It sure is! Problem is, much of the 20-30 crowd has moved on to bigger and better things in Sendai and Tokyo. But the big holidays are a nice time to go out to the bars here when they're all home.
Get used to it. I used to live in southern Wakayama, and all the girls you wanted to date live in Osaka. But the country always DOES have good drinkin' atmosphere. Except the person next to you drinking in the snack is a 50 year old fisherman....