Physical Activity: University of California vs Meiji Gakuin University
by Soren Harper, Franky Ly, David Erkam, Leah Tawara
For many University of California (UC) students studying abroad in Japan, adapting to a new environment is more than navigating the city, it’s also adjusting to a different culture and way of life. One of such adjustments for these students is tackling the different approach to physical activity and exercise that Japanese students exhibit. UC campuses are filled with elite college-level athletes and active students, allowing for an abundance of exercise-catered resources: workout classes, gyms, and recreation centers, all which allow and encourage students to stay active. However, in Japan, many students find themselves staying fit as part of their natural daily routines, such as biking to campus and participating in sport clubs.
This article explores and contrasts physical activity lifestyles from Japanese and UC universities, as seen through the eyes of American students currently abroad. For us, these differences reflect a deeper understanding of cultural attitudes towards health, balance, and overall lifestyle.
This is the interior of one of University of California, Santa Barbara’s gyms on campus. Inside there is every exercise machine you can imagine, as well as an abundance of yoga mats, bathroom facilities, and staff working to help you with anything you may need.
As UC students, we have observed throughout our college lives that most students stay fit by going to the gym, taking physical activity classes at a nearby studio, or running and walking around campus. Physical activity is strongly emphasized through the advertisements of club and recreational sports teams, club fairs, and flyers around campus. In addition to this, popular activities around California campuses often include hiking around the mountains, swimming or surfing, and rock climbing, all of which are accessible to students. Students also usually walk or bike to and from their classes, and it is uncommon to use a car to get around. Coming from this type of lifestyle and environment, we were wondering how local Japanese students stay active and their physical activity habits, especially around campus. Do they exercise as regularly or feel like an active lifestyle is as encouraged in Japan as it is in California? Will us Californians have to change our average activity levels because we now live in Japan? These are questions that were on our mind as we continued to try to adjust to studying at a Japanese university.
University of California, Santa Barbara’s gym on campus. It is a large facility with two main gyms, a rock climbing wall, several tennis/racquetball courts and basketball courts, hockey rink, and wide lawns to stretch or lead your own workout.
To learn more about Japanese lifestyles, we interviewed some students on their daily activities. We asked: 1) Do you use the campus gym? 2) Do you play sports? 3) Are there any places to be active on campus? We selected these questions to gauge a better understanding of the use of school facilities and athletic presence on campus beyond what we see everyday. Of the six students we interviewed, five of them do not use the campus gym. Many of them say they don’t feel the need to use the gym and that it is not necessary to their daily lives. Three out of the six students are in sports clubs (volleyball and judo). These sports clubs train multiple times a week. The other three students who don’t participate in sports said they don’t have the time for clubs due to part-time jobs or school work. For the last question, one student answered, “I have no idea” when referring to the different places being active on the question. We thought their answer was very funny. The other students suggested the Hepburn field, but have yet to use it themselves. At the end of our interview, we told them about our UC lifestyles and they were shocked.
An interior picture of the MGU gym. (refer to the last paragraph of the article
Overall, the data compiled from Japanese university students indicates a lack of desire for Japanese students to go to the gym beyond their club sports. Though the survey data only stems from Meiji Gakuin University students, the consistency in the opinions of Japanese students display a common desire in lifestyle which can be tied to transportation methods. Unlike UC students, Japanese students require far less physical activity in order to traverse their cities as they take the bus to get to campus. In contrast, Californian students live on campuses that require them to walk everywhere, needing lots of exercise for the individual. Ultimately, there is a stark difference in the ways students gain their exercise in relation to their access to transportation.
The demographic of students working out in the Meiji Gakuin University gym further illustrates the notion that exercise culture differs between UC students and MGU students. On numerous occasions, the makeup of students in the Meiji Gakuin gym includes a significant percentage of UC students, as well as MGU football players. Rarely did we see a high number of MGU non-athletes working out. Though not hard data, this “eye-test” tells a story parallel to our initial premise, that the exercise culture of Japanese students differs heavily from the actions of University of California students.