About Clubs in Japan High School

As I'm making a story about a club in a fictonial High School, I would like to know about more.
Please help me!
1. What exactly are the Club activites for?
2.Is it a must to join Club activities.
3. What kind of clubs are there? (uaually)
4.How many people are limited to a Club?
5. Can you make your own Club *very important!!!*
6. How? *even more imprtant!!!*
7. Do you need a sensei's permisson to start your own club?

P.S: What is 'leopard', 'panthar', 'jaguar', cougar' in romanized English? (japanese) -This is also important as I can't seem to find what they are.

PLEASE REPLY ASAP!!!

1. What exactly are the Club activites for?

For fun, to keep kids busy after school (they are often at club until dinnertime or later), for sports teams, etc.

2.Is it a must to join Club activities.

Depends on the school. Some schools require it, some don't. My school does not, because it is poorer and many studnets have part time jobs.

3. What kind of clubs are there? (uaually)

My school: Baseball, Tennis and Soft Tennis, Soccer, Volleyball, Go, Shogi, Ikebana, Cooking, Manga, Movie, Tea Ceremony, English Conversation, Science, Badminton, Judo, Karate, Kendo, Art, Brass Band, dance. Basically any normal school sport or activity falls under "club" here.

4.How many people are limited to a Club?

No limit, as far as I can tell. But for the popular sports clubs first years generally don't get to play- they are limited to helping their seniors and late practices.

5. Can you make your own Club *very important!!!*

If there are a certain number of interested students and a willing faculty sponser.

6. How? *even more imprtant!!!*

There are two kinds, from what I've gathered- an "interest group", which is allowed to meet at school but gets no school funds, and an actual club, which recieves school funds. Basically you have to get students who want to do it, find a faculty member to sponser it, write up a charter and why the club is necessary, and submit it to the student council and school.

7. Do you need a sensei's permisson to start your own club?

Yes, every club needs a sponser.


I think I got most of the details right, at least as far as how I understand things going on at my school. :) Every school is a bit different, I'd imagine.

1. School club activites in Japan are no different from school club activities in any other country. Some members even build their skills to professional level, and some schools have teams that become nationally famous. Some do it just as a hobby or to be with friends. Nowadays, when applying for higher education, you often get credit for achieving something in club activities at your current school, which is another reason students prefer to join clubs.

4. There actually is a maximum limit. They will only allow as much as they can handle. So popular clubs tend to shut out those who apply later or those with less skills. In fact, at a lot of schools there is no minimum limit. You can often maintain a club with only one member, and if it's something you can't do alone (such as brass bands) you cooperate with other schools. However, you need a lot of guts to keep up an activity with only one or two members.

leopard: repaado
panthar: pansaa
jaguar: jagaa
cougar: kuugaa
are the romanized versions of each word. However it is very unlikely that these romanizations are used. If you were to use English alphabet letters, it is natural to write those words as is in English (leopard, panthar, jaguar, cougar) even if you are a Japanese person.

By the way, you might be interested in the movie "Ganbatte ikimasshoi" since it's all about a student trying to make a new club at a high school in Japan.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203515/

In response to part of the last post, (School club activites in Japan are no different from school club activities in any other country.) It really depends on which country you are comparing it to.
I don't know where you are from Rachel but as I come from the UK I found the Japanese club activities very different to my home country, where I've also taught in schools.
For example, in the UK a club will meet usually only once a week, on a set day, after school for about 30 minutes to an hour at the most. In Japan the clubs met every school day (Monday to Friday) and often at weekends too, or at the very least Saturday morning. During the week, practice would run from when school finished (at about 4 o'clock) up until 6 in winter, 6.30 in summer, (some clubs even met at 7 or 7.30 in the morning before school started at 8.00).
This is obviously a stricter schedule than the UK and whereas it's not uncommon for a pupil in the UK to be a member of two or three clubs that meet on different days, this is not possible under the Japanese system, where usually a pupil joins ONE club and commits themself to that activity.
So the ethos of the purpose of clubs was different too. In the UK having a variety of interests through joining several clubs was seen as beneficial, whereas in Japan the element of loyalty to just one club was seen as preferable.

Come to think of it, I have to agree with the ballboy.

While most non-sport activities in elememtary or junior high school (meaing age 15 and under) meet only once a week, almost all sports activity clubs (including brass bands which are sarcastically considered as a "sport club") meet as frequently as possible to obtain the skills they need for their near future goal which is usually a competition with other schools. Actually, I'm surprised if sports clubs in the UK can meet only once a week and still maintain the skills to have games with other schools. I guess that those who aim to be professionals pay money to take lessons elsewhere.

Also, in senior high schools in Japan (age 15-18) most clubs _including_ non-sport clubs meet more than once a week that some students even prefer to join one of the few other clubs just because they don't meet that often.

While teenagers are usually encouraged to limit the number of clubs they participate, once you're in college you are usually free to do whatever you want and many students join more than one club and even join clubs in other universities.