What do Japanese people do in their leisure time?

[MizLod]

Hello Everyone,

I have been assigned this topic question, in order to make a presentation. Since there are many members here who are Japanese themselves, I was wondering if they could tell me about what they do. Or anyone else who knows of some differences between leisure time in Australia and Japan.

Thankyou!

[Mars Man]

Of course, one would surely be pachinko. I'll try to think of some more....MM

[Mike Cash]

The primary difference between leisure time in Australia and Japan is that leisure time exists in Australia.

[Ewok85]

Mike has hit it on the head, but what they think about doing if they ever had leisure time....

Depends alot... For middle aged Japanese males in my experience its things like gardening, going driving, playing golf (or going to golf driving ranges), playing tennis, swimming, fishing etc.
Women might be into like Ikebana, Tennis, going to the gym, art and craft (painting, shodo, making stuff), generally alot of volunteer work etc.
And the kids do sports and what not.

[DoctorP]

I would say golf too, but if you have ever played golf with them it is anything but leisurely!

[MizLod]

The primary difference between leisure time in Australia and Japan is that leisure time exists in Australia.

... Is it really that bad? No leisure time ???:(

[nice gaijin]

What, no one's mentioned drinking?

[xerxes99]

When I ask my students what their hobbies are, the most popular answers are drinking and sleeping.:-)

[anzen]

When I ask my students what their hobbies are, the most popular answers are drinking and sleeping.
I remember asking this question when I first came to Japan (a rather weak opening line, when I was trying to find a girlfriend).
The women, almost overwhelmingly, said "sleeping".

[ghettocities]

Japanese people drink! (and not to be me merry neccesarily,)

I have 1. Never seen so much vomit in the streets of any place as I have seen each year I have been in Japan, 2. I will never forget all the times that I rode the last JR trains in Tokyo before they shut down for a few hours and had been stalled due to Japanese business men comitting suicide.

Yeah try going to a love-hotel after you just ran over three humans with a train.

Josh

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

In the case of me, I go to a onsen (hot spring).
When I go to a Onsen, I pile up a camping tool on a motorcycle and go.
I enjoy camping and onsen.
I sometimes do Fly fishing at a mountain stream.

[ghettocities]

In the case of me, I go to a onsen (hot spring).
When I go to a Onsen, I pile up a camping tool on a motorcycle and go.
I enjoy camping and onsen.
I sometimes do Fly fishing at a mountain stream.

That's cool, you sound like you have an adventure for a life.

Josh

[Mike Cash]

Japanese people drink! (and not to be me merry neccesarily,)
I have 1. Never seen so much vomit in the streets of any place as I have seen each year I have been in Japan,

It's the places you frequent, in case you haven't figured it out yet.

2. I will never forget all the times that I rode the last JR trains in Tokyo before they shut down for a few hours and had been stalled due to Japanese business men comitting suicide.


List them, please.

[MizLod]

Haha~ I'm pretty sure my teacher won't be too happy if I get up and say "Japanese people drink, vomit and commit suicide in their leisure time".... >.<

[Cue]

Well, I spend most of my time in front of my computer these days...
Other than that, what I like to do is to read books and manga, go drinking, karaoke and watching the baseball game either on TV or at the ballpark.

When I used to work full-time, I slept a lot on weekends or whenever I had some free time, too.
You know, just getting to the office took me like one hour by train which was fully packed with people, also I used to work overtime a lot and I'd feel really tired after coming back from work. So, I wanted to lay down and get some rest rather than going out... :(

Cue

[JimmySeal]

I went on a 1-night trip to Osaka with the rest of the teachers from my school. In the evening we had free time and all the women went shopping and all the men (except me) went to play pachinko. I joined in the shopping.

Why would someone go all the way to Osaka (a five hour trip) to play pachinko when there are 3 pachinko parlors within 15 miles of your home? Maybe married men just don't have the time/permission to play pachinko when they're home.

But someone's filling those pachinko parlors that prominently advertise the size of their parking lots.

[Ewok85]

Japanese people drink! (and not to be me merry neccesarily,)
I have 1. Never seen so much vomit in the streets of any place as I have seen each year I have been in Japan, 2. I will never forget all the times that I rode the last JR trains in Tokyo before they shut down for a few hours and had been stalled due to Japanese business men comitting suicide.
Yeah try going to a love-hotel after you just ran over three humans with a train.
Josh

1. You've never met the evil concoction that is garlic sauce - goes down well, comes up better... I mean considering that the entire population of my home country is living in the Kanto area I don't really think theres that much vomit around, depends alot on where your from.
2. Had a train delayed twice for people being assaulted/stabbed on the train back in Australia. Had various fights and altercations. At least Japanese trains dont need or have security personel on EVERY train after 7pm.

[Mars Man]

Not to detract from what some have said, but merely to move on, I will offer my brother-in-law's example:

Of course one thing is--just what is 'leisure time'? Well, I'll say. . . the time that is not spent directly or indirectly for the purpose of work or furthering work.

In such time, my brother-in-law does one or more of the following: mows his lawn, watches TV, naps, goes fishing, goes with the kids to their soccer games, takes the family shopping, or goes and visits his parents. That's about it. I should mention that he always comes home late and leaves early each morning but is usually off on Saturdays and Sundays. He's a mid-level manager at a local hospital. (In the summer we all go camping for three days, at the ocean)

[yukio_michael]

I agree with Mike, that I don't think there is an actual whole lot of leisure time to do very much... I knew of at least one friend who slept on a futon at work, and my own gf oscillated between two jobs...

That said... leisure time, there's always sitting in front of the television on a nightly basis and watching SMAP or Takeshi tv, or any number of the television variety shows...

Maybe go out for drinks and food at an izakaya or Japanese style bar, or at yakiniku where you grill your own food on various types of implements in front of you usually fire etc... And of course, one of my favourite things, karaoke, something that also goes rather well with alcohol.

I list restaraunts there because I don't think always that Japanese people (freeters non inclusive) meet to eat out all of the time, and most save money by cooking at home...

Also, I'd include the occasional okonomiyaki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki) party... I tried to exclude anything I would have done in Japan strictly as a tourist.

I honestly have never known anyone who had the time or money to actually golf in Japan.

[ArmandV]

Most native Japanese people I know are connected to the movie industry and all seem to keep long hours and could be described as workaholics. Most of them do watch a lot of movies in their spare time.

A lady friend I met two years ago seems to be busy non-stop with work and make-up school. I was surprised when she told me she was trying to finish "The Da Vinci Code" novel. My only surprise was that she found any time to just sit and read.

[MizLod]

Most native Japanese people I know are connected to the movie industry and all seem to keep long hours and could be described as workaholics

Woaaaa~ Are any of them famous/semi-famous actresses?? Or are they involved in the production side of movie making?

It does sound like the re-occuring theme is drinking/not actually having any leisure time at all :(

Are any of you teenagers that are still in school? Or remember what you did as young people when maybe you had a bit of spare time? Or was is all spent in cram school... studying hard :p

[ArmandV]

Woaaaa~ Are any of them famous/semi-famous actresses?? Or are they involved in the production side of movie making?
It does sound like the re-occuring theme is drinking/not actually having any leisure time at all :(



Mostly on the production and business side (i.e., the front office) although I have met a few actors and actresses. They do drink and smoke.

[Cue]

Things younger people, like teenagers, would do in their free time(perhaps):
-go out with their friends/bf/gf (shopping, karaoke, movie and whatnot)
-talk with friends or exchange tons of emails and pictures through email-enabled cell phones
-watch TV at home
-play PS2, Nintendo...whatever. or go to game arcade. (my younger brother used to do this all the time when he was in high school...)

hmmm, I don't have any friends that young, so I may be wrong.
oh and I think you're right, MizLod, many of them must be busy with cram school and part time jobs as well.

Cue

[JimmySeal]

Out here in the country, there isn't much to do even if you have free time. Going to one of the two izakayas is hard because then you need a designated driver or taxi. And even so, people usually go there in small groups and don't talk to the other guests so it's not like a bar, of which we have none. However there are two pachinko parlors. When I ask other teachers what they do on weekday nights (they commute from more populated areas and live here during the work week), the answer is usually "watch TV."

[MizLod]

What is an izakaya?

Pachinko has been mentioned a few times. Having been to Japan myself, I've seen pachinko, and wasn't too impressed. It doesn't look like that much fun to me... but it must have some appeal if it is so popular amongst adults >.<

[yukio_michael]

What is an izakaya?Izakaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izakaya) is most often translated by Japanse I know as, Japanese-style bar/restaraunt... where you can usually order from a very big menu of different alcohol beverages, chu-hi, etc, and a number of different types of typical Izakaya food like gyoza, goya, sometimes yakitori, fuwa-fuwa egg dishes, and the usual pizza and french fries that kids often eat too...