Joining a School Club in Japan

Joining a club is one of the quickest ways to adjust to Japan and take part in your community. Whether you want to shoot hoops, shoot arrows (kyuudo), arrange flowers (ikebana), make pottery, study drumming (taiko), or strap on a mawashi and moonlight as a sumo wrestler, there is probably a club for you. We'll look at how to join a school club.

The Japanese Club System

Clubs have an important place in Japanese society. Students choose a club when they start junior high school and remain in that club for three years, choosing to either continue with the same club in high school or try out a different club for the last three years of schooling. Clubs are not mandatory, but there is a lot of pressure to join from teachers, parents, and peers, so there are very few students who don’t participate in some type of club during their school days. Sports related clubs like soccer and baseball start as early as grade 3 with practices every day.

Finding a School Club

If you are working for the public school system, finding a school club is very easy. Most clubs begin within an hour of the end of classes and, although it is better to talk to the teacher in charge of the club first, you can find the club you’re looking for by wandering around one of your schools. If you’re not a regular sight at a particular school, it’s important to visit the teachers’ room and announce yourself to either the principal, vice-principal, or the schedule teacher and tell them you want to watch the club activities.

Joining Up

Joining a school club is usually very easy. You need to observe the club once or twice to see if it’s what you want. If there’s a sport that you’ve been doing for a long time, you can probably just show up in training wear and try out the club on the first day – ask the club teacher beforehand. If you are good, the teacher may even ask you to take some of the training responsibilities. On the other hand, if you want to try something that you’ve never done before, it requires a bit more consideration.

If it is a training intensive club like Judo – where both participants safety depends on their knowing the proper techniques - you’ll have to catch up in a way that doesn’t affect the students’ progress. In all likelihood, however, both the students and teacher will be happy to have you. Likewise if the club is material intensive like art, you’ll want to either buy your own materials or pay the club fee and have extra materials ordered through the school. Make sure to watch two or more practices before making your decision so you know exactly what you are signing up for.

Getting Out

What do you do if you’ve joined a club and you find out it’s not for you? Ideally this won’t happen if you’ve researched the club properly. That said, it is easy to over-join and end up running yourself ragged with several clubs, each requiring significant time commitments. There are several ways to get out of a school club. Simply telling the club teacher directly is one, but it may affect your ability to join clubs at that school in the future.

Next, there is the excuse method, excusing yourself from practice - no actual reason is needed, just say you can’t make it – for a few weeks and then just not going again. This seems to be more acceptable in the non-confrontational sense. The final method is not to completely quit, but rather go on a rotational basis. For example, sports clubs often practice for two hours, with the first hour focusing technical practice and the last hour being matches. You can work out an agreement with the club teacher to show up for the last hour of the club once or twice a week – even once or twice a month – and thus keep your connection with the club and the students while reclaiming most of your time.

Summing Up

Although school clubs are good for sports and some basic cultural clubs, they are limited in a couple ways. One, you’re a teacher and an adult, so you don’t want to go full-out in a sports club like Judo and accidentally hurt one of your students. Lawsuits are very rare in Japan, particularly within club activities, but injuring a student still leaves you feeling terrible. Two, the students are usually new to the activities and sometimes the teacher is as well, so you may find the level of instruction lacking. The best reason to join school clubs is to get to know your students, rather than to get a workout or master a new art form.