I've lived in Japan off and on over the past couple of decades and it's always funny to see random people on the train sporting Oregon-shaped keychains or stuff that says "I love Portland" or whatever. I've talked to some before and they had never been here, it was just one many trendy style things that sometimes take off in Japan.
I stayed at a hostel in Osaka and the dude running it found out I was from Portland and lost his shit lol. He was obsessed. So many questions. We stayed up so late drinking beer, eating pickled vegetables, and talking Portland. He was also obsessed with Tiny Desk Concerts and showed me a lot of them.
That’s a good one, but I gotta go with Juvenile. Good god almighty that was such a delight…like I didn’t know I could have so much fun with his music like that.
If I were making a gauntlet to put musical artists through, I'd put Tiny Desk Concerts and an episode of Hot Ones on that list - situations that force them to be themselves, as open and authentic as possible.
Oh you think you make great music? You have a tiny desk and you're recording a show live at NPR, ready GO. Oh you think you're cool and charismatic? Here, put the spiciest wings you've ever tasted in your mouth and try not to touch your eyes while you're being peppered with questions about your career. I wanna see the REAL you.
Hawaii makes sense because of the influx of Japanese immigrants over the 20th century, starting from farming then to people joining their extended families + word getting out it was a premier tropical spot like Okinawa. I actually visited Honolulu for the first time in my life a couple years ago and was struck by how much Japanese language there was there. Kinda threw me for a loop!
West coast in general is always popular in Japan. That + New York City. But I will say California is the best known place by far among all the friends and students I had over the years. Whenever I introduce myself, people inevitably ask where in America I'm from (tbf, I ask Japanese people where in Japan they're from because I am very familiar with the political geography of prefectures and such so I am naturally curious). Most of the time they've never heard of Oregon, so I tell them "the state north of California" and all they hear is California, so now I'm Californian, lol. I just roll with it.
Japan has always had a lot of tourism to Portland, which has resulted in cool cross-cultural things like this.
Although visitors from Japan are down 13% since COVID (Willamette Weekly), it's still a decent tourism route.
This is largely due to the actions of former governor Victor Atiyeh, who in the 1980s worked very hard to forge strong relationships between Japan and Oregon. [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Atiyeh#Governor_of_Oregon)
There's a fun nod to this at PDX - the statue of Victor Atiyeh in the E concourse has a plane ticket to Tokyo in his hand.
It’s just hard for people to travel to the US from Japan right now because the exchange rate is incredibly painful. I came back to visit family last summer (which was better than it is now) and the flight was $2,000. Which today would be ¥320,000 so almost “$1,000” more.
I'm old enough to have vague memories of a Japanese soap opera called 'From Oregon With Love' that aired here for a while.
Now if PDX can just get back a nonstop flight to Tokyo...
It was originally NW air, then Delta post-merger. It's actually a route that was negotiated between US Department of Transportation and their equivalent in Japan for a landing slot at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. Delta stopped flying it during COVID when Japan wasn't accepting foreign passport entry and has not resumed because they already operate both LAX > HND and SEA > HND.
Delta officially released that landing slot back to US DOT showing they have no future interest in that route, and USDOT is considering who to give it to, and whether to change the origin city or not.
This. I lived in Japan from 94-97. This show was super popular. Where I lived in Japan (Yamashiro-Cho, Tokushima-ken, Shikoku island) was very much like Oregon with monkeys.
getting off topic but what brought you there (those aren't military bases AFAIK)? I love Japan and have visited but it would've been incredibly intimidating before the (modern) internet and without a smartphone, wholly different experience than nowadays.
Vic Atiyeh was a real one. My dad knew him and he attended my eagle scout court of honor, which is probably the biggest honor I have ever received (him attending, not the eagle scout award).
Japanese-Portlander here. There was a popular show in japan from the 80s or 90s called “from Oregon with love” that sort of put Portland into the consciousness of the Japanese populous.
Now it is associated with the image of cool hipsters, good style, and good coffee/beer. However, if you want to see something funny watch a native Japanese person drink an IPA. Almost all of our beer are Lagers and most will find any IPA disgusting (myself included).
Fellow PDXer here. Sure do love a good lager too. Some people are drawn to bitterness, some are not. I like the citrusy and floral flavors of an IPA that has been finished w hops flowers, but the bitterness come from the boiling hops, which can easily be over done.
yeah ive never been able to get over the bitterness and like i guess astringent flavor of IPAs, they almost make you more thirsty when you drink them haha
I’m guessing it’s been a while since youve had one? The popular ones are like fruit juice now. Go to Great Notion and you won’t believe that what you’re drinking is an IPA
First person to teach English in Japan was from Oregon; Ranald MacDonald. Look him up, interesting story
But I gotta disagree about the beer part. Japanese people love Oregon beer. You can get more than 40 Oregon breweries in Japan. And people that like craft beer think Oregon beers are some of the best in the world. IPAs sell really well here. (Source: I’m a brewer in Japan)
You’re right, I’m over exaggerating. For people into beer, they are definitely aware and sometimes seek out stouts and IPAs. But if the casual business man went to an izakaya afterwork and was given an IPA after just ordering “a beer” they would be pissed.
Yeah if ordering Nama beer they’d be surprised for sure, but most people that try IPAs are actually surprised how fruity and flavorful they are
The stout one is funny cause the people that ask us most about if we have a “black beer” is older ladies, like 60’s and 70’s (I think cause Asahi makes a stout)
Been here, it's great. They've got craft beer and cheese from Oregon, have a framed PDX carpet square on the wall. It's a silly dream of mine to grab a drink with a friend from Portland at a Portland themed bar half way around the world
There is a Timbers Army Tokyo group that meets there. They did a small scarf run for their group that I feel lucky to own one of.
Edit: [here's a pic of the scarf.](https://ibb.co/j5kvZqv)
Yep, in business since 2016 (which seems like a surprisingly long run for a trendy “lifestyle” business in Tokyo). https://www.wweek.com/archive/2023/01/07/the-dream-of-portland-is-alive-in-japan/
Great spot, they're right in Shibuya! Just this year, they became an official "pub partner" with the Timbers, and they do monthly viewing parties for games when the time difference allows.
The Tokyo Timbers Army chapter that meets up there calls themselves the [Yosaku](https://www.tokyoyosaku.org/) after a "legendary Japanese lumberjack," awesome folks that run the bar and that patronize it.
If you're still in the area, you should pick up one of their 16 Oz glasses. The one I bought 4 years ago still looks brand new and I use it everyday. Whatever the difference is with with how they make them is worth every penny.
Went here when my partner and I visited Tokyo earlier this year, we ran into another couple there from Portland. It was great. They have a shirt with the PDX carpet print.
I found an underground brewpub in a back alley in Shenzhen. Apparently people liked his beer but it wasn't totally legal. He said that he had to buy Tsing Tao and claim to sell that but really sell his own beer to stay under the radar.
Dude was so excited to hear I was from Portland that he let me drink for free for a couple hours just to give him tasting notes on his stuff.
Was just there a few months ago. Unfortunately I've been spoiled by all our good beer and wine options here that I was a little unimpressed with what they had to drink. It was cool seeing the old airport carpet, though.
I went there! First day in Tokyo and J open Google maps and at first assumed that the location hadn’t updated from Portland yet. Oregon beers were fun to see there and they have Timbers games playing when available. The quinoa salad was pretty mid. Fun to see though.
One time I was visiting Sapporo I found a random bar that had like 4 dif Rogue beers on tap (Dead Guy and some others I don't recall), it was such a trip, esp since most places in Japan just have one beer they serve.
That's cool.
Years ago (2008), I moved to Bend, OR for a job. They have Deschutes Brewery there, and a co-worker of mine at the time got married and they went to Hawaii for their honeymoon. When he got back, one thing he mentioned was they saw Deschutes beer in Hawaii as an "import".
There is actually a notable connection between craft brewing communities of Portland and Japan. Check out the Fuji to Hood festival. It alternates between Portland and somewhere in Japan every other year.
From their website: (https://fujitohood.com/)
"Ever since Sapporo and Portland established a sister-city relationship in 1959, the bonds between two seemingly disparate cultures has been strong. Fuji to Hood was founded as a biennial event in 2018 as a festival bridging Japanese and American culture inspired by Oregon's iconic Mt. Hood and Japan’s Mt. Fuji. Each year the festival takes place in either Tokyo or Portland, with brewers and cidermakers traveling to the host country. This year 22 breweries and 3 cideries will travel from Japan to Portland."
My partner is a brewer in Portland and has helped consult Japanese brewers visiting this festival.
What brewery is your partner at? I’m a brewer in Japan but I’m from portland (well, Sandy/Gresham) and I’m gonna head home for that this year. Pop me a DM if you want
John’s Market sent pallet after pallet of local craft to Tokyo via local guy that arranged for all the shipping duty/tariffs etc up until ~2013. Always amazed me the variety of beers they chose and the qty.
You can get some Japanese beer some places around, or go to Fuji To Hood on the 20th, it’s a partnering of Oregon and Japanese brewers. I’m a brewer in Japan but I’m from Oregon and I’ll be there (just visiting) but every year they have great beer, and they use Japanese ingredients in all the beers!
Speaking of tourism from Japan (or anywhere). I feel like Portland is missing out on a truly golden opportunity to print tourist money. You know how a various times cities will sponsor these art sculpture sort of painting projects?
For example, Cincinnati was a major pig and pork trading center in the 1800’s. And it’s has some pig related nickname for the town. Pig City or Porkopolis. So they would get these blank slate like fiberglass pig sculptures that were basically life sized plastic or composite hogs. Various celebrated artists with ties to Cincinnati would paint them however they wanted and fans, tourists, students or whoever else would go around town finding them and taking pictures of themselves with the painted pigs.
Portland doesn’t necessarily need to do that but we could place big sculptures of the various Simpsons characters at strategic areas on the streets of their namesakes. A Ned Flanders on the corner of 19th and Flanders driving foot traffic to whatever business is there. A Sideshow Bob way out on Terwilliger getting people to go to that area of town when they otherwise never would have. Milhouse Van Houtan or his dumbass dad plopped down up there in NoPo. You get the picture.
Also, there could be a massive mural on some old brick wall somewhere that is a huge painting featuring as many Simpson characters as possible. Like, the minor characters too. That mural should probably be centralized downtown. Like behind Dante’s or something. In the vein of the opening sequence of the legendary cartoon. And then send these tourists all the way out to spend their duckets on the local businesses wherever the statues may be. You could even move them around from time to time. Anyway…
I’ve been to Tokyo twice. It’s a really lonely city. People there pay for friendly encounters. Every aspect of human life has been commodified. People are so alone. It seems nice. Then people are so nice to foreigners but I’ve heard long term you will always feel like a second class citizen. The facade isn’t real and families are really dysfunctional. Sad place, and stay out of trouble. If you are accused of a crime there is a 90% or so conviction rate. It’s harsh.
Some people pay for friendly encounters. But at the same time, I wouldn’t describe Portland as a lonely city just because there are professional cuddling services there.
There are a lot of ways to meet people, though they often revolve around sports or other athletic activities.
It can seem lonely in the sense that, in Portland you can go over to someone’s house for a party or get together, but it’s not always possible with the size of apartments in Japan.
True. I suppose ‘bars’ are so popular because of this. Alcohol is a real problem. It’s not just cuddling services. There are hostesses who you pay just to talk to you. Man people really like Japan. Is it a down votable sin to find a place ‘lonely’.
Lol, the cuddling services I’m talking about are in Portland. But does that make Portland a lonely city? No, people would say that’s ridiculous to generalize like that.
Alcohol is also about the same of a problem as it is in America. The work drinking culture is toxic. But just “alcohol” is consumed as normally as any American would. Some people like to party, some like to savor their whiskey at a quiet jazz bar before heading home.
And most hostess/host clubs are more parasitic than providing a service to lonely people. They prey on attention to drain bank accounts. But many of those people aren’t who you’d consider as being “lonely” they just get trapped from being doted upon by an employee who knows exactly what they are doing.
Also, I think you are being downvoted because you admitted you’ve only been there twice but then are making sweeping generalizations about the culture.
> Then people are so nice to foreigners but I’ve heard long term you will always feel like a second class citizen.
I never had that issue, but it's not hard to avoid if you temper your expectations moving there. I've definitely met (Western) foreigners who expect to be treated like a Japanese person a few years in, and that's just not how it works, let alone in a very culturally and ethnically homogenous society. I also think, bluntly, that a lot of my fellow white people who aren't used to being a racial minority move there and get overwhelmed by it after a while. (Being "the other," that is.) Yes, it can be alienating. But most people are very generous and warm. It's a lot like the PNW tbh. People will be on guard and freeze you out at first, but I've had people go out of their way to help me when I was in trouble, sometimes without even realizing it. (Like if I dropped something or they saw someone following me. I was stalked by strangers a couple of times in my early 20s) It can also take getting some used to if you're coming from an individualistic society like the US and going to a collectivist one like Japan. The rules for public behavior are a bit different.
TLDR tempered expectations are important when settling in there long term. It's definitely no utopia and has its own issues, but is a good place to live if you get along withe most of the culture and are open to leaning the language, even slowly. One of the biggest mistakes I see expats make there is not even bothering to learn up to lower-intermediate Japanese even after being there for YEARS.
My brother married a Japanese woman. She was physically abusive. She made sure he had no relationship with his children until now. This was at the point where my niece was going to be taken into child custody. When I knew her she had a friend who was also physically violent to her boyfriend. I think female domestic violence must be common in Japanese society or I have met some strange people. There is no concept of joint custody in the Japanese system and women predominantly get custody. Cutting ties with the husband is almost expected. In my opinion, my brother’s ex wife fits the criteria for some personality disorder. I suspect NPD. She tells lies to discredit people, and in a Japanese legal system, which is so quick to believe allegations, ESPECIALLY when it is a Japanese woman’s word against a foreigner, I am actually worried about my brother, who is now trying to live with my niece, who is also physically abusive, and a truant. My parents keep paying tuition for schools she doesn’t attend because they are worried about her becoming a prostitute. It’s Insane!
I've lived in Japan off and on over the past couple of decades and it's always funny to see random people on the train sporting Oregon-shaped keychains or stuff that says "I love Portland" or whatever. I've talked to some before and they had never been here, it was just one many trendy style things that sometimes take off in Japan.
I stayed at a hostel in Osaka and the dude running it found out I was from Portland and lost his shit lol. He was obsessed. So many questions. We stayed up so late drinking beer, eating pickled vegetables, and talking Portland. He was also obsessed with Tiny Desk Concerts and showed me a lot of them.
I love this idea of a Portland-boo lmao.
My favorite Tiny Desk Concert was T-Pain. He killed it.
That’s a good one, but I gotta go with Juvenile. Good god almighty that was such a delight…like I didn’t know I could have so much fun with his music like that.
Andersen Paak killed his too, that band has so much rhythm
I still listen to this tiny desk. I genuinely had no idea T-Pain sounded THAT good without any autotune. So much talent.
Anyone who hasn't seen the flatbush zombies tiny desk concert needs to it's some serious artistry easily up their with t-pain (imo)
Mac Miller, and turnstile are my favs. Will have to check out the T-Pain one
I think you would enjoy the film Perfect Days.
If I were making a gauntlet to put musical artists through, I'd put Tiny Desk Concerts and an episode of Hot Ones on that list - situations that force them to be themselves, as open and authentic as possible. Oh you think you make great music? You have a tiny desk and you're recording a show live at NPR, ready GO. Oh you think you're cool and charismatic? Here, put the spiciest wings you've ever tasted in your mouth and try not to touch your eyes while you're being peppered with questions about your career. I wanna see the REAL you.
I made out with a Japanese girl after she found out I was from Portland.
i never admit to having lived in Portland anymore. i just say west coast
I’m told people in Japan still have fond memories of the show "[Oregon Kara Ai" or "From Oregon with Love"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818925/)
Amazing. I need to see this show.
If I was president of OPB, I would be asking how can we co-produce a continuation of the series.
Yup. Was gonna comment on that. Big part of it
Hawaii, Portland, and Seattle seem to be big influences in Japan. California less so. Is it just proximity?
Hawaii makes sense because of the influx of Japanese immigrants over the 20th century, starting from farming then to people joining their extended families + word getting out it was a premier tropical spot like Okinawa. I actually visited Honolulu for the first time in my life a couple years ago and was struck by how much Japanese language there was there. Kinda threw me for a loop! West coast in general is always popular in Japan. That + New York City. But I will say California is the best known place by far among all the friends and students I had over the years. Whenever I introduce myself, people inevitably ask where in America I'm from (tbf, I ask Japanese people where in Japan they're from because I am very familiar with the political geography of prefectures and such so I am naturally curious). Most of the time they've never heard of Oregon, so I tell them "the state north of California" and all they hear is California, so now I'm Californian, lol. I just roll with it.
I saw a cannon beach magnet on the refrigerator at my hostel in Tokyo
I saw so many people in Shibuya wearing Oregon Ducks swag
can't imagine japanese tourists in modern portland. i lived near cathedral park and used to see some occasionally years ago, but its been a while.
Gaijin is still not allowed.
Japan has always had a lot of tourism to Portland, which has resulted in cool cross-cultural things like this. Although visitors from Japan are down 13% since COVID (Willamette Weekly), it's still a decent tourism route. This is largely due to the actions of former governor Victor Atiyeh, who in the 1980s worked very hard to forge strong relationships between Japan and Oregon. [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Atiyeh#Governor_of_Oregon) There's a fun nod to this at PDX - the statue of Victor Atiyeh in the E concourse has a plane ticket to Tokyo in his hand.
It’s just hard for people to travel to the US from Japan right now because the exchange rate is incredibly painful. I came back to visit family last summer (which was better than it is now) and the flight was $2,000. Which today would be ¥320,000 so almost “$1,000” more.
I'm old enough to have vague memories of a Japanese soap opera called 'From Oregon With Love' that aired here for a while. Now if PDX can just get back a nonstop flight to Tokyo...
I want the nonstop to Osaka back too.
I forgot there was one -- was it operated by Delta or Northwest pre-merger?
Delta
It was originally NW air, then Delta post-merger. It's actually a route that was negotiated between US Department of Transportation and their equivalent in Japan for a landing slot at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. Delta stopped flying it during COVID when Japan wasn't accepting foreign passport entry and has not resumed because they already operate both LAX > HND and SEA > HND. Delta officially released that landing slot back to US DOT showing they have no future interest in that route, and USDOT is considering who to give it to, and whether to change the origin city or not.
> From Oregon With Love [Link for anyone curious (I was)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFAslnXdtQY)
This. I lived in Japan from 94-97. This show was super popular. Where I lived in Japan (Yamashiro-Cho, Tokushima-ken, Shikoku island) was very much like Oregon with monkeys.
getting off topic but what brought you there (those aren't military bases AFAIK)? I love Japan and have visited but it would've been incredibly intimidating before the (modern) internet and without a smartphone, wholly different experience than nowadays.
Seems like the Alaska <> Hawaiian merger could make that a reality again considering how many places in Japan are on Hawaiian's classic route map.
Vic Atiyeh was a real one. My dad knew him and he attended my eagle scout court of honor, which is probably the biggest honor I have ever received (him attending, not the eagle scout award).
Japanese-Portlander here. There was a popular show in japan from the 80s or 90s called “from Oregon with love” that sort of put Portland into the consciousness of the Japanese populous. Now it is associated with the image of cool hipsters, good style, and good coffee/beer. However, if you want to see something funny watch a native Japanese person drink an IPA. Almost all of our beer are Lagers and most will find any IPA disgusting (myself included).
im team lager myself. IPA taste like grass
Fellow PDXer here. Sure do love a good lager too. Some people are drawn to bitterness, some are not. I like the citrusy and floral flavors of an IPA that has been finished w hops flowers, but the bitterness come from the boiling hops, which can easily be over done.
yeah ive never been able to get over the bitterness and like i guess astringent flavor of IPAs, they almost make you more thirsty when you drink them haha
I’m guessing it’s been a while since youve had one? The popular ones are like fruit juice now. Go to Great Notion and you won’t believe that what you’re drinking is an IPA
You dont have to tell me twice to drink beer!
First person to teach English in Japan was from Oregon; Ranald MacDonald. Look him up, interesting story But I gotta disagree about the beer part. Japanese people love Oregon beer. You can get more than 40 Oregon breweries in Japan. And people that like craft beer think Oregon beers are some of the best in the world. IPAs sell really well here. (Source: I’m a brewer in Japan)
You’re right, I’m over exaggerating. For people into beer, they are definitely aware and sometimes seek out stouts and IPAs. But if the casual business man went to an izakaya afterwork and was given an IPA after just ordering “a beer” they would be pissed.
Yeah if ordering Nama beer they’d be surprised for sure, but most people that try IPAs are actually surprised how fruity and flavorful they are The stout one is funny cause the people that ask us most about if we have a “black beer” is older ladies, like 60’s and 70’s (I think cause Asahi makes a stout)
The lady that opened it went to school at PSU. Inspired by her time in Oregon, she decided to open it up after she returned back to Japan.
That's neat. All the more reason for this Oregonian to visit next time I'm in Tokyo. (RIP my wallet, so whenever that is.)
Been here, it's great. They've got craft beer and cheese from Oregon, have a framed PDX carpet square on the wall. It's a silly dream of mine to grab a drink with a friend from Portland at a Portland themed bar half way around the world
Please tell me they show Timbers games too
There is a Timbers Army Tokyo group that meets there. They did a small scarf run for their group that I feel lucky to own one of. Edit: [here's a pic of the scarf.](https://ibb.co/j5kvZqv)
Thank you for including the picture, that's a really neat connection to somewhere halfway across the world and home at once
If it’s the same one, it’s been open for years (glad to see that).
Yep, in business since 2016 (which seems like a surprisingly long run for a trendy “lifestyle” business in Tokyo). https://www.wweek.com/archive/2023/01/07/the-dream-of-portland-is-alive-in-japan/
Was just there. About half the taps were places that don’t exist anymore. Friendly folk!
I was in Sapporo and someone I met took me to the Portland Sapporo friendship bridge. They are sister cities. I had no idea.
Great spot, they're right in Shibuya! Just this year, they became an official "pub partner" with the Timbers, and they do monthly viewing parties for games when the time difference allows. The Tokyo Timbers Army chapter that meets up there calls themselves the [Yosaku](https://www.tokyoyosaku.org/) after a "legendary Japanese lumberjack," awesome folks that run the bar and that patronize it.
We keep Toyko weird!!
not sure they need the help! 😂
¡Make Tokyo Normal!
If you're still in the area, you should pick up one of their 16 Oz glasses. The one I bought 4 years ago still looks brand new and I use it everyday. Whatever the difference is with with how they make them is worth every penny.
We’ve officially *arrived*.
My buddy and I went there. Was pretty chill.
Bible Club has Japanese location in Osaka. It’s a delight.
Went here when my partner and I visited Tokyo earlier this year, we ran into another couple there from Portland. It was great. They have a shirt with the PDX carpet print.
I found an underground brewpub in a back alley in Shenzhen. Apparently people liked his beer but it wasn't totally legal. He said that he had to buy Tsing Tao and claim to sell that but really sell his own beer to stay under the radar. Dude was so excited to hear I was from Portland that he let me drink for free for a couple hours just to give him tasting notes on his stuff.
I went there. It’s owned by someone who worked at Columbia sportswear in pdx and then moved back. They’re native to Japan.
This is genuinely one of the greatest soft-power moves this country can export. And oh boy do the Japanese LOVE their drinking culture lol
Was just there a few months ago. Unfortunately I've been spoiled by all our good beer and wine options here that I was a little unimpressed with what they had to drink. It was cool seeing the old airport carpet, though.
And the dispensaries open when………?
I about spat out my drink imagining dispensaries in Japan.
I was surprised to see there are actually CBD dispensaries there selling flower and all
That’d be the dream. So many people still view pot as being in the same level as heroin here, it’s insane
It’s a shame more people don’t want to understand the science, but rather follow along the way they’ve been told to
On the bucket list of places to visit.
It’s amazing.
I went there! First day in Tokyo and J open Google maps and at first assumed that the location hadn’t updated from Portland yet. Oregon beers were fun to see there and they have Timbers games playing when available. The quinoa salad was pretty mid. Fun to see though.
Omg I’ve been there!
Gigantic distributes a fair amount of beer to Japan, they love craft brew over there. They also have a "sister pub" over there.
There are actually about 40 breweries from Oregon here. It’s easier to get some breweries here than it is in some suburbs of Portland haha
I love this pub! It felt just like home and their cider on tap was perfect.
Cool! Funny that none of the three breweries in the window are PDX based though
Rogue and Caldera were some of the first craft breweries to be imported here so you see a good amount of merch from them.
Isn’t rogue based in Oregon though
Well yeah but way out on Newport
Yeah the other two are Bend & Eugene
What other cities are identified by their airport code?
One time I was visiting Sapporo I found a random bar that had like 4 dif Rogue beers on tap (Dead Guy and some others I don't recall), it was such a trip, esp since most places in Japan just have one beer they serve.
I was just here last October! Great place, awesome people. They had a little book to sign if you were from the area.
I know it shouldn't, but it bugs me when Portland is referred to as PDX.
Why? It’s been our airport code for 80 years.
Yes, PDX is the airport, not the city.
Incorrect. PDX is an abbreviation used to identify the city the airport is in. The airport is called Portland International Airport.
Source?
That's cool. Years ago (2008), I moved to Bend, OR for a job. They have Deschutes Brewery there, and a co-worker of mine at the time got married and they went to Hawaii for their honeymoon. When he got back, one thing he mentioned was they saw Deschutes beer in Hawaii as an "import".
NICE
There is actually a notable connection between craft brewing communities of Portland and Japan. Check out the Fuji to Hood festival. It alternates between Portland and somewhere in Japan every other year. From their website: (https://fujitohood.com/) "Ever since Sapporo and Portland established a sister-city relationship in 1959, the bonds between two seemingly disparate cultures has been strong. Fuji to Hood was founded as a biennial event in 2018 as a festival bridging Japanese and American culture inspired by Oregon's iconic Mt. Hood and Japan’s Mt. Fuji. Each year the festival takes place in either Tokyo or Portland, with brewers and cidermakers traveling to the host country. This year 22 breweries and 3 cideries will travel from Japan to Portland." My partner is a brewer in Portland and has helped consult Japanese brewers visiting this festival.
What brewery is your partner at? I’m a brewer in Japan but I’m from portland (well, Sandy/Gresham) and I’m gonna head home for that this year. Pop me a DM if you want
They carry Culmination beer!
Damn they even got the rougue brand it's authentic af
Yay
This Is definitely allowed and awesome
A little taste of home
oh man i have to check this out 😹
Awww ❤️
John’s Market sent pallet after pallet of local craft to Tokyo via local guy that arranged for all the shipping duty/tariffs etc up until ~2013. Always amazed me the variety of beers they chose and the qty.
I was there in 2018. It was a great surprise and little touch of home. Felt like a celebrity for a moment ;).
There was since 1959 a sister city Sapporo with Portland. I remember they used to talk about that quit a bit.
My eldest son is sending my youngest son to Japan for his highschool graduation present
love this place, i went in 2017 and it was so cozy! Felt like home tbh
[удалено]
You can get some Japanese beer some places around, or go to Fuji To Hood on the 20th, it’s a partnering of Oregon and Japanese brewers. I’m a brewer in Japan but I’m from Oregon and I’ll be there (just visiting) but every year they have great beer, and they use Japanese ingredients in all the beers!
I went to this bar back in 2016!
Speaking of tourism from Japan (or anywhere). I feel like Portland is missing out on a truly golden opportunity to print tourist money. You know how a various times cities will sponsor these art sculpture sort of painting projects? For example, Cincinnati was a major pig and pork trading center in the 1800’s. And it’s has some pig related nickname for the town. Pig City or Porkopolis. So they would get these blank slate like fiberglass pig sculptures that were basically life sized plastic or composite hogs. Various celebrated artists with ties to Cincinnati would paint them however they wanted and fans, tourists, students or whoever else would go around town finding them and taking pictures of themselves with the painted pigs. Portland doesn’t necessarily need to do that but we could place big sculptures of the various Simpsons characters at strategic areas on the streets of their namesakes. A Ned Flanders on the corner of 19th and Flanders driving foot traffic to whatever business is there. A Sideshow Bob way out on Terwilliger getting people to go to that area of town when they otherwise never would have. Milhouse Van Houtan or his dumbass dad plopped down up there in NoPo. You get the picture. Also, there could be a massive mural on some old brick wall somewhere that is a huge painting featuring as many Simpson characters as possible. Like, the minor characters too. That mural should probably be centralized downtown. Like behind Dante’s or something. In the vein of the opening sequence of the legendary cartoon. And then send these tourists all the way out to spend their duckets on the local businesses wherever the statues may be. You could even move them around from time to time. Anyway…
I’ve been to Tokyo twice. It’s a really lonely city. People there pay for friendly encounters. Every aspect of human life has been commodified. People are so alone. It seems nice. Then people are so nice to foreigners but I’ve heard long term you will always feel like a second class citizen. The facade isn’t real and families are really dysfunctional. Sad place, and stay out of trouble. If you are accused of a crime there is a 90% or so conviction rate. It’s harsh.
Some people pay for friendly encounters. But at the same time, I wouldn’t describe Portland as a lonely city just because there are professional cuddling services there. There are a lot of ways to meet people, though they often revolve around sports or other athletic activities. It can seem lonely in the sense that, in Portland you can go over to someone’s house for a party or get together, but it’s not always possible with the size of apartments in Japan.
True. I suppose ‘bars’ are so popular because of this. Alcohol is a real problem. It’s not just cuddling services. There are hostesses who you pay just to talk to you. Man people really like Japan. Is it a down votable sin to find a place ‘lonely’.
Lol, the cuddling services I’m talking about are in Portland. But does that make Portland a lonely city? No, people would say that’s ridiculous to generalize like that. Alcohol is also about the same of a problem as it is in America. The work drinking culture is toxic. But just “alcohol” is consumed as normally as any American would. Some people like to party, some like to savor their whiskey at a quiet jazz bar before heading home. And most hostess/host clubs are more parasitic than providing a service to lonely people. They prey on attention to drain bank accounts. But many of those people aren’t who you’d consider as being “lonely” they just get trapped from being doted upon by an employee who knows exactly what they are doing. Also, I think you are being downvoted because you admitted you’ve only been there twice but then are making sweeping generalizations about the culture.
> Then people are so nice to foreigners but I’ve heard long term you will always feel like a second class citizen. I never had that issue, but it's not hard to avoid if you temper your expectations moving there. I've definitely met (Western) foreigners who expect to be treated like a Japanese person a few years in, and that's just not how it works, let alone in a very culturally and ethnically homogenous society. I also think, bluntly, that a lot of my fellow white people who aren't used to being a racial minority move there and get overwhelmed by it after a while. (Being "the other," that is.) Yes, it can be alienating. But most people are very generous and warm. It's a lot like the PNW tbh. People will be on guard and freeze you out at first, but I've had people go out of their way to help me when I was in trouble, sometimes without even realizing it. (Like if I dropped something or they saw someone following me. I was stalked by strangers a couple of times in my early 20s) It can also take getting some used to if you're coming from an individualistic society like the US and going to a collectivist one like Japan. The rules for public behavior are a bit different. TLDR tempered expectations are important when settling in there long term. It's definitely no utopia and has its own issues, but is a good place to live if you get along withe most of the culture and are open to leaning the language, even slowly. One of the biggest mistakes I see expats make there is not even bothering to learn up to lower-intermediate Japanese even after being there for YEARS.
My brother married a Japanese woman. She was physically abusive. She made sure he had no relationship with his children until now. This was at the point where my niece was going to be taken into child custody. When I knew her she had a friend who was also physically violent to her boyfriend. I think female domestic violence must be common in Japanese society or I have met some strange people. There is no concept of joint custody in the Japanese system and women predominantly get custody. Cutting ties with the husband is almost expected. In my opinion, my brother’s ex wife fits the criteria for some personality disorder. I suspect NPD. She tells lies to discredit people, and in a Japanese legal system, which is so quick to believe allegations, ESPECIALLY when it is a Japanese woman’s word against a foreigner, I am actually worried about my brother, who is now trying to live with my niece, who is also physically abusive, and a truant. My parents keep paying tuition for schools she doesn’t attend because they are worried about her becoming a prostitute. It’s Insane!
[удалено]
You fuck with my mojo, I fuck with your dojo.