Hey guys moved to Japan for 12 months and got here 2 weeks ago, Im bored as hell waiting for some powder. I live in Yamanashi, anyone else from this area and wanna hit up Kofu this weekend - a know a great club there called The Vault if anyones interested.. you can also help me find a place to buy fireworks and snow gear!

Enjoy the autumn, thats what I say!

I know many people who came here "for 1 year". I think most are still here, many more after that one. I wonder if you might be the same Josh

I hope so, its such a beautiful place! I'm just spewing I havent seen a monkey yet.. that sucks.

Take the train and come to Tokyo for gear. I ll show you around to the shops.

dude me and girl are going to tokyo this next weekend shes picking up one of her girlfriends from the airport. you busy? wouldnt mind getting some snow gear and a few things, where abouts in tokyo you at? we are booking the hotel tommorow night

I wont be in Tokyo this weekend dude, I am working in the mountains. I ll be back on Wednesday.

J how can you be bored already you have only been there 2 weeks. Get all your sightseeing done now so that when the POW comes you can just travel around all the slopes boarding all day and all night.

Life is still same old same old on the Gold Coast warming to 30o for the weekend. We will be off in the boat all weekend!!!!!

I was about to ask the same!

It was probably many many months before I got my first taste of anything like boredom in Japan - so much to find out, do and enjoy, lots of people taking me out etc.

Josh...you gotta LIVE the day mate! Can't sit around waiting for the fun to come to find you - go find it...there is masses to see and do in Japan - heck I could spend a month in Tokyo and still be scaring the locals with my great big wide open gaijin ice blue eyes drinking it all in!!

You sound like my kids did today - "I'm bored!" - that is kid code for entertain me I am too lazy to do it for myself! Ohh I entertained them alright - sent them wakeboarding - I reckon they might sleep tonight.

Go find your adventure! You a big boy!

I have to say that if I was living where josh is I would be bored to death from the 2nd day. Not much things to do around,and the closest big city is about 100 km away...

I have to say that that shows a real lack of imagination.

I would think that the countryside offers so many MORE opportunities to explore and find fun interesting stuff than a big anonymous city.

How can you be bored after 2 weeks?!? Have you made any friends? Have your colleagues at work (presuming you are actually working) not taken you out or let you know about things in the area?

Guys im in shimobe in yamanashi. population of 456. There is no one here. I mean no one. its a small town in the mountains. Dont get me wrong its beautiful but im in the middle of nowhere, my gf got a job from the government teaching english so i decided to come along. Ill post some pics tommorow so you get a fair idea of where im at, all i can do is put these 100 yen coins in the machine and smack every last kirin I can out of it.

One might wonder why you actually went to live in such a place if you knew it was so remote and there is nothing there. Were you not prepared for that?

Have you got a bike?
Is there no local bar where the locals gather?
Have you made any friends?

Personally I reckon I'd love it. I'd get a car and do some total investigations.

Good luck!

Dude there is no bar or clubs or shops.. Theres no houses only these little shacks that are falling apart. Why did I come here? I guess because Im in love of 6 years. And no not married yet. I didnt WANT to live in this place but I have no choice, at this point in time I have to. We have to take a 65min train ride every 3rd day to get food. Belive me theres other places in Japan I would love to be, but at the moment Im dealing with the cards dealt.

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to truly get to know yourself. Sounds wanccy I know, but if you're successful you'll never be bored again. Climb a mountain and observe, consider and digest. Stay for hours. Go whenever your lady's at work. Ask yourself questions. Any questions. Answer as yourself, or someone else, or as an animal/plant. Contemplate flight, what's underground, geology, burrows, abandoned nests, winter food.

Re-create historical events in your mind's eye. Choose actual pieces of ground where people walked, fell, hunted whatever 1000 years ago. What would you have done? What seasonal/weather challenges would you have had to deal with. Choose your cover/lookout/store/bed. Build the story each day in the same spot. Time to move? Why? Where? What's better? What's worse?

Don't be embarrassed. It's only you.

Trust me. It takes a long time, but it works.

If I was you, I would probably take the train to Shizuoka every day to go surfing.
Why don't you look for an English teaching job in Shizuoka or Kofu?
In Tokyo, if you are able commute in less that 1 hour you are considered privileged.

It sounds like your missus got a job on the JET programme, as I understand it they rarely send ALT's into the urban areas, as a big thing for that programme is the cultural exchange, allowing country people to meet foreign people. I'd bet you are the only 2 gaijin for miles around!! How far away from Shizuoka city are you? Thats a pretty cool city, not as big as Tokyo of course but plenty bars and shops etc. The countryside around your area is awesome, get yourself a bike and start pedalling. Explore the area on foot, interact with the locals. See where the nearest Japanese lessons are, most town halls offer free lessons. You may have to travel a bit though considering the size of your town. Just get in amongst it Josh

I'm curious about what job your gf might have got to be put in this middle-of-nowhere. Is she teaching English to the cicadas?

Definitely time to get a MTB...