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326. Bureiko, Shirafu, and Nominication: How Japan Bonds Over Drinks | お酒とコーヒー、飲めなくなるならどっち!?日本語ポッドキャストリレー
17 August 2026

326. Bureiko, Shirafu, and Nominication: How Japan Bonds Over Drinks | お酒とコーヒー、飲めなくなるならどっち!?日本語ポッドキャストリレー

Everyday Japanese Podcast

About

If you could never drink alcohol or coffee again, which would you give up? For me the answer was easy — I don't drink — but the question led somewhere I didn't expect. Both drinks bring people together, but in completely different ways. I talk about 無礼講 bureiko (setting aside rank and formality over drinks), シラフ shirafu (being sober), and 飲みニュケーションnominication (bonding through drinking), plus two stories: friends in their 40s who quit alcohol and lost their circle, and an awkward moment at my new hobby club.

☕ Mentioned in this episode: I talked about people who choose not to drink in Episode #164, Sober Curious Lifestyle. If you'd like to hear more on that, it's here:

https://www.sayurisaying.com/sober-curious-lifestyle/

🎙️ This episode is part of the Japanese Podcast Relay — other hosts are answering the same question in their own episodes. Listen to all of them here:

⁠https://ruby-s.net/jpr/⁠


🎧 Full transcript, video, and more: https://sayurisaying.com

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