ZUN Column "Which Came First, Hakurei Kannushi's Games or Beer?"

[Sedrife]

"Which Came First, Hakurei Kannushi's Games or Beer?" (博麗神主のゲームが先かお酒が先) column is an ongoing series of ZUN's opinion of his favorite subject: where to drink the best beer in Japan... and sometimes about games.



Started from Comptiq 2009.12, the column has been released every month.
It then transitioned to Comp Ace on 2013.9 and is currently on its 76th episode.
The column has been a source of media sensation for Touhou fans, especially with several guest drawing inserts.




This post is for MoTK to share stories on what they think, and what they found interesting while reading this underappreciated column.  And possibly raise awareness regarding to this awesome series.

Some interesting stuffs I found while digging through this...

1. "I have often said that '90% of Touhou is made of beer', but this column reveals the truth: that it is made of 100% beer."
2.  ZUN always drinks his beer with sides and glass of water.  The column introduces as much beer food as the beer he introduces, some of which are Eisbein and Chinese Hot Pot.
3. ZUN recommends his favorite places to eat and drink beer.  One of which is a Chinese Hot Pot place called 東方火鍋城 (Eastern Castle of Hot Pot), and ZUN loves the fact that there used to be a ramen place called 東方紅 (Eastern Scarlet), which could double-down his "Touhou" theme.
4. ZUN's favorite Western beer is St.Bernardus Abt 12.  He wrote review about this beer in his blog as well.

[Clarste]

Does anyone actually read this?

[Tengukami]

Is Clownpiece extolling the virtues of the Hooters restaurant franchise, or is she just a fan of, well, hooters in general?

[Sedrife]

Does anyone actually read this?

Nice scan.  It really feels like a ZUN interview, albeit more personal and everyday life of a drunken man.  Totally deserves scanlation for everyone to bask upon the ethanol goodness.

Is Clownpiece extolling the virtues of the Hooters restaurant franchise, or is she just a fan of, well, hooters in general?

Perhaps ZUN's been to Hooters and he shared his opinion in that column, which compelled the not-so-American fairy to shout out the words.  Without the actual article, we'll never know. :3

[Clarste]

Perhaps ZUN's been to Hooters and he shared his opinion in that column, which compelled the not-so-American fairy to shout out the words.  Without the actual article, we'll never know. :3

Feel free to translate it yourself:

[hungrybookworm]

I don't bother reading them, personally. There's occasionally something interesting at the very start or end, but the rest is just ZUN talking about whatever he ate or drank recently. Which is probably very interesting if you're a foodie, or love beer as much as he does, but it's not worth the trouble of looking up all the food-related kanji, imo. Especially after an epic chapter of Forbidden Scrollery.

That Clownpiece pic is from an article where ZUN visits a Japanese branch of Hooters, and talks about the american food on offer there. I think. I didn't exactly read it in detail... rest assured she isn't talking about owls lol

[Sedrife]

Yup, sounds like he got the idea of going to Hooter's in Japan from his visit to America for AWA 2013, which was 2 years ago from when he wrote this column.  After hearing about it, he wanted to go there, but couldn't make up time for it in America, so finally after 2 years of waiting, he finally found Hooters in Japan, so it was very exciting for him.

Apparently, he got quite more than what he expected.  Chicken wings with various spice level was a new thing for him, since he couldn't handle too much spice.  Beer is always nice.  Ladies with tank top that serves as waitresses.  In Japan Hooter's, there's some kind of show happening regularly.  Shy as ZUN is, he was quite nervous about that.

As Western fan, it's kinda nice that ZUN is kinda using this opportunity to recollect his experience in AWA2013 on what he thought was different and impressive.  Shopping mall, restaurant, cosplayers freely entering and exiting the public space, etc.

[Tengukami]

Yup, sounds like he got the idea of going to Hooter's in Japan from his visit to America for AWA 2013, which was 2 years ago from when he wrote this column.  After hearing about it, he wanted to go there, but couldn't make up time for it in America, so finally after 2 years of waiting, he finally found Hooters in Japan, so it was very exciting for him.

You know, I hope he doesn't come away from the experience believing that Hooter's serves "American food", although I'm probably being pedantic - regular food dipped in batter, deep fried and served in a basket is a common theme across many American restaurant chains. But still! Did no one in Georgia offer this man peach cobbler?

Also, this is a pretty great example of one person's mundane being another person's exotic.

[N-Forza]

Hooters was apparently recommended to him in the (Japanese) travel guide he bought, and the description made it very appealing to him, maybe more so than the peach cobbler.

[HalfGrand]

ZUN as a comic strip... it was bound to happen eventually.

I've entertained the thought in my mind many times about a ZUN comedy 4koma about his daily life and his relationship with Ki-San while ZUN "cheats" on her with his Touhou's... all for lighthearted comedic results of course.

We can have good parody such as ZUN only being able to get off with Ki-San in the bedroom if she wears Touhou cosplay (mainly Reimu), ZUN drinks himself to inebriated proportions one night just so that Ki-san looks like the Touhou character he is in the mood for with his beer goggles and when Ki-San was pregnant with ZUNior, she was thinking about the joys of motherhood while ZUN was only thinking about what costume would look best on his daughter he was expecting at the time with baby clothes  :].

When ZUN finds out That ZUNior was going to be born a boy, he gets depressed and drinks... thinking that his son might only fit into his Touhou world if he is Rinnosuke's assistant or something.

The man is ripe for lighthearted parody, we all can agree on that.  :3

Too bad I'm not a better artist... I would call it ZUN Life!

[the old guy]

We can have good parody such as ZUN only being able to get off with Ki-San in the bedroom if she wears Touhou cosplay (mainly Reimu),

Dude, not funny, its not your place to make tasteless jokes about ZUN's sex life like that!

[Tengukami]

That whole post is kinda gross tbh.

[Clarste]

Getting back on topic, have another one of these things:

[Sedrife]

Touhou Wiki section is created for this.