ちどりあし

　　ここをクリックして下さい。

部長：山田君、もう一杯つき合わないかね。
山田：やめておきましようよ。もうだいぶ千鳥足ですよ。

Chidori-Ashi
Bucho: Yamada-kun, moo ippai tsukiawanai ka ne.
Yamada: Yamete okimashoo yo. Moo daibu chidori-ashi desuyo.

Manager: Come on Yamada, join me in another.
Yamada: Let's call it a day, shall we? You've already had so much you don't seem to be too steady on your feet.

* * *

Opportunities to drink with friends and colleagues suddenly increase at this time with so many boonenkai and shinnenkai to celebrate the end of one year and the start of another. And then there are the nijikai which take place after the official party is over when some people go on to another establishment to continue the celebration there.
Having left one party, somewhat the worse for wear, Mr. Yamada has been invited by his boss to a nijikai for two. Moo ippai is purely a euphemism, of course, and the subtle tsukiawanai ka makes it difficult for Mr. Yamada to refuse, it being a social duty in Japan to keep others company on such occasions, one's superiors especially.
Those who readily join others in a meal or a drink are described as tsukiai ga ii whereas those wet blankets who rush home to their adoring wives once work is over are definitely tsukiai ga warui.
Knowing this, Mr. Yamada is reluctant to turn down the invitation-cum-order but does so since his boss is no longer in full control of his legs and is beginning to stagger in that unmistakable manner so poetically named, in Japanese, after the gait of the plover at the seashore.