Circles are student clubs that you can join in universities! They can range from volunteering and sports to hobbies and academics. For example: my school has a model kit making circle, a fashion circle, scuba diving circles, and international exchange circles. There are so many unique circles!

You may have heard of 部活 (bukatsu) before. Typically, bukatsu are clubs that practice and compete, and can be quite strict on attendance. Most students join circles instead! This way they can enjoy their favorite hobby or sport, make friends, and take a step back when classes get too busy.

Because a circle is a group of students who all have the same interest, it is very easy to make friends. I find that friendship forms a lot more naturally in circles than in class or through social events.

I’m actually a part of 3 different circles right now.
I’m in a Kpop dance circle at Kyoto University of the Arts, and in a Kpop Dance circle and a ramen circle at Doshisha University.

That’s right… Even though I’m a student at Doshisha, I’m in a circle for another university!?!?
It’s actually not uncommon in Japan! As long as you are a university student, many circles accept members from other schools. Students might choose to join another school’s circle because they have friends there, or it suits their interests better.

I joined my first circle, a Kpop dance circle, after finding their flier on a bulletin board and DMing them. At the time, I was a language school student at Kyoto Institute of Culture & Language, which is part of the Kyoto University of the Arts system.

I’ve been with that circle for 3 years now! We have so many memories together. We meet every week to practice dance, host performances 2 times a year, and appear at the school festival stage every autumn! We also go on overnight trips to nearby regions and have picnics or
dinners together each season. Since we have less than 20 members, everyone is really close.

I decided to join my second kpop circle after entering Doshisha University, because I wanted a connection to my new school as well. After the entrance ceremony in the spring, the circles of Doshisha set up booths on campus and do their best to entice you! I received over 50 flyers from really interesting clubs, but in the end, I chose one of their kpop dance clubs again. Doshisha actually has several, and I chose my specific one because of the members’ warm attitude, and the level of their dancing skill, which I could see on their Instagram.

Like most circles, my new circle hosted a 新歓(shinkan) event. These events are general interest meetings where you can go check out the club without being pressured into joining. I planned to go to a lot of shinkan events for different circles, but I got busy and only went to this one! Since I thought all the members were very friendly, I officially joined. After that, our first event was a big barbeque, where they purposely mixed old and new members so that we could meet each other. It is a rather large circle with over 100 members, so I am still slowly meeting more and more of them!