How Do People Drink Outdoors?: A Modernological Analysis of Drinking Habits at Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park in Tokyo, Japan

Abstract

This study explores the different forms of outdoor drinking at Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park in Tokyo, Japan, with a specific focus on park-goers’ style and time of drinking. Despite increased attention on outdoor drinking (due to COVID-19), the practice has been underrepresented in extant research and is often generalized as deviant behavior. Thus, approaching the subject of public drinking with greater nuance, we conducted eight modernological surveys (inclusive of fixed-point observations and field note-taking) in order to capture everyday outdoor drinking patterns that have been overlooked due to bias. Our statistical data revealed that the number of park-goers who drink increases as the day progresses. Although single drinkers are more common in the early evening, drinking in pairs is the most commonly observed behavior. We also discovered that most people spend an hour or less drinking, beer consumption peaks at 18:00, and most drinkers prefer easy-to-drink beverages with high alcohol content. Overall, our findings indicate that outdoor drinking can take on various habitualized forms, including relaxation and conversation, as well as more disruptive behaviors (e.g., rowdiness), which have invoked the stigmatized image of public drinking in previous research.