This has been bugging me for awile; I've read a lot of fanfics

{mostly

Ranma} where one or more charachters gets incredibly depressed,

walks into a

bar, and gets stinking drunk. It's an excellent story device, but

there is

one problem: THESE PEOPLE ARE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!! The oldest

among them is

17, tops. Either the drinking age is incredibly low in Japan or

nobody there

checks I.D. 
 

Don't know about Japan, but in Korea there is a drinking age. 
Something like 18, but i don't know, because noone else seems to care.
You just walk into the local convenience store and walk out with a
six-pack or what have you.

Since 100 percent of the male population drinks, noone seems to care.