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timothypfox
Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 492
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 Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:40 am Post subject: |
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If our good friend here got a job in Tokyo, there's a whole community of Japanese anime lovers in Akihabara.
Probably you could dig up a sizeable community in a medium sized city on up here. That said, the average working stiff in Japan doesn't really have time to watch TV or develop many interests out side of work. The average working stiff doesn't know much about the Internet either. The average working stiff (male) works a full 6 days a week and goes to pachinko and a onsen on their days off or goes fishing, and will start to stress out and get "bored" if they have a holiday for more than a day or two. For working women, a day off would be going shopping, going to have cake at a coffee shop, or grocery shopping or a language class. Women are generally more interesting people in Japan... "Parties" usually consist of going to izukaiyas - drinking and being asked if you can use chopsticks. That is the reality here. The trick is to find the subcultures - people with interests that match yours.
It's not always easy. I joined a yoga class because that is what I like and found some friends who do that and even found someone who enjoys hiking with me. But, I practice ukulele at a music store studio and put up a flier for someone to play together with me, but after 6 months no response... So... |
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RustyShackleford
Joined: 13 May 2013
Posts: 449
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| Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 9:16 am Post subject: |
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| rxk22 wrote: |
| It takes years, esp for gaijin to be accepted into groups. I imagine the Otaku are much the same. |
I'd say it depends. I had a friend who just got engaged to a gal who works in a prominent game company who he met by going full in the hobby and has many friends connected to it within the span of little over a year.
Meanwhile, I gave it my shot for several more years but I found the layers and masks people put up to be a part of the scene (understandable given some concerns about employment etc etc), to be too much for my tastes. That said I know a few people who are pretty big geeks and even some industry people.
And to tie with Timothy - yeah I do find it easier to make platonic friends with women more than men just because women have so much more free time to spend and men tend to dwell in bars or have expensive hobbies (and I don't mean hostessing). Again, not to say it's impossible, but it's going to be a little more uphill, but this is getting off track I feel. |
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jmatt
Joined: 29 Apr 2012
Posts: 122
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| Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| timothypfox wrote: |
If our good friend here got a job in Tokyo, there's a whole community of Japanese anime lovers in Akihabara.
The average working stiff doesn't know much about the Internet either. The average working stiff (male) works a full 6 days a week and goes to pachinko and a onsen on their days off or goes fishing, and will start to stress out and get "bored" if they have a holiday for more than a day or two. For working women, a day off would be going shopping, going to have cake at a coffee shop, or grocery shopping or a language class. |
Ohhhhh yaaaaa Tim Fox lives like it's nineteen ninety niiiiiiiiine!!!!
Seriously. Do you live in a fucking cave?
[/quote]It's not always easy. I joined a yoga class because that is what I like and found some friends who do that and even found someone who enjoys hiking with me. But, I practice ukulele at a music store studio and put up a flier for someone to play together with me, but after 6 months no response... So...[/quote]
Ahh. Yoga. Ukelele. Makes sense. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| RustyShackleford wrote: |
| rxk22 wrote: |
| It takes years, esp for gaijin to be accepted into groups. I imagine the Otaku are much the same. |
I'd say it depends. I had a friend who just got engaged to a gal who works in a prominent game company who he met by going full in the hobby and has many friends connected to it within the span of little over a year.
Meanwhile, I gave it my shot for several more years but I found the layers and masks people put up to be a part of the scene (understandable given some concerns about employment etc etc), to be too much for my tastes. That said I know a few people who are pretty big geeks and even some industry people.
And to tie with Timothy - yeah I do find it easier to make platonic friends with women more than men just because women have so much more free time to spend and men tend to dwell in bars or have expensive hobbies (and I don't mean hostessing). Again, not to say it's impossible, but it's going to be a little more uphill, but this is getting off track I feel. |
Well, you can break in sometimes, but in many cases it's a slow burn.
And def agree with girls being more interesting. Guys in Japan, work so much, that they forget that they had interests and hobbies. Really sad, as many basically have no real personality. |
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012
Posts: 270
Location: Ibaraki
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| Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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| jmatt wrote: |
Ohhhhh yaaaaa Tim Fox lives like it's nineteen ninety niiiiiiiiine!!!!
Seriously. Do you live in a fucking cave? |
I imagine there's quite a lot of sarcasm in his post, but it's not entirely fiction. My little city of 40k has 5 pachinko parlors just within this district. The internet to a lot of people is still that thing on the cellphone. |
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HeatherG
Joined: 25 Mar 2013
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm actually a little concerned myself about loneliness and finding things to do, especially since I tend to spend a lot of my free time online or playing video games. Are there good places for camping or hiking in Japan? I'd really like to go sight-seeing and get back into my old hobby of photography. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| jmatt wrote: |
| timothypfox wrote: |
If our good friend here got a job in Tokyo, there's a whole community of Japanese anime lovers in Akihabara.
The average working stiff doesn't know much about the Internet either. The average working stiff (male) works a full 6 days a week and goes to pachinko and a onsen on their days off or goes fishing, and will start to stress out and get "bored" if they have a holiday for more than a day or two. For working women, a day off would be going shopping, going to have cake at a coffee shop, or grocery shopping or a language class. |
Ohhhhh yaaaaa Tim Fox lives like it's nineteen ninety niiiiiiiiine!!!!
Seriously. Do you live in a fucking cave?
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It's not always easy. I joined a yoga class because that is what I like and found some friends who do that and even found someone who enjoys hiking with me. But, I practice ukulele at a music store studio and put up a flier for someone to play together with me, but after 6 months no response... So...[/quote]
Ahh. Yoga. Ukelele. Makes sense.[/quote]
Jmatt, why so mad? |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| HeatherG wrote: |
| I'm actually a little concerned myself about loneliness and finding things to do, especially since I tend to spend a lot of my free time online or playing video games. Are there good places for camping or hiking in Japan? I'd really like to go sight-seeing and get back into my old hobby of photography. |
Yeah, tons of places to hike. If you're in Osaka or Tokyo, it will be a bit of atrip. But for everywhere else tons of 'hiking courses' |
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HeatherG
Joined: 25 Mar 2013
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 6:13 am Post subject: |
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| If I get a JET interview, I'm wondering how I'll explain my interest in Japanese culture. It sort of built up over the years. I don't even watch anime much any more, so I don't want to mention that. |
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