Job Discussion Forums

[Filinadian]

Hey guys

I'm new at this board, so please bare with me if I miss any details or I forget to follow any rules...

Anyways, I had a question about Gym facilities in Japan. I want to know how much memeberships cost if you join a local gym? I've heard form a few of my students that the cost is pretty expensive, almost 3 times the price here in Canada.

I am going to a gym now, and it cost me about $30.00(Candian) a month. So that works out to be about $360.00 for a year, but my gym gives commited customers a deal for $230.00 for signing with them for a year. Does Japan have these kind of things?

If the gym is pricy, can you guys suggest a better alternative? I've also thought about buying my own weights. Although this might be cheaper, I still much prefer to go to a gym, since everything I need is already there. What do you guys think?

I welcome any advice you guys might have for me. Thank you for replying!


Filinadian

[easyasabc]

[Gordon]

The private gyms around where I live charge about 10,000y/month ($130 CDN), no deals. Too rich for my blood so I go to a community centre gym for 100y/ drop-in ($1.30). The free weights are pathetic, but the cardio equipment is top of the line.

[Filinadian]

Gordon

I didn't know about Japan having community gyms. Wow, that's really cheap! But I guess you do get what you pay for.

I used to work on my Cardio a lot. The core of my workout was cardio, but ever since my weight platued, I've just been steadily working on my strength, lifting weights.

I will definetly check out the community centres in my area. I think if I compare everything in Canadian dollars, I'm gonna go crazy!

I do think $130 CDN is way too much! However, "easyasbc" mentioned a fee of about 6000 yen, that is still pricy, but definetly cheaper than
10, 000 yen/menth.

Thank you for the feedback!


Filinadian

[The G-stringed Avenger]

Private gyms are better, but quite expensive - between 7000-10,000 yen a month depending if you take a daytime or a night-time or all hours membership. I went to a government gym in my town - 300 yen a time and I didn't need to become a member. I found it had everything I needed, though I had to replace my free weight regime with resistance machines (yes - free weight selection was pathetic). Still, it was a good place to keep fit and you pay only for when you use it. Don't forget to take a spare pair of gym shoes to change in to upon entry - they're anal about that! Also, private gyms aren't keen on people with tattoos, if you have any

[Filinadian]

That doesn't sound bad at all. A government gym eh? I'm staying in Saitama this September, I wonder if they have one of those.

Thanks for the advice! I'll definetly look into that when I arrive in Japan.

Oh, and also, I'm interested in doing pick-up street Basketball when I get there. Do you know if Basketball is popular at all in Japan? Or, if I can just go to a local playground a do pick-up games. I don't want to join a club just to play basketball. I think pick-up games are good enough for me.

Thanks!


Filinadian

[Big Chris]

Gym memberships in Japan, (especially when I was in Tokyo,) have traditionally been pricy. However, the local YM-YWCA has always been a more sensible alternative.

Also, you should look online for various activity clubs because you can usually play a sport, have some fun and get some excersize for next to nothing but trainfare.

[The G-stringed Avenger]

Yeah, I'm aware pick-up basketball games are quite popular. There are always people down at local courts - ask around (will u be teaching - pump your students for info) and you'll be on the right track in no time. Happy training!

[articulate_ink]

I haven't posted in a while. Been lurking, though. My Japan or Korea ETA is now 1 April 05, barring big life changes.

Someone above (I'm being lazy and not quoting) said private gyms are not keen on people with tattoos. I have eight of them and will have more by the time I get to wherever I'm going.

If you join a gym, are you asked whether you have tattoos? If not, and none are visible when you join, how will anyone know -- until you've already joined? (Two of mine are visible when I'm in shorts and a T-shirt, sometimes three depending on the sleeves.) Are non-Japanese in any way exempted from the tattoo prejudice? (It would seem to me, at least from this outside perspective, that in a culture where the line between Japanese and gaijin is so clearly enforced, us inked whiteys would be given a little room here.)

Thoughts? Advice? Experiences?

Thanks...

[Celeste]

THey may just refund your money and ask you to leave. Put band-aids over them.

[Nagoyaguy]

My gym is Holiday Fitness. Joining fee was 10,000 yen, then I pay 7350 a month. Nice place- pool, jacuzzi, free weights, machines, lots of aerobic classes and so on , stairmasters, bikes, treadmills. Great place.

About tattoos, there tends to be a very stupid attitude about them here. To many Japanese, tattoos mean yakuza, or mafia. So, they disallow tattoos. As a foreigner, you may be ok. If you are asked to leave, refuse politely and continue your workout. After all, you paid.

The tattoo thing is one that gets under my skin here.

[chi-chi-]

The following is an excerpt from mediatinker.com:

May 08, 2004
Tattoo trouble
For the very first time since having my skin colored at the Meeting of the Marked convention in 1993, my tattoo has caused me trouble.

On Thursday, I decided to get off my lazy butt and join the Tokyo Dome Fitness Club. I took the tour and was filling in the application when an employee came over and waved some sheets of paper at the woman who was helping me. A conversation ensued--the rules, look at her arm, we can't!

And I was turned away. "I'm very sorry, but our rules say no tattoos. And it's the rule, so I'm sorry. There's really no excuse but it's the rule. It's Japan, you know. Very sorry."

So I seek a more tolerant gym. Maybe I will be working out and swimming with the four-fingered crowd. That's OK by me, I just have to find them.

Welcome to the world's largest and most modern city....
-----------------------------------
Please note: Other gyms will make you do mandatory training sessions, which wouldn't be so bad, except it's all in Japanese....kind of sucks if you enjoy simple day to day things, such as working out. Oh well too bad

[fox1]

hey guys... I have a question about swimming pools. Are there many 'stand-alone' swimming pools in the main cities, say, as opposed to pools that are part of a gym.

Are there many normal-size (deep, and all that...sorry I just read that Korean pools are really shallow) swimming pools... and do many people regularly go for a session?

is it cheaper to join just a pool... or a whole gym with pool. Thanks

[Mtnkiwi]

If you have the necessary willpower to train at home, buying some free weights and maybe a bench is going to save you a lot of money, not to mention time. You can probably get a bench, bars, dumbells and weights for around 20,000 yen all up, about 3 months gym membership. No swimming pool, but you get to choose your own music. It will of course depend on how much space you have at home.

[fizayded]

I'm paying about 5000 Yen at Tipness for a nighttime pass. It works out cause its better for me to work out at night, and I dont have to hear crap techo-trance aerobics music with the aerobics instructor screaming in Japanese.

Buying weights is a good idea, but youre not gonna want to pay to take them home with you, and they take up a lot of space. Plus, youre more motivated when you go to the gym.