tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33409496.post1413278850835689116..comments2008-08-04T16:07:45.247+09:00Comments on My So-Called Japanese Life: Getting It All BackUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33409496.post-34904728265101827032007-03-08T09:00:00.000+09:002007-03-08T09:00:00.000+09:00Hi, Joanna, and thanks for your questions. They ar...Hi, Joanna, and thanks for your questions. They are good ones and many are points I had planned on addressing in future posts. <BR/><BR/>The answers in a nutshell are that we have both English and Japanese-speaking friends but not so many of either as we used to have due to the fact that we have stayed put and they have moved on. I have friends in the U.S., of course, but they don't tend to communicate as often as I'd like with a few (very valued) exceptions.<BR/><BR/>Also, I worked at the same company for 12 years with mainly a Japanese staff composed of salesmen (whose job it was to be out of the office) and one other foreigner (my former boss). My former boss and I are still friends and still in touch (as are a Japanese coworker and myself but far less so) but people who work and people who don't work have different availability, especially in Japan where there's a lot of overtime and my weekends are full of private lessons (and my husband works all day on weekends) whereas my boss has weekends off. We literally have no days off in common with our friends since we're on Weds.-Sun. working schedules and they're on Mon.-Fr. The only time we can get together (literally) is Japanese national holidays.<BR/><BR/>Aside from people you work with, it's hard to be "serious" (as opposed to casual) friends with Japanese people because the context in which you meet them is a service provider/service consumer one. You cannot tell who sincerely likes you and who wants free English practice in that situation. My husband and I have socialized with students but it's never been more than a surface thing and not really about "friendship".<BR/><BR/>These days, we don't do much for entertainment outside the house because I've got severe problems with my back which make it difficult to reliably travel any distance without the possibility of great pain. In Tokyo, where there is often nothing in the way of public benchs or spaces to rest and you're relying on public transportation and walking, it's hard to see any outside amusement as worth the cost. <BR/><BR/>When we were younger (I'm 42), we used to do a great deal of running around and that's something I'll eventually get around to writing about.One of the things we used to do (and were absolutely mad about) was go to sumo matches. The other was second-hand record shopping which took us all over the place for many years.<BR/><BR/>The main method of external socializing in Japan is drinking at Japanese bars (izakayas) followed by karaoke in many cases. This is something which has left my husband and I out of the loop to some extent because I don't drink at all and he drinks very, very little. Neither of us enjoys singing.<BR/><BR/>As for your question about making friends, it's generally quite easy as most Japanese people are quite friendly and you tend to meet a lot of people at conversation schools. However, Japanese people expect different things out of friendships than foreigners so the friendships take on a different shape. This is a touchy issue which I plan to cover at some point.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again for your comment! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.Sharihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17419851636570519145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33409496.post-1200603301096733022007-03-08T02:16:00.000+09:002007-03-08T02:16:00.000+09:00I have a question, do you have friends who are Jap...I have a question, do you have friends who are Japanese? Is it difficult to make friends in Japan? Do you have any English speaking friends? What do you guys do for entertainment outside the apartment?Joannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04974125057131066883noreply@blogger.com