Here is a look at club recruitment day. It is Sunday, but looks as busy as or even busier than a normal school day at Kansai. Clubs and circles are a little different from one another by clubs being a little more strict on their rules and circles are more linient. Club recruitment day is about showing people the different types of clubs or circles they can enter. A lot of them are free other than you may need to buy some clothes to train in or what not. So it is an easy way to make yourself some friends!
Foreign students are welcome to join clubs but they are treated a little different from Japanese Kansai students. An example of this is when I was asked today to join the track and field circle I asked what days they trained. They said "Everyday except Thursday and Sunday, but since you are a foreign student you can come when you want to." I like that schedule!
The real point of the clubs though is to bring people together and to teach them about working together.
Of course there are clubs that will really train you too. It depends on what you are into. At least this is what I have learned from being in a circle. It is really just a interesting way to meet people in my opinion. One club today that wanted me to join said I could just come and talk with people and not even do what they were training for. Another said I could join the club and just go and drink with them.
Martial arts clubs are more strict with training. Again though they still hang out with each other outside of the training rooms.
I went around and asked peeople why they join the clubs and their first answer is to make friends and be social. Because your friends don't come with you from high school it is an easy way to be social with people and not be intrusive. It makes for a more enriching college experience.
2 comments:
What circle were you in? It would have been interesting to hear about your experiences with that group. it would have been interesting to hear about the group dynamics among the Japanese students. From what you say, foreign students don't seem to be real or permanent members of the club/circles. But I suppose this depends on the club/circle as there are a wide variety of groups. Clubs/circles are an important part of the Japanese university experience for many students.
I was in the Aikido circle they are all permenant people in there.We meet once a week for a few hours and sometimes there were other activities that the circle would do. Maybe going to eat or going to an onsen or something. It is a social thing for sure and I recommend people to join a club or circle.
I am going to try another circle (track and field).
No I didn't mean that foreign students are real parts of some of the circles or clubs but in some they definitely are not. For example the rugby circle or club- you can join but you can't play in the games on the Kansai team. I didn't get to try out many clubs. I would like to try some more out though.
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