Is there anything easy I can collect, that doesn’t appear to update every other week or month, something with an official album would be nice. For example the football World Cup sticker album but I don’t like football so I feel hypocritical collecting that.
30 comments
Postal stamps?
Train station stamps can be a fun one and an excuse to get out of the house and see new places.
Card collecting can cost $$$ depending on the topic. Have you considered join a sports club? Tennis, Badminton or a martial art?
Railway station stamps.
You’ll see new places, get plenty of fresh air, and might even find romance with like-minded individuals.
If you don’t have an interest in it I’m not sure collecting anything will be rewarding for you. You’ll get the item and…that’s it, that’s the end of the story.
Instead of collectibles, how about building something? Just an idea, but living in Japan is pretty much heaven for Gunpla – plastic Gundam models. You can buy a few kits and try putting them together, and if you find this is something you can be interested in, you can branch off from Gundam and create other things. You can get creative in what you make and how you make it, and then you’ll have something that you feel more reward for since you actually made it.
You know if you’re stressed, try knitting.
It’s hard in the beginning but gets fun. Currently knitting a hat for the winter. And you actually “get” something in the end.
Or collect stamps from shrines/stations.
Not expensive and you get to go outside. Many people do this so you can find people
Hmm… just speaking from experience… swords and cutlery lol
Not too expensive, not too mass-produced, makes for great gift giving too.
Instead of spending money on things you don’t really need, why not convert your daily routine to a hobby? If you like coffee you may do a cafe hopping and take photos as collection etc. You may print them out and put it into an album if you like.
Air samples. Just buy a bunch of jars and some labels.
Always carry one with you and capture the air/moment/memory whenever you please.
You need to be selective. I’ve got a room dedicated to them now as I collected too frequently early on. Now I add about one per month maximum.
If you get the right type of lid it’s possible to pierce then reseal if you want a quick sniff but I’ve only done that once. So far.
I collect Kamen Rider S.h. Figuarts. It pretty small and fun to play with. Some people I know love to collect and build Gundam model too. If you don’t want to build, you could also buy prebuilt brand like Robot Damashii
Ive gotten into 3d printing recently. U can then go out and find the coolest models print them paint them and collect them to ur hearts content
Like train station stamps (or even coupled with them), shuin stamps from shrines and temples might be more rewarding. It’s got the collecting angle, the travel angle, gets you out of the house and exercising a bit, and they are generally relaxing places (aside from the super tourist draws).
I buy things on Yahoo Auctions and resell them. It is like a hobby and makes some money, but if you ask my wife it doesn’t 😀
The temple/jinya signatures. You travel, see a bunch of temples and new places and collect something.
御朱印 at temples. 300-500 a pop. You get them stamped in a book. Get out to different temples and shrines. My favorite hobby. You can get special books for specific pilgrimage routes. Catch all books for random temple visits. And you burn them with your body when you die.
If you like to drive, there are a lot of highway rest areas and 道の駅 that have stamps you can collect.
Alternately, apart from collecting things you can take up an instrument.
You could always get into collecting Warhamer 40K units. Tons of units with so much lore. Afterwards you could use said units to play the game with someone.
how about getting outside and doing something active? there are probably local sports centres in your area.
Original 150 Pokémon. 151 if including Mew.
Game center plushies/figures.
Go on their website and see what exclusive shit they got that interests you, head down to your nearest branch and win that bad boy.
Then realise one day you have 50 plushie/figurines and no space.
Play Kill Team. Pop into your nearest Games Workshop store (e.g. Takadanobaba, Harajuk, Yokohama)
Castle souvenir coins?
Magic the Gardening cards. There’s quite a community here.
You can’t go wrong collecting guitar and bass effect pedals.
I collect the store exclusive starbuck card. The store in a specific place (e.g. Okinawa, Kyoto) sells a specific card. So you need to travel to that place to buy it.
https://product.starbucks.co.jp/goods/sbcard/
Have you ever tried pachinko
Why bother trying to start a collection hobby about something you don’t like? You need to figure out what you do actually like. Maybe try a bunch of things that are free/cheap and then see if you like it? Japan has a ton of stamp rally events, free museums, 100 yen shops if you’re interested in crafts, collecting antiques at flea markets, thrift shopping etc.
Pokémon Go.
Free, gets you out of the house, doesn’t take up any space for storage at home.
Years ago I went on a quest to visit and document every ramen shop in my mid-sized city. Had a map on the wall with colored pins at the different locations and a notebook with a page dedicated to each one. I never completed it, but it got me out of the house.
[Manhole cards](https://www.gk-p.jp/mhcard/)! You know how there are a lot of differently designed (sometimes with collaborations) manhole covers everywhere. Well, you can get a collectible card of them for free. It is one per person and the card is well made with explanations of the design and some history. I think there are more then 837 cards.