Pen pals and beyond?

I've been using the friend search/pen pal search option here, but unfortunately, all it's really gotten me was a lot of people who were interested in using it for flirting. I actually left the site for a while because it was pretty frustrating. A friend and I are interested in traveling abroad to Japan next year or the year after, so I'd love to have a pen pal/pals that I can learn from before then (plus, it's always nice having friends). Some language learning wouldn't be unwelcome, but mainly, I'm looking for a cultural exchange. However, I don't know if I'll get it on this site.

Are there any official programs or groups that can arrange correspondences? Like either pen pals between citizens or between classrooms, universities, etc.? Anything that can get people who are genuinely interested in exchange. If it were between groups (like pen pals between artists, or between LGBT, etc.), that'd be nice as well. My city (Tulsa, OK) does have a sister city in Japan (Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture), so I'm not sure if that helps anything?

I'm at a loss as to where to search next, so any tips would be appreciated!

Most of the people I've met up with in Japan and have become friends and meet every time I'm there came from meeting them online via FB or IG. I've become friends and have seen their children grow from babies to 2-3 and 6 year olds. It's not hard. You can maybe join groups on FB relating to some of your interests and go from there. I wish you the best!

One site you should check out while your in Japan or the day before you go to Japan is Meetup.com. Its a website where people create groups and hang out. you can sign up meet and greet hang out meet new people and if you like exchange information to stay in touch.

Maybe you can start by asking the Tulsa Global Alliance:
http://www.tulsaglobalalliance.org/go-global-2/sister-cities-partnersh...

Or the Utsunomiya City International Association:
http://www.ucia.or.jp/index_eng.html

Or if you're a student, try asking your school or your board of education.

While searching the internet for you, I also found this:
http://tokyointulsa.com/

You can also try asking a church.