CIRCLEPEDIA
We translate novels and comics into braille.
Free
Basic Japanese
We practice and perform Japanese traditional music instruments “wagakki”. You can try playing the Japanese bamboo flute "shakuhachi". One-to-one shakuhachi lessons with the instructor are held every Saturday. Participation for a duration of 6 months or more is a requirement for entry to the club.
1000 yen/month
Fluent Japanese
@Kyoto_U_eifukai
We produce our own films. Members of the club are allowed to use the high-end equipment to create their very own projects. Besides movie-making, you can also make good friends in this club.
5000 yen/semester
No requirements
@YukidarumaPro
Games & Co. is a circle to play board games and card games and enjoy conversation in English. We meet once a week around 18:00, have dinner and play games. Both Japanese and exchange students are welcome. If you are interested in joining, please contact us through our email address.
Free
English
Kyoto has the longest history in Japan, and has a lot of famous and beautiful Japanase Gardens. We visit them once a month. If you are interested in Japanese tradition or history, you will have a good time!
Free
Conversational Japanese
@ku_rakuraku
In our club, we play the Japanese traditional card game ‘Kyogi Karuta’. It is a one-on-one game. First, you and your opponent place ‘Playing cards’ or tori-fuda on the floor. The reciter reads a complete Tanka (Japanese traditional poem). Then, you have to grab the matching playing cards before your opponent does. The one who touches the correct playing card first will get the card, and the one who gets more cards will win the game. If you are even 0.01 second slower than your opponent, you lose the card. It requires concentration and is very fun to play. Let’s play ‘Karuta’ together!
Free
Basic Japanese
@boiler_kucarta
LINE: @jqw3452f
We aim to spread the Japanese traditional underwear(loincloth) called Fundoshi. We hold 褌談義(Fundoshi Dangi) once a month to talk about what we can do to spread the love of Fundoshi and how fascinating Fundoshi is. We also study loincloths of other countries (e.g. Philippines, China, U.S.(Hawaii), Rapa Nui(Easter Island), e.t.c.). We make handmade Fundoshi and sell them during events like our university festival (November Festival). Once you wear Fundoshi, you will find that it is very comfortable and you realise how good it is. These days, the health benefits of Fundoshi has also been medically proven.
There is no need to pay the membership fee. If you want to be a member of the club, all you have to do is join our official LINE group. If you are interested, please contact us anytime. We look forward to seeing you.
Free
Basic Japanese
@FundoshiKyotoU (Japanese)
Official Website (English & Japanese)
We practice Noh(能), which is a classical Japanese musical drama. Noh has been performed since the 15th century. Through practicing Noh, you will experience one of the oldest type of Japanese theatre. Let’s enjoy dancing and singing with us!
Waived for first 3 months
Fluent Japanese
Origami has been pursued scientifically and artistically recently, and various works are created everyday. Join us and explore the fascinating world of origami!
Free
Basic Japanese
@KUOCimagiro
Official Website
ku.imagiro@gmail.com
Let's enjoy global communication in Esperanto. We learn Esperanto, the artificial international language in various ways: learning grammar, speaking, reading, writing, translating etc. We also communicate in Esperanto with people all over the world. If you are interested in Esperanto, please e-mail us. You don't need any special knowledge. Feel free to join us.
Free
No requirements
@esp_univK
“Mokuyoukai” is a literature club. We read novelsーJapanese novels and foreign novelsーand talk about it with members on every Thursdays. Another activity is writing a short story by ourselves. We publish our works twice in a year. Some international students had belonged to our party in the past, and we had a so good time. We're waiting for your paticipation!
Free
Able to read Japanese novels
mokuyouka1@yahoo.co.jp
We practice classical Japanese musical drama, Noh (Hosho school).
- time :16:30 to 21:00 on Monday, and Friday
- place :gakusei shukai zyo (clubhouse near Yoshida Domitory) B1
- Currently, we have a student from Taiwan in our circle.
If you are interested in Japanese traditional arts, or like singing and dancing, come and join us!
Free
Basic Japanese
@KU_Hosho
Shinchakai is an Urasenke school's tea ceremony club.
We have practices twice a week.
We put emphasis on the relationship of Zen and tea.
Students from any faculties, graduate schools and years are welcomed.
Note that international students are unable to become official members of the club.
Free
Conversational Japanese
@shinchakai
Enjoy shogi and join contests. You can play and talk about shogi with us in this club fleely everyday.
Contests are matches in which we play games with players in other universities.
Registration fee 100 yen + 4000 yen/year
Conversational Japanese
We produce and perform comedies, usually based on our original scripts. There are 10-20 members and anyone can produce a play! We usually perform our plays 3-4 times/year in theaters located near Kyoto University.
We collect membership fees of about ¥1000 to ¥3000 semiannually. The fee changes according to financial conditions. We have two semesters (1st: April-September, 2nd: October-March), and membership fees are paid in the first month of each semester (i.e. in April and September). Regardless of the duration of your participation, you have to pay the fee as long as you take part in any kind of events (meeting, play, workout etc.) during the semester.
Exceptions
- a) Newcomers do not need to pay for the first semester.
- b) If you did not participate in any activity during the semester, you do not need to pay the fee.
- [Production Expenses] Staff members and actors/actresses split the cost of each play. The expenses vary from about ¥1000 to ¥5000/person. If it is your first play at our theatrical company, you will receive a partial exemption. The maximum cost would then be ¥1000.
For more information, please contact us at yukaihan.shinkan@gmail.com or come attend our weekly meetings, held every Wednesday from 18:30 at Bunpika (Bungakubu-gakusei-hikaeshitsu/文学部学生控室), Kyoto University.
1000〜3000 yen/semester + production expenses
Negotiable
@yukaihann
Official Website
We are B'z Lovers. We love B'z, the only surviving hard rock band in Japan. For further information, check our Twitter!!
Free
Basic Japanese
@BzKARAOKE_GYM
I Silhouette is a dance club. We respect Michael Jackson. We have dance performances in several events (November Festival; our school festival, parties held by other clubs, and so on…). We practice on Mondays and Fridays. You can enjoy many kinds of dance such as lock, popping, jazz, hiphop, house and copy dance. If you are interested, feel free to contact us!
※There is a limit on the number of people if a lot of students want to join the club.
Free (except for costumes)
No requirements
@KU_ISilhouette
kyotomj@yahoo.co.jp
We rent studio several times a month and enjoy ballet. We welcome people who are interested in ballet or want to exercise casually. :-)
Free
Basic Japanese
@BalletKu
LINE @dwz9250n
We play bluegrass, which is fun music originated in the United States. We use acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, dobro guitar, and fiddle. Please join us and let’s have fun making music together!
Free
No requirements
@KU_BlueGrass
Mon, Wed, Fri 18:15~20:15
We practice male chorus on Monday and Friday, female chorus on Friday, and mixed chorus on Wednesday. You are welcome to come visit anytime! Anybody can join even if you are a beginner!
1200 yen/month (Free for first 2 months. If you attend fewer than ⅔ of practice, an additional 600 yen/month will be charged.)
No requirements but the ability to read hiragana would be helpful.
@KUCsingers
We plactice folkdance of various countries. For example, Bulgaria, Russia, Mexico, Scotland, Japan, and so on. We learn traditional dance and song of many kind of Nations and sometime put on beautiful traditional costumes.
Some of the traditional dances have religious connotations, but we don't any relation to those principles.
Free for the first month
Basic Japanese
@kvktwisinkan
kvkshinkan2019@gmail.com
We are having fun of playing and ensemble of classical guitar. Beginner's big welcome! Most of the members are starting guitar from beginners. 24 hour room can be used. There are lots of free lending guitars. Even if you belong to another club, you can enter. Regeneration is unquestionable.
1000 yen/month
Basic Japanese
＠kuguitar2019
The Kyoto University Symphonic Band (KUSB) is a university-certified extracurricular concert band with more than 100 members. We welcome undergraduate and graduate students from all universities. In fact, half of our members come from Kyoto University's neighboring colleges.
Our annual activities include 2 concerts and 2 ensemble camps. Practices are held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, 2-3 months before each concert and 1 month before each ensemble camp.
You may join from 1 concert to a 3-year membership. However, due to the large number of our members, we would appreciate it if you decide beforehand how long you would like to stay in KUSB.
Depends on duration of participation.
Conversational Japanese
@pr_kusb
@kusb.pr
Official Website
We have concert twice a year.
We welcome anyone who has no experience of playing the instrument.
Depends
No requirements
@kyodaioke
You can enjoy dancing to kpop music in Toppogi.
We practice once or twice a week.
Free
Basic Japanese
@Toppogi_ku
Yoshida Music Works is a composing circle. We write music. We product original CDs every two months.
You can listen to our music on SoundCloud ( https://soundcloud.com/kitchon ).
6000 yen
Fluent Japanese
@kitchon
Official Website
We are members of Japanese creative dance circle. Every year, we create an original dance related to Kyoto and dance it at a lot of festivals.
We practice at Kamogawa riverside on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Let's dance together!!!
Depends on duration of participation
No requirements
We have one night excursions to places where we can see night sky well during new moon periods. Also, we have trips three times in a year. In our activities, you can enjoy astronomical observations with our tools such as telescopes and taking a photograph of astronomical things with our cameras. Please don't hesitate to come and see our activities. We have experiences of accepting international students.
Registration fee of 1500 yen and 3000 yen/semester
Basic Japanese
@kyodai_tenmon
Official Website
We are a club that holds study meetings on aging science. In the activity, there are many contents concerning the biology of aging, but we deal with any fields concerning aging and life span including humanities and engineering. If you are interested in our club, please email us or check our Twitter. We will tell you about the schedule or activities in more detail.
Free
Basic Japanese
@kyoto_aging
AIKIDO (合気道) is one of modern martial arts (BUDO: 武道) born in Japan, practiced by millions of people over the world. Its techniques are not for knocking down the opponents. It’s for redirecting or neutralizing the opponent’s attacks by making the most of its kinetic power, so that energies(気) from us and the attacker are unified(合). That’s why we never have a match to choose which wins. Thus all kind of people young and old, men and women can enjoy AIKIDO. Let’s practice this elegant BUDO with us!
International students are welcome to participate in our practice, but cannot be enrolled as a member because of the rules of the university.
Free
Conversational Japanese
@ku_ac
@kuaikido
Official Website
We are Arsenal fan students of Kyoto university. We watch Arsenal games at pubs in Sanjo Kawaramachi. If you're a gooner, join us!!!
Free
No requirements
@KyotoUnivGooner
Hi everyone! Greetings from FleeGarden to new International students. We are all-round sports circle in Kyoto Univ. We always play various sports; badminton,volleyball, table tennis, futsal, basketball, etc.
Basically, our activities are 3-times sports days and one gathering party in a month. Playing sports would be a good oppotunity for internatinal students to make a community in Japan, and having a party is gonna be a great oppotunity to learn about Japanese culture and language as well.
Several international students join this group every year. If you are interest in "FleeGarden", please contact us! Let’s enjoy sports in FleeGarden!
2000 yen/year
Conversational Japanese
@flee_garden
ku.fleegarden@gmail.com
Official Website
Kashima-Shinryû first took shape when MATSUMOTO Bizen-no-kami Ki no Masamoto developed Ichi-no-tachi. This technique represents the ultimate physical expression of an approach to swordsmanship founded on the balanced application of Fivefold Laws (goko-no-hôjô) known as: Motion and Stillness as One (dôsei ittai), Origination and Manifestation as One (kihatsu ittai), Offense and Defense as One (kôbô ittai), Emptiness and Reality as One (kyojitsu ittai), and Yin and Yang as One (in'yô ittai).
If you are interested in kashima-shinryu, please feel free to contact us.
First semester is free, 5000 yen/semester thereafter
Basic Japanese
@kashimakyoto
Speed skating is getting more and more popular in Japan.
In our club, even though all of the members started from college, some of them won the medals at various championships. We welcome both first timers and people with experience. Looking for both players and managers!!
Let's have fun and race at 40km/hr (24mi/hr) with us!!
Monthly
Basic Japanese
@KU_SpeedSkating
We practice fencing 4days a week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Monthly
No requirements
@ku_fencing19
We play bouldering everytime. There are over 10 international students in this club. We will teach you so don't worry if you have not done bouldering before. Let's climb together!!!
5000 yen/semester
No requirements
@ku_wall
kyoto.u.wall@gmail.com
Hello, we’re Kyoto University Golf Club in Sports Union.
Golf is recommended to all who want to start something new after entering university.
Even beginners are able to make progress quickly, because you can spare a lot of time in university life.
Of course, we also welcome people with experience.
You can play golf without the high cost since we have golf equipment, so everyone can join.
We usually practice three times a week.
Why don’t you visit us and give a try?
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Same as regular members
No requirements
Do you know about orienteering?
Orienteering is a sport to compete navigation skill. Around 10 numbered check points are set up in the competition site (park or mountain) and players go around them in order as fast as possible . Route choice completely depends on each players and players are required abilities to read a map, make a best own route and actually follow the own route.
It sounds difficult but most of people start orienteering from university so don't worry!! We will teach you from the first step and your navigation skill will improve soon!!
Competitions and practice games are mainly held on weekends so we practice reading a map and do physical training on weekdays and join games on weekend.
Weekdays practice are not mandatory and you can decide which competitions you will join.
We will welcome any students so if you got interested in orienteering, please feel free to come and join us!!
Our clubhouse is located next to Yoshida-South Campus Bldg No 4. Partial participation is not allowed.
3000 yen/semester
Basic Japanese
@ku_olc
padd.olc40@gmail.com
Official Website
We consist of two sections; competitive swimming (racing) and water polo. Trainings are basically six days a week for racing, and five days a week for water polo. We are doing are activities as an official team of the university, so those who want to join us need to have full responsibility to participate in this team. Partial participation is not allowed.
Please check with the club
No requirements
Rouge F.C. is a soccer club of Kyoto University. Our club is the only official soccer club of Kyoto University. Therefore, we have priority to use the field of Kyoto University which is covered with the artificial turf. Our club is a member of corporate soccer league 3. Beginners are welcome!!
Monthly
No requirements
@rougefc2019
rougefc2019@gmail.com or LINE @jzw8102p
We are an authorized cycling group of Kyoto University named Sunny Road Charider. We bike to sightseeing spots in and around Kyoto every Sunday. In the summer break, we go to Hokkaido and enjoy cycling for about two weeks. If you are interested, you can get more information in the weekly Thursday meeting in Café Renais. Join us and let's have fun!
Participation of the full duration is required.
Free for international students
No requirements
@SRchariderKU (main account) or @SRcharider2019 (for new students)
@srchariderku
SMASH SMASH is a table tennis circle officially recognized by Kyoto University.
We have about 30 members, and both beginners and experienced people can enjoy table tennis.
Our practice is about twice a week, at Sakyou community gym (左京地域体育館). Please visit our website to check the schedule and the place.
You are welcome anytime of the year! Please feel free to visit and experience our club.
1000 yen/month
No requirements
Official Website
takudo.smashxsmash@gmail.com
We open a restaurant for children as a volunteer.
- At a children center near university
- Once a month at Saturday
Free
No requirements
@dining_colorful
@dining.colorful
Official Website
We are the only environment club that is officially recognised by the university. Our activities include not only study meetings about environment, but also activities such as collection of trash during the November festival and Recycle Market in March.
Free
Basic Japanese
@ku_ecomit
Official Website
We invite "GENIUS", who has special skill and knowledge, to our lunch table.
We have invited many GENIUS, such as photographer, musician, professor...and so on！
If you join us, we would like you to act as interpreter and do other jobs！
We bet you'd enjoy yourself joining us！！
Please come and join us！
Free
Conversational Japanese
@geniustable
@geniustable.in.kyoto
info@geniustable.com
All we do is talk with people from other countries. You can make friends with both Japanese and international students. We also hold many events such as Takoyaki, Halloween,and Christmas parties. We gather around at Kizuna Lounge every Thursday from 16:30 to 19:00. Everyone is welcome!
Free
No requirements
@iatinfo
International Afternoon Tea-iAT
We publish the newspaper twice a month.
We hold a meeting every Thursday.
Its starting time is 6:30pm.
If you are internsted in Kyoto University Press, please email and visit us.
Free
Fluent Japanese
@kyotounivpress
We meet children as big brothers and sisters
- playing with children
- cooking with children
- helping study
- Juvenile delinquency prevention
Free
Conversational Japanese