The ultimate guide to kill time in Japan
When you are outside and have spare time in japan
What would you do, if you came to the job interview 2 hours earlier than planned, and you want to find somewhere you can kill time. Well, there are a lot of places where you can do that in Japan. However, if you just moved to Japan, you might not know the best places. Today, we will list up all the best places to relax, focus, work remotely and kill time in Japan! (Especially in large cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya… etc.)
The realistic situation you will go through in Japan
Let’s say you have a job interview at a company near Tokyo station. You didn’t want to be late for the interview so you decided to leave the house early. You arrive at Tokyo station, but you realize that you came here 2 hours earlier than expected. First, you try to get the building that the company you are applying is in, and see if there is a sofa to sit down on.
Too bad, it looks like the sofas are all taken. You could stand and wait there but there’s two hours before the meeting. So, you go to a shopping center nearby. You find that near the escalators, there are open sofas. You sat on one of the sofas and grabbed a riceball from your briefcase. You were busy preparing for the interview so you didn’t eat much this morning. As you started munching on the riceball, a security guard approached you.
“I’m very sorry to tell you this, but you are not allowed to eat on the sofa here. Please move somewhere else if you want to continue eating your riceball.” You had no choice but to move to a different location. You ate up your riceball while you walked around outside, and found a Mcdonald’s near the station. You were still hungry, so you decide to go into a Mcdonald’s and order french fries. Finally, you are able to kill time as you slowly digest your french fries.
It took you more than 45 minutes for you to finally find a place to relax, and this situation is very likely to happen to anyone who didn’t think about where to kill time prior.
List of best places for you to chill
To prevent you from walking around looking for a place to relax we will provide you with some of the most common places Japanese people kill time.
McDonald’s
For a businessman in Japan, McDonald’s is considered infrastructure. It is a necessity because it provides you with free water and a place to stay for how long you want to with just a cup of coffee or some french fries. You can usually find one Mcdonald’s near pretty much every station within the Yamanote line in Tokyo. Even outside of Tokyo, lot of mid to big size station has a Mcdonals nearby. So, a lot of people think of McDonald’s as their first go-to option when they want to kill time.
Karaoke
In Japan, a lot of businessmen and women actually use a karaoke booth to kill time. In countries outside of Japan, it might be weird to go to karaoke by yourself, but in Japan, it is absolutely normal. A lot of people got there to practice singing alone, and some even bring in their instruments to practice in a soundproof room. There were a lot of people using karaoke booths to study or work remotely, but since the coronavirus, a lot of karaoke shops are starting to appeal more to remote workers. For example, Big Echo is one of the largest karaoke chains in Japan and it is promoting a campaign to appeal more to remote workers. So, it karaoke is should be your second option if all of the seats in Mcdonald’s are full. (You could also sing in the middle of your work if you get tired, as a stress reliever.)
Cafes
There are countless cafes in Japan, and most of them allow you to work in the shop for a long time if you buy something off of their menu. However, some personally owned cafes close at 7:00 PM or 6:oo PM. If you want to work late a night you will have to go to one of the major cafe chains such as Starbucks, Doutor, Renoir, Tully’s, and Excelsior. These are great places to relax for a while and are usually not so crowded compared to McDonald’s. (Starbucks might be the exception. Starbucks in Japan is always crowded.) However, a cup of coffee is more expensive than Mcdonald’s and you don’t get absolute focus compared to a karaoke booth so cafes are our third choice.
Shopping Centers
In Japan, there are a lot of shopping malls, and they usually have sofas everywhere. It is free to just relax on the sofa even if you don’t have the intention of buying anything from the shopping center. If the shopping center is near a station the seats might be crowded, and you are usually not allowed to eat on the sofa. Therefore, shopping centers will be our fourth option.
Japan is full of these spots
Use your time efficiently and enjoy Japan!
We have listed 4 options for you to relax, focus, work remotely, and kill time in Japan. These are all fairly cheap options and can stay as long as you want. If you are looking for a place to just chill for a little, we recommend that you consider these places!
