If any doubts existed that Japanese people are exceptionally tolerant toward the imbibing of alcohol, those were erased in 2014, when the Pew Center, as part of its Global Attitudes Project, surveyed people's views on drinking in 40 countries.

With 66 percent of Japanese subjects agreeing that drinking alcohol is morally acceptable, their country led the field by a whopping 20 points over second place, the Czech Republic. The top five were rounded out by Germany (41 percent), Britain (38 percent) and Venezuela (36 percent).

Equally significant, only 6 percent of Japanese respondents said they regard drinking alcohol as morally unacceptable. On this point, Japan was followed by Canada and Britain, Australia, Germany, the United States, and Poland and France at 9, 10, 14, 17 and 18 percent, respectively.