"ifignow" <ifignow@yawoo.com> wrote in message
news:M9mJb.272301$Ec1.9357319@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
I grew up in rural Japan 20 years ago when it was a very
different culture, where people were earnest and not pretentious.
Tokyo today feels like a foreign country because people here are so
obsessed with fashion, drinking, and sex. I'm not into that at all --

I am not a religious person, but I've spent the past ten years among
software professionals in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, plus I am
going to graduate school, where the majority of students are from
places like rural China and have probably never been to a bar in
their life. It's sort of like religious training, so this party
culture feels pretty offensive to me.  Are there things to see here for
people who aren't into the shallowness?
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my goodness, Tokyo is a big place and if you think it is all fashion,
drinking and sex I think you are only skimming the surface. The only
question is, what are YOU interested in? Whatever it is, you will find lots
of things to do in Tokyo and the surrounding area. There are great museums,
small eccentric hobby shops, local family-run restaurants, clubs,
bookstores, bazaars, etc. For example, one of my activities in Japan was to
join a local ward gym, and signed up for basketball classes. I didn't see no
fashion-drinking-sex, at least not in a form I recognized.

I think you are being a little parochial in your view of Tokyo, or you are
being seduced by the bright lights.

What would you like to do?