Hey everyone!
In today's section, clubs are gonna be the main topic we're gonna be focusing on today. Clubs are huge in Japanese school society, especially sports clubs where they often represent the school in sports festivals and tournaments. However, sports aren't the only club in Japanese schools; There are clubs for many hobbies, such as singing, dancing, anime, etc. To get a good understanding of how important clubs are to a student's life, whether it be mentally, physically or socially, we'll be asking students that have been in, or are currently in a club. First and foremost, we'll give you our initial impressions to give an introductory viewpoint of clubs and their importance, then we'll share to you all our findings from Japanese students. Then to conclude, we will do a contrast and comparison with North American club life. Hopefully this will all be enough for you to gain a thorough understanding of Japanese Clubs.
Initial Impressions
Initially, our impressions are that Japanese clubs aren't that much different from North American clubs. In both Japan and North America, clubs are places for like-minded people with similar hobbies to congregate. In both countries, clubs are places for people to hang out and relax. The main difference between North American and Japanese clubs lies in sports clubs. In North American universities, sports clubs don't "exist." There are sports teams that represent the University in a professional setting, such as tournaments. There are drop-in hours at the gyms, which allow people to casually drop-in and play whatever sport they desire in a non-professional manner. In Japan, sports clubs represent the University in a professional manner, but they are also for people to casually play. In a sense, Japanese sports clubs are a merge of the North American team & drop-in system. In North America, clubs are strictly for leisure. In Japan clubs can add a lot of stress, especially for members that want to pursue the more competitive side.
Hana
Hana is in a soccer club for two years. Her friend invited her to join the soccer club at the time entering university and she really enjoys her club activities. She said that the club activities are so enjoyful and she made many friends in the club, it is a great experience in her university life. Hana said that the club activities made her more outgoing and more sociable. Her parents were also advocated her soccer club activities because they think that it is a good experience for her in the university life. In the meantime, the soccer club is only a hobby for Hana, she don’t want to be a professional soccer player.
Misaki
Misaki is a third year student who is in an international relation club. She said that she joined the club while she didn’t like it when at first, but after three years she really enjoyed her club now. Misaki’s club also brought her many close friends and she said that is another reason that she likes her club now. While Misaki enjoys her club activities, she feels more stressful because she realizes that the future of the international relations is not what she thought. In the meantime, she becomes more talkative because she needs to talk to different students every club activity. Misaki’s parents also approve her club activities and didn’t advocate other clubs. Same as Hana, the club is just a hobby to Misaki and while her major is different.
Riko
Riko is a student who joins the Basketball, Volleyball and BBQ clubs at the same time. She said that she joins all the clubs for one and half year. She said that she joins three clubs because her friends invited her while she has no feeling to those clubs. Different from other students, Riko thinks that her clubs has too many people and she is getting tired with the club activities while she also made many friends there, which makes her happy. Riko is a little suffering with her club activities because she thought that those clubs makes her more stressful since she needs to be more responsible, also she didn’t do any sports so she doesn’t have any physical changes. Although Riko is joining so many clubs, her parents still approves and didn’t advocate club changes. Riko said that all of the clubs are just for hobby.
Chisato
Chisato is in basketball club for 8 years because she really likes basketball. She said that she had interests when joining the basketball club and she do made many friends there. She continues her interests in basketball and also basketball club and she said she will continue joining basketball club in the future. The basketball club made her becomes more talkative and outgoing, and she can run faster and jump higher, which is pretty great. Chisato’s parents also approve her club activities while they want her to join the dance club. Chisato said that although she likes basketball and enjoys her club activities, it is only a hobby for her and she doesn’t want to be professisonal.
Comparison with North America
After the statements from all four Japanese club-goers, we believe that the only differences Japanese clubs have with North America is attendance and naming. Japanese clubs have members that persist for a long time, with Riko and Chisato being in their respective clubs for ~8 years, while North American clubs have members that last as long as the student's attendance at the University, mainly 4 years for a majority. On the naming topic, Japanese clubs represent their respective universities in a professional setting, which essentially labels them as "teams", but they also allow for casual play so they literally are clubs for all kind of play. What differs from our initial impressions is attendance and longevity of members, which Japanese clubs having members that last for a while.
Conclusion
We come to the conclusion that there isn't that many differences with North American clubs and Japanese clubs. The key differences were wrapped up in the section above. In both countries, clubs are a space for people to leisurely relax and enjoy their hobbies. In Japan, members are given the opportunity to be more "serious" with their club activities, but the competitive edge can also be an added drive for some people to enjoy their hobby. For those that are serious, they are more stressed but for those that aren't, they have a better mental well-being. In all four cases, their social confidence and talkative tendencies increased. Obviously, the ones that did sports clubs had their physical well-being improve. However, for all the four cases, they see the club as "just a hobby", as in there is no desire to pursue something professional with their hobby. There is still another perspective to be had, the perspective of someone that actively desires something more than a hobby. We were unable to procure such a perspective, so there is a tiny-bit more to grow in terms with our final conclusion. That aside, we hope that you had a pleasant and informative read. Have a good day!