[With a dead serious look]: "Why? Is it because they are Mormon?"

Those few words should give very strong insight into Japanese the drinking culture in Japan. Quite simply, alcohol carries none of the negative social stigmas it does in a country like the United States, where people have all kinds of ingrained stigmas regarding the concept of alcohol.

This is NOT to say the Japanese way is better because the societies are completely different. What IS important is that one does not just look at a concept like alcohol through the filtered perspective of one's native country, but rather with an objective approach.