Practicality of being fat in Japan?

Hi im travelling to Japan at the end of the month and have read quite a few forums on here about being at in Japan and how people will stare at you etc. i weigh about 240 pounds (109kg) so I know I am overweight, I don't think the staring will bother me just the practical aspects. For instance I am going skiing in Hakuba and will I face any issues there or if I will have trouble on transport. Also the forums I have read about being fat in Japan have all come from 7yrs ago, so if you are fat there now is it such as big a deal as it was?

You may not be able to sit in the chair lift.

Has it changed in 7 years? I don't know, to be honest. But what I noticed in my last trip this year was that there seemed to be significantly more diversity in body type than on my first trip in 2010. Back then I recall how noticeable it was to see an overweight person because the majority of people were so slim, which is the opposite to here in Australia. On the recent trip though it was much more common to see those with weight issues. I don't know if anybody else has noticed similar things. I didn't notice it on the other trips in 2011, 2012, 2013. I'd be interested to hear what other forum users think about it.

Getting back to you though, whilst you're not concerned about being stared at you shouldn't be surprised for it to happen, not just because of your size but because you're foreign. Try not to take it personally though. Some parts of Japan aren't as frequented by foreigners so you become a bit of a novelty.

Have you been to hakuba before? Do you really think I won't be able to fit in the chair lift?

I've seen fatter people over there the past few years, I think the diet isnt as good for the young people with fast food, and there are plenty more chinese and some of them are tubby compared to Japanese. I also see plenty of bigger caucasians, I dont think it is a spectacle there to be bigger.

You'd struggle with the booth style restaurants (eg okonomiyaki, ramen) which can be a tight squeeze for average sized people, but there are plenty of places with more space.

I asked one of the boys here who skiis in hakuba about the chair lift, he said that they are pretty much all the same, like a bench, so you shouldnt have an issue there.

Hi Claire1990,

Don't let your weight get you down, for me personally I was recently in Tokyo (Nov 2016), and have noticed that the Japanese do sometimes stare, but I think they wont be staring at your weight, I have seen many overweight Japanese, even though u don't see it allot.

The reason they mostly stare is either because they not use to see foreigners in a certain area, or in my case I was wearing this neon orange Nike sneaker on my trip that caught some attention on the subway...lol, one person actually complemented me.

So any bright colour clothing or shoes will most probably be stared at, but don't take offense if they look at you.

I think sometimes they most probably admire some of the foreigners that they look at.

Practically, you may have difficulty hiring ski wear...

Send e-mail to ski sites for asking.
https://snow.gurunavi.com/search/area/prefcd/26/lang/en

Taking a gondola lift no worry.
http://www.ski-ichiba.jp/navi/img/uploads/76f85e6a638cce83.png
Also double and wider type,too.
http://www.hida-norikura.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/cb57c3774f02e1...

I can't talk about the skiing, but I can confirm that you should not have too much problem in Japan with your size. I used to live in Japan for 3 years and still regularly visit for travel and have not had many troubles with space.

The biggest problem with staring normally comes from when you are in a group of fat people - but that's just my opinion. I felt as though I was almost never stared at, but felt like I was when I was with a friend who was bigger that I was (so there was two of us!)

Your biggest problem will probably be hiring ski equipment, but the large number of aussies visiting means that they probably have more larger sizes than that had a decade or so ago....