As the title of the blog suggest, I am quite boring a person. So boring and old-fashioned, in fact, that you would rather find me in my room reading the Japanese translation of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' (for the curious: オースティンの自負と偏見 （じふとへんけん）, O-sutin no jifu to henken) than hanging out with a bunch of uninteresting people with nothing to say, just for the sake of the so-called 'language practice'. Which is not much help, even if practice, when they a/ keep on mumbling in their local slangs, whether Osaka, Kyoto or Tokyo-ben, b/ seem to know less kanji than you and are fairly useless when it comes to seriously problematic issues like keigo, academic writing or even analyzing the text that isn't from a manga or a magazine, c/ expect you not knowing anything about Japan or Japanese and speaking English all the time, teaching them. Maybe I'm harsh on this one, but I'm too old for an unrequited language exchange - if you don't want to share the language fairly, then sorry mate, 3000 yen per 1.5 hour of quality class, please. Well, that's my opinion, and I'll stand my ground here. I guess that if I had a chance to come to Japan while still young and unbiased, I would have been more charitable with my time. Now it just seems like such a waste of quality time I've spent studying, reading and learning about the world, to talk to people half generation my junior about things like dramas they saw, how drunk they were at the party and which bands have かっこい, kakkoi (handsome, cute) members.
Socializing has never been my main purpose of coming to Kyoto. But if you are a fortunate owner of a sociable, easy-going and aimiable personality, there is a number of activites/places that might be just right for you. Take, for instance:
Club/circles of interest
If you're a student, do take your time and browse through a list of clubs/circular activities (部活（ぶかつ）, bukatsu, サークル活動(かつどう)，saakuru katsudou) the university has to offer. Chances are that whatever your favourite sport, hobby or even a language you speak - there is a club for it. Some of them are free, but most of them requires at least the joining fee, if not further monthly contribution. Fees depend on whether or not the club needs to provide materials for the activity (like 生け花, flower arrangement, 2000 yen/month), equipment (sport clubs), the amount of activities it organizes, etc. Based on 京都外大 booklet for 2011-2012, it could be anything from as little as 300 yen joining fee with no monthly fees, to even 650 yen joining fee and 2300 yen monthly.
They seem to be worth the money though, plus they would allow you to make some Japanese friends while enjoying your favourite activity. Be prepared to sacrifice sufficient amount of time for your clubs/circles, though, as they take attendance and participation really seriously (they're Japanese after all, right?), and some sport clubs can require few hours long daily trainings. As a general rule, clubs are more strict than circles.
Now, whether the foreigner is a desireable addition to the club - that's a different issue. I don't want to spoil the fun, I just wish someone had told me all that before. In the language clubs you'll be treated like a king because your skills are very sought-after. In most sport clubs you shouldn't have much trouble participating because of the 'easily transferrable skills' in the field. But even in that language-barrier transcending oasis of activity certain limitations apply (my Canadian friend was kindly asked to leave the American Football club, as he was too tall and strong for the petit Japanese). Some clubs are more verbal than others and require you to be able to communicate on a certain level of Japanese, otherwise you won't be able to enjoy them fully and will possibly feel left out a bit. And then you'll find clubs that, although giving friendly and welcoming impression at first, for many reasons (intimidation? fear of the foreigner? not speaking any language other than Japanese? inferiority complex? superiority complex?) will make you feel very awkward and not wanted in their club. The last one applies especially to the clubs based on the initiation system, where you don't really enjoy any privileges unless spending a year in there first. Always remember - if anything similar happens, it is most likely NOT your fault. A club is just as much as a bunch of people, after all.
In a nutshell (or for those who couldn't have been bothered to read all the above): it is all worth the effort - it will definitely enrich your stay in Japan!
Here's the webpage of the extra-curricular activities you might try at KUFS, 京都外国語大学. Each university should have similar one.
Still interested in socializing in Kyoto? Check this and this post out.
