“I think this is my wife kitchen drinking bowl!”

This statement created a moment of silence in the crowded pub: there was not a single free table, and the counters were busy, with several Japanese noisily sipping their noodles. We looked at each other, then all eyes turned to him. My mouth was full of some pickled meat and rice, so I couldn’t say a word. “What do you mean?”, – warned the girl next to her and continued: “I used to drink sometimes, even a bottle of wine in the evening, you know very well when I went through a divorce, man, he has hard days too!”.

Our friend told us that he was worried about her, what the neighbors would say, the mouths of the world and everything else. We women, without consulting each other, united and scolded him all evening for being a misogynist. And men are such a mess.

A few days later, while searching for something on Google, I remembered this term kitchen drinking bowl (kitchen sink). It was the first time I heard it, so I made a little documentary and I was shocked.

The first article that appeared on the website of the Ministry of Health (June 2021) managed to awaken a little feminist in me. No kidding, I’m pretty sure the text below was written by a Japanese.

In particular, women who drink alcohol while doing housework tend to develop a pattern of behavior that can lead to addiction. Such behavior, characterized by increased alcohol consumption and underground consumption, is associated with alcohol dependence.

Then whatno tasteof the drink they use to cook, women can become addicted to its taste and develop an addiction known asKitchen drinking bowl” in the United States.

In Japan, alcohol consumption by women has increasedgrowth in recent years,partly becauseto their greater involvement in society and the idea of ​​gender equality. However, the gap between men and women in terms of alcohol consumption has narrowed over time, and women now feel freer to drink as much as men.

Also, as families become smaller, women spend more time alone at home during the day, not exposed to the gaze of others, making them lessin reluctantlyAhem drinks alcohol

In Japannot Mthe number of those who drink alcohol at home has increased, and given the difficulty of controlling alcohol consumption in such situations, it is believed that these users have a high probability of alcohol dependence. It is important to promote cessation of this type of alcohol consumption and encourage consultations in specialized hospitalsnot dependentfor cases when this habit cannot be abandoned.

It’s easy to understand that the above lines seemed a bit dramatic to me, and being from Romania, where alcoholism knocks on the door, I smiled wryly.

Another site says: Women are engaged in the economy. Women have fewer opportunities to interact. The fact is that women should not drink a lot, especially in front of their mother-in-law.

Seriously? Did we jump back 100 years? The fight for gender equality in Japan has only just begun, and the idea that women should stay at home after marriage is still firmly ingrained in Japanese society, especially after they become mothers. But even so…

As I continued to research, the titles of the articles I found became more and more interesting. “Is it bad to be a kitchen drunk?”, “My husband says he’s leaving me because I’m a kitchen drunk,” “If I have one drink a night while cooking, am I an alcoholic?”

Naoko, 40, told us on her blog that she can’t go without a few drinks a night. After picking up the children from kindergarten, she comes home late and has to cook. She says she has no energy unless she drinks some alcohol.

I don’t want to get drunk. I just want to be able to do my tasks without getting injured. My husband doesn’t seem to care what I’m doing so I drink while he cooks the spinach, I drink while I mix the bean sprouts with the ham and cucumbers, after injecting the fuel called “alcohol” my body finally starts to move . seven in the evening

Mina, 35 years old – turns to one of the forums devoted to family issues for advice.

I drink alcohol every time I cook. My husband noticed this and told me: you are a kitchen drunk. indeed? I like to drink a little in the kitchen, it makes me feel good. My husband says it’s not good for our son to see me and it’s not safe for me to use knives or fire. But I drink more than a small can of beer. What are the negative consequences? Is it enough to be called that? Isn’t it strange how people complain so much when women drink?

After reading all this, all my light bulbs went off and I was ready to say that men are jerks. Then I came across a study that contradicts the rumor that young people aren’t drinking as much as they used to. According to 2020 data from the Institute for Health Values ​​and Evaluations (IHME), 73% of Japanese men aged 15 to 39 drank harmful amounts of alcohol, compared to 39% of their male peers globally. The gap is even wider for Japanese women: 62% in Japan compared to just 13% globally.

I find this so paradoxical that it makes me raise an eyebrow and question the veracity of the numbers above. But if these data are indeed true, then we have a serious problem: despite all the efforts aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle, the Japanese seem to be the uncrowned champions in another competition – alcohol consumption. Or maybe it’s just a result of the pressures and stresses of modern life.

A few days after that incident, I found myself in the same crowded pub again. Read the rest of the article and comment on Contributors.ro