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...

[Sage]

Okay, this might sound stupid, but are there any (many) places in Japan where I can learn Chinese style Kung-fu?

[shmooj]

[JimDunlop2]

re: Kung fu... Yes... (I was a senior belt in Kung Fu back in Canada)... But as I was only studying the Wing Chun style, I know there is one school in Tokyo (they are affiliated with the Hawaii school), but that's all I know.

That's why I've been trying to get into shorinji kempo -- it's the Japanese closest equivalent of king-fu. It was invented by a Japanese martial arts master who studied shaolin style kung-fu in China prior to WWII and wanted to merge Chinese and Japanese techniques into one...

[markle]

Thanks for the responses.
I'm sure I would have found something but I just wanted to see what othere were up to.
I lived in Bangkok for 5 years and although many people never seem to get past the bar/party scene there and thought there was nothing more. I did things that I probably would have never done, even at home, such as street theatre and yoga.
Personally I think if you don't find something to do outside going to work and going to the bar afterwards you will go seriously batty.

[Celeste]

I fill my free time with a variety of different activities. Yesterday, my husband and I biked across town, stopped in at a local mall and watched a horribly violent movie, and then spent even more money on food from the Hard Rock Cafe (it was there, that's why). Most days I don't bleed money, however. I tutor a lot in my free time, and lately I have been giving singing lessons as well as tutoring English. (My music students are both Gaijin so far though.) I have been involved in a local theatre group as well as going to the gym a fair bit (though not since my elementary school students gaave me this bloody cold!). I am so busy, I hardly have time to practice the piano ( I bought a little elctric one to relearn on- I hadn't played in about 7 years before coming to Japan) I am using my commuting time for studying Japanese, reading novels, and I am trying to write a musical for my theatre group to perform next spring. I rarely go to the bars, but when I do, it is usually to see a friend or student perform. Next weekend, one of my friends is indulging my cooking addiction, and letting me cater Thanksgiving dinner at his night club (I want to open my own restaurant back in Canada someday, so he lets me practice in his kitchen sometimes.)

The point is there is a lot to do in Japan, even if you don't want to study the traditional Japanese arts (but I have been to one teaceremony class and two kimono classes now)