Sports are a great way to make the most of your JET experience, to feel active and genki, and to avoid gaining too-many-onigiri pounds. If you want to be involved in a sport, the obvious first choice is to participate with the sport team at your school. However, if you would rather join a team (instead of pretending to coach a team), then there are plenty of options out there.

Gaelic Football

If Gaelic Football is your thing, there’s a group that practices twice a month at a number of venues around Osaka and Kyoto, most regularly at Osakajo Koen. All players are welcome, and we have men’s and women’s teams! They also usually adjoin to a local Irish Pub such as the Blarney Stone, Umeda, or Ryan’s, Sannomiya, for a pint and a bit of craic after training and games.

 

Gym Recommendations

Akashi

Konami

Costs: Monthly fee is ￥11,000, one time fee is ￥3000
Facilities: 2 weight rooms, huge swimming pool, 2 aerobic class rooms, 60 plus nautilus machines, bath, massages, lounge/tv room, squash court
Location: Okubo-cho, Akashi
English Spoken: No, they don’t speak Eigo
Activities/Classes: Classes include yoga, step, body pump, jogging aerobics, jazzercise, body combat, body healing, and much more
Impression: Excellent gym, the place rocks and people are unbelievably friendly!
Hours: The gym in Okubo is closed thursday. Otherwise it’s open from 10AM-midnight M-F, 10AM-6PM Sa-Su

Asago

Asago Gym

Costs: ￥500 per visit or ￥3,000 per month.
Facilities: Awesome! There is a beautiful 5 lane 25 meter pool (lap lanes and walking lanes), a smaller maybe 12 meter pool used mainly for playing, big jacuzzi and individual jacuzzi, and sauna. There are free weights, maybe 5 treadmills, stationary bikes, elliptical machines, stair machines, and weight machines.
Location: Across the street from the Junior High
English Spoken: Not really, a little bit sometimes. You have to fill out paperwork and go through a brief orientation—you need to take someone to translate if you don’t speak Japanese.
Activities/Classes: There is a studio where classes are offered including: various stretching and aerobics classes (for an extra 300 yen per class). You can also use the studio for stretching and exercises when there aren’t classes.
Impression: I go to the Asago Gym and it’s awesome!!!!! A lot of JETs use it in this area.

Inagawa

Itoman Sports Club

Costs: About ￥9,000 a month
Facilities: Extensive cardio facilities, good treadmills and steppers, but crappy bikes. Good weight machines, but inadequate free weights. Best thing about it is its pool.
Location: About two minutes from Seishin-chuo subway station/bus-terminal. Plenty of car parking.
English Spoken: No. Joining was challenging.
Activities/Classes: There are a plethora of classes available
Impression: Friendly staff.
Hours: Closed on Thursdays.

Cospa

Costs: About ￥9,000 a month
Facilities: Superb, all brand new equipment. Showers include sento and a whrilpool.Fantastic treadmills, bikes, eliptical trainers, and weird horse riding thingies. Very good weight machines
Location: About two minutes from Seishin-chuo subway station/bus-terminal. Plenty of car parking.
English Spoken: Yes
Activities/Classes: There are a plethora of classes available
Impression: I was happy with Itoman, but I LOOOOVE Cospa. Friendly, and attractive, staff.
Hours: Closed on Tuesdays.

Kasai

Sun Sports

Costs: 2 membership levels: ￥7,000/month (you can go anytime until 5 or 6pm i think), ￥10,000/month (you can go anytime); there was a joining fee around ￥3,000 as well. 2-hour orientation (free) also required to join.
Facilities: Swimming pool, training room, and ping pong tables. Great workout room facilities–variety of machines, all new, 8 treadmills, lots of bikes, 4 elliptical-type machines, plus plenty of free weights, 4 TVs, 4 massage chairs. Nice new locker rooms adjacent to shower/onsen room and dry sauna
English Spoken: Nada
Activities/Classes: both memberships include any classes (there are lots, like aerobics, ‘fighting workout’, yoga, pilates, hip hop dance, etc…also, no prior reservations or registrations for classes are required)
Impression: super-expensive, especially during months when i hardly go, but the good facilities, classes, convenience of location, and friendly staff make it worth it for me.
Hours: M,Tu,Th,F 9am(?) to 11pm, Sat 9am to 9pm, Sun 9am to 6pm, closed Wednesdays

Kato

Takino Sougo Kouen

Costs: very cheap b/c it’s a city gym…200yen/2hours, i believe there’s a monthly membership fee but not sure what it is; no fee to join but a 2-hour orientation (200yen) is required and a reservation is needed for that
Facilities: basketball court, training room (small but has new machines: 3 treadmills, a few bikes, a few weight machines, a few free weights), an indoor track, maybe a pool but i haven’t seen it, 2 massage chairs
Location: Takino-cho, Kato, near the Yashiro JR station
Phone Number: 0795-48-2566
English Spoken: a couple of staffmembers can use english, buti believe they quit recently
Activities/Classes: there are some, but i don’t know anything about them
Impression: adequate, but for me, not enough machines, and i’ve heard that on crowded days, there’s a wait for the treadmill (also, treadmill and bike time limit is 20minutes on crowded days).
Hours: 9am to 9pm i think, closed mondays

Kobe

YMCA

Costs: 6,000 yen/month for the basic plan, a little more more the plan that includes a sauna
Facilities: Good weights room with various machines, racketball court, swimming pool, bicycle/treadmill room, gymnasium, track, and two rooms for classes
Location: Kobe-shi, Chuo-ku, Kanou-cho, 2-7-15. About 15 min. walk north of Sannomiya Station.
Phone Number: 078-241-7202
English Spoken: Decent
Activities/Classes: Various. They have boxing, yoga, aerobics, and a karate club you can join.
Impression: Very good, nice facilities, and central location
Hours: Open 6 days a week (closed sundays)

Nishinomiya

Hyogo Kenritsu Sougou Taiikukan

Costs: Depends on what you use. 650 yen to use the Training Room.
Facilities: Training Room with weights, machines, treadmills (2) and bikes (4).
Location: Nishinomiya, Naruohama 1-16-8 5 mins south of ‘Rainbow Town’
Phone Number: 0798-43-1143
English Spoken: The woman who teaches hip-hop can speak English, but aside from her, no.
Activities/Classes: Most of the classes are during the day, but hip hop dancing is offered Tuesdays and Fridays
Impression: Friendly staff, but equipment is pretty old looking.

Ono

Argo

Costs: 300yen/time, there’s a reasonable monthly fee as well
Facilities: Training room facilities are old, but somewhat adequate: 2 treadmills, a few weight machines, a few bikes, no free weights (that i remember); good pool; basketball court
Location: Ono (next to Saty)
English Spoken: Not Really
Activities/Classes: Several, like aerobics and yoga, but you have to submit an application in advance and pay for 3 months’ worth, so it requires commitment
Impression: good enough, but the atmosphere of the training room is rather dreary and the equipment looks like it’s straight out of the 80’s…
Hours: 9am to 9pm, closed mondays (?)

Act

Costs: Same as Argo (both are Ono City gyms…if you join one, you can go to either)
Facilities: About the same as Takino Sougo Kouen, but I don’t recall any massage chairs
Location: Ono, closer toward Miki, off Route 175 near Ono Industrial Park or something like that
Activities/Classes: Same as Argo I think
Impression: Adequate facilities, and new

Taka

Asaparu

Costs: 100yen/time, or 1000yen/11 times
Facilities: Treadmill, stairclimber, stationary bike(x5), weights (I think), indoor Basketball/Volleyball court
Location: Taka-cho, Naka-ku, Kishikami 281-51
Phone Number: 0795-32-5151
English Spoken: No
Impression: It’s more of a community center than gym, but its dirt cheap. Bring indoor shoes.

San Swim Kami サンスイム・カミ (温水プール)

Costs: 500yen/time, annual membership also available
Facilities: Indoor heated swimming pool
Location: Taka-cho, Kami-ku, Toyobe 1840-55 (Turn near Lawson’s)
Phone Number: 0795-35-1475

Takarazuka

Tokyu Sports OASIS-Sakasegawa

Costs: evening only membership-8400/month, regular-11000/m, joining fee-3000 (but often do deals where they wave the joining fee)
Facilities: weight room (free weights & machines), studio, swimming pool, locker rooms with shower stalls and sauna
Location: Next to Sakasegawa Station on Hankyu Takarazuka-Imazu line
Phone Number: 0797-74-5480
English Spoken: At the moment one English speaker, Takikawa Yasunari (aka Yas, went to university in America so perfect English), but he’s not going to be there forever…
Activities/Classes: Classes offered all day, everyday in all of the usual subjects–step, aerobics, dance, stretching…I like pilates, power yoga, kick boxing, aqua kick boxing.
Impression: This is a small but adequate neighborhood branch of the ever popular chain of Oasis gyms. I love going there because it is only a few minutes from my house. I can work out have a nice hot shower and hang out with the other members and employees for a while. This is where I have met most of my good Japanese friends, so I am so happy I joined way back in August. Overall grade: B+

Toyooka

Toyooka Gym

Costs: Free, but may be changing
Facilities: good sized sports hall and a small weights room (which can only be used if you have been to some kind of lecture given by a japanese person….how much of that us foreigners will understand is another question though…but from what i understand, you just need to turn up!)
Location: B & G Takeno town, Toyooka city, Hyogo
English Spoken: None
Activities/Classes: Kendo, Karate, volleyball, basketball….and i’m sure there are a few other activities too, but i’m not aware of them!
Impression: there are no machines of any kind….just weights, which is a bit disappointing, but a sports hall to jog/run in is better than nothing during the heavy snow/rain that we get in Tajima. The staff are all friendly, and it suffices for the short while that we are living here in Japan.