Job Discussion Forums

[markle]

Aside from the obvious (drinking and partying) what kinds of activities, pastime do people get up to?

[fat_chris]

[bshabu]

I do like the bar scene. However, I actually get out for a drive. Usually to an onsen twice a month. I live in Gifu and the driving here is great. Other activities include pachinko, slot, and other Japanese cultural activities(Modern and traditional).

[Sage]

Is that all that people do? Drink and party? Why would you want to go half way around the world to drink and party? I hope Japan isn't such a closed society that all a foreigner can do for fun is go to gaijin bars...

For someone who had a father that owned nightclubs & strip clubs while he was growing up, the LAST thing I want to do is go to a bar or drink.

[Gordon]

Movie theaters, same ones as in the West, only a few months behind.
Beach
Hiking
Driving
Swimming
Cycling
Visit temples/castles
Onsens

[shmooj]

I must be so sad . I have about a glass of wine a month and can't remember the last party I went to. I'm with Sage on this.

I keep our website up to date, read, play tennis, play basketball, play guitar, phone the folks back home, talk to the wife, watch a film with the wife, go out with the wife, go hiking, go for a walk, visit friends, read the paper, browse the web. Heck, I haven't got time for parties.

[denise]

I do many of the things that I did back home--read, skate (on hold until spring, unfortunately...), watch videos, hang out with friends, go to an occasional restaurant, go to the beach and toss around a frisbee (also on hold...) etc.

Plus the benefits of a new culture: onsens & ikebana lessons.

I am living out in the countryside for the first time in my life, and I am trying desperately to appreciate it--maybe get into gardening, since there are plots literally right across the street from me--but I am so oblivious to the natural world that it's really a lost cause...

d

[Kestrel]

Study Japanese, study soroban, study i-Go, spend too damn much time online, and of course checking out festivals and temples. And a bar once every couple of weeks.

[J-Pop]

Having a nice mountain bike was great. Our apartments happened to be VERY close to a beach-front area. Blasting up & down (3-5 times a week) on the road that ran alongside the waterfront was great. Good exercise, a stress reliever, & a good way to really see things you might not notice while in a car, bus, train.
--Studying Japanese,
--Walking around some of the nearby cities & towns. Just observing, seeing what was really there,
--I'm a train nut. Every little chance I got I'd hop on the trains. Shinkansen being the favorite (& most expensive of course). There's one express train that runs from the main eki in Osaka, out to the Kansai airport, can't remember the name, a little pricey, but almost like something out of a futuristic movie.
--Playing around with the computer, on-line forums.
--Computer games. My friend had both a Nintendo 32 (?) & a Play Station, & loads of games.
--Walking around inside stores: grocery, department, book. Just to see what type of stuff I could see. Can't remember the name of the big (huge) bookstore in Shinjuku, it's easy to waste time in that store.

[JimDunlop2]

Currently I'm learning: chado (tea ceremony), shodo (calligraphy) and am hoping to pick up a martial art (like karate or shorinji kempo) soon... But that's proven to be much more difficult than finding a good chado sensei for some reason...