Calisthenics Trend in Japan
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In Japan, you might see an 80 year old senior doing a front lever or a perfect handstand. You might even see a 50 year old doing a one arm pull up. I have seen so many talented people here at public parks.
Japanese Parks
For some reason, Japanese people like to bring their children to parks with pull up and dips bars. It is traditional Japanese culture to bring your child to the park to play and have fun rather than exercise. One of the most interesting experiences I had in Japan is in Hibiya Park (some what close to Tokyo station) has parallel bars that says adults only. When I used it to do handstands and work out, the security came and said this is only for children. It is indeed located in the children’s park which closes at 4:30 pm everyday but it has a sticker on it that states adults only. When I stated this to the staff, he paused and walked away. The parallel bars are about 4–5 feet and slippery so it is pretty dangerous for children.
Coronavirus Situation
There are more and more people working out at home because of the coronavirus scare. Ever since the government declared a pandemic emergency, more than 80% of Japanese people stayed home during the weekend. If you read my Working At A Hotel In Tokyo Japan During Coronavirus / Covid-19 (how the hotel survived) article then you already know that the government pays for people to stay home. Many Japanese people have gained weight and realized that they needed to exercise. This is the reason why more and more people started watching YouTube to get exercising tips which allowed calisthenics to get more exposure.
Join Us at Hibiya Park!
I have a group of friends who do calisthenics and we all work out at Hibiya park every Sunday from 1pm-6pm (I usually arrive around 2:30pm) If you have time then stop by! I’ll probably be there. Right now we have a lot of international people who come to work out including me of course :D We have people from America, Nepal…
