My lab held our first online nomikai through zoom yesterday. It was sort of awkward in the beginning xD But ended up being pretty fun! It was nice to learn more about our members' experiences prior joining our lab ^^ I hope more people join next time!

BTW, nomikai is like a drinking party, very common in Japanese culture. I dare say it is one of the biggest and strongest social events in Japan xD It usually ends up with people getting drunk as fu**, specially if you go to a "all you can drink" place.

I cannot drink alcohol so I usually just eat a lot lol (I mean, these events tend to get very expensive, specially when warikan is applied, so I try to make up for it by eating a lot). But doing it online, I guess people control themselves more xD

BTW^2, warikan is when you split the bill, no matter what you consumed. If you don't drink alcohol (which is usually expensive), it gets quite unfair. Dang it, this thread is like a rabbit hole into Japanese culture lol