どう、なんでサークルに入る？/How and why entering a club?

Hello everyone ! My name is Victor, and I am currently on my year abroad in ICU in Tokyo. In this information post, I would like to talk about Japanese university clubs and societies. Joining a club has been a wonderful experience for me so far, and I would recommend every student to at least try it out. It requires motivation and dedication, but there is a lot to gain from it.

To begin with, what are Japanese university clubs and societies? The concept is fairly similar to the one of clubs and societies you may have joined in the University of Edinburgh. Depending on your host university, the types of clubs you can enter may be very diverse. Although you can expect to find the same types of arts clubs and sports clubs as in Edinburgh, you may also discover more surprising ones. ICU for example includes a ‘hero club’ where the members dress up as heroes and villains and put up shows for local children. And it’s not even the weirdest one!

However, the main difference between clubs and societies in Japan and clubs and societies in Edinburgh would be that Japanese ones tend to require their members to dedicate much more time and efforts in the activities. Although this depends on the club, expect at least 10 hours of practice and meeting in a week, and twice as much when the club starts preparing a big event such as a competition or a stage performance. You may also be contacted suddenly during your free time to help with some tasks. In my case, I joined a gospel club where we meet three times a week, for a total of 12 hours of practices. On late January, we spent one week using all of our free-time to help building the stage, attend rehearsals and advertise for a big concert we were giving. Since such an intense participation can be quite tiring and stressful, it is better to have a real interest for the activities of the club.

It is usually possible to skip on some of the practices and meeting. But I would recommend not to do it too frequently, as clubs appreciate their members showing their motivation, especially exchange students.

At this point, you probably wonder why you should make your year abroad extra busy and join a club. The first reason is obviously that it will enable you to have fun practicing activities you enjoy and getting better at them. I found there were few things as satisfying as working on a concert for several months and then being able to give a nice performance.

But the main incentive to join a club should be the opportunity it will offer you to meet with Japanese students. When you first arrive in Japan, you may find this surprisingly difficult. Even if they’re friendly, local students have their own life and their own friends, and they will rarely go out of their way to spend time with exchange students. And the language and culture barrier make it even more challenging. If you join a club, you will not only be able to improve your Japanese by communicating with other members, but also to share common experiences with them on a daily basis. Club members frequently have meals, drinking parties, trips and training camps together. These are ideal occasions to progressively get to know them and become friends, as long as you’re willing to make the first step! This, in turn, should considerably improve the entirety of your experience abroad.

Finally, it should be noted that joining a club may be a bit difficult in some host universities. As you will arrive at the beginning of the second term for Japanese students, lots of clubs will already have started preparing for performances and competitions, which may make them hesitant to accept new members. In this case, I would recommend trying to ask if you could still join for the practices only.

It is also possible that you won’t hear much about clubs when you arrive, because they mostly advertise themselves in April. However, you should be able to easily avoid this issue by checking about existing clubs and societies on the host university website or asking for information at the host international office.

This concludes this information post on clubs in Japanese societies. I hope it has been useful and you can make a good use of it to have the best year abroad! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me on my email address:

s1628202@ed.ac.uk

皆さん、こんにちは。三年生のビクターです。今年、国際基督教大学（ICU）に留学します。今から、日本語で日本の大学のサークルについてもっと話したいと思います。英語の本部でサークルの活動が何時間ぐらい掛かるか、なんで留学生が日本の大学のサークルに入った方がいいか説明しましたが、この本部でサークルの色々な種類について書いて、種類にようってサークルがどんな活動するか説明したいと思います。

エディバラの大学のように、日本の大学にサークルの種類は色々です。もちろん、その種類はスポーツサークルと美術サークルを含ますが、ディベートのサークルと電車のファンのように、名付けにくいサークルもあります。

スポーツのサークルで、他の部員と一緒にサッカーやテニスや剣道などのようなスポーツを練習します。私はそのサークルに入りにくて、一番大変なサークルと思います。スポーツサークルの部員はよく試合と大会を準備するので、時々一周に三十時間の以上に練習します。つまり、そのサークルに入りたい留学生はスポーツが上手で、強い決心があった方がいいです。しかし、もっと簡単なスポーツサークルも見つけられるかもしれません。そのサークルで、部員はあまり試合について心配しなくて、楽しみたいです。例えば、テニサーというサークルで、初心者はテニスをしてみられて、練習の後他の部員と飲み放題に行けます。そして、あまり真面目にスポーツをしたくなっても、楽しいスポーツサークルに入れます。

一般的に、美術サークルの機構の空気のほうがスポーツサークルの空気より優しいとおもいます。美術サークルで皆の部員は共通のプロジェクトを作って、自分の考えを表せます。しかし、歌のサークルや演劇のサークるのようなサークルは一年間に色々公演を作って、その時に部員とても忙しくなります。そして、そのサークルに入りたかったら、しめきりを合えたり、多くの人々と一緒に働けたりした方がいい。

最後に、他のサークルはとても多いし、色々なので、全部の活動と義務を説明すること無理です。例えば、ICUにディベートのサークルはディベートの競争を作るから、少し厳しくて、よく練習をしますが、電車のサークルの部員は電車について話したいし、楽しみたいので、一周に一回だけ会議を作くります。

つまり、多くてのサークルあるので、皆さんークルを決まる前に、色々サークルの練習と会議にいってみて、一番好きな空気あるサークルに入った方がいいと思います！

T