/19/sumo.scandal/

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=5706518&page=1

Magic Mushrooms

Have you ever wondered why J-Art is always so original and creative? Have you ever wondered why Mario grew to such a gigantic size after gorging himself on a massive, multi-colored mushroom?

Well, most of Japan is covered in lush, dark-green, mysterious mountain country. The perfect place to incubate a Mushroom Kingdom.

The Japanese are known to eat just about anything, so why would magic mushrooms be any different?

Shrooms were perfectly legal in Japan until 2002; many famous J-Artists admit to using the psychedelic fungi. Can you imagine, there never would've been a Super Mario without the Super Shroom!

Shabu

Shabu is 'speed'. Not Speed Racer. Made with pride in Japan in the late great 1800s. Widely used during WWII to fight fatigue and increase battle performance.

Controlled by the Yakuza after the War, shabu use became more widespread as the ravished populace raced to rebuild the country.

Shabu proved to be a hit and a perfect fit with the hardworking, detail-oriented, workaholics of the "Bubble Generation". It helped them to leap-frog the rest of the world, leaving them in the dust--until the bubble burst.

And since that blown tire, America has caught up and caught on: another name for Shabu is Meth.