SHAKEN NOT STIRRED by Shelley Pallis
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asaaki Watanabe’s anime series Bartender is part of a long tradition of TV shows about smart loners who help others in secret. Its leading man is cut from the same cloth as many a medical maverick, discussed in the same tones of hushed admiration as the trouble-shooting physician Black Jack, as a man with the “glass of the gods,” able to mix the perfect cocktail. Drop into his bespoke establishment, Eden Hall, and bartender Sasakura will be your confessor and psychiatrist. He’ll watch your hands and your face, he’ll talk over your problems, and then he’ll come up with a drink to make your problems go away. It wasn’t all that long ago that cocktails were regarded as a medicinal pick-me-up, dished out by apothecaries at what might be better describes as the town pharmacy. Bartender reclaims the public house as a form of retreat and therapy, reimagining alcohol not as a poison, but as a medicine. It would surely come as no surprise to the authors of a new book, The Japanese Guide to Healthy Drinking: Advice from a Sake Loving Doctor on How Alcohol Can Be Good for You.
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The drinking guide is the brainchild of Kaori Haishi, director of the Japan Sake Association, and Dr Shinichi Asabe, an expert on the human liver. It has its origins in an ongoing column that Haishi writes for Nikkei Gooday magazine, which has already spawned two books and a manga adaptation, and come packed with hard information about the effects of wines, beers and spirits on the human body. Haishi’s book has much universally relevant information for anyone curious about drinks and drinking, but can also offer fascinating insights into the nature of Japanese booze culture. She has plainly suffered through many a compulsory works outing, and has empathetic advice for the woman who really doesn’t want to be endlessly chugging beers with her colleagues from accountants in some shouty karaoke bar. She also has much to say about the relative merits of Japanese bar snacks, some of which turn out to have beneficial effects in staving off hangovers, whereas others are just salty excuses to make you thirstier. Using scientific evidence and pertinent anecdotes, Haishi answers all
