Alternatives for JapanPenfriend

I think the penpal program japan-guide offered, was the very best of all the websites for finding penpals.
It's really sad that they shut it down...I tried to find good alternatives, but didn't.
But maybe did you? Please tell me if so!

I agree with you that JapanGuide penpal section was the best. I've got two good friends who I kept in contact with for half a year but then lost my Line password after formatting my phone lol.
You can try HelloTalk if you didn't already try it!
Personally, I chatted with several people there but most of the conversations die fast which I think depends on you and maybe your partner.
I heard that ITalki is good too! so maybe try that(!
Or maybe try finding friends on social media like Twitter and Instagram!!

There are various services that work similar to the old penpal section here.
But it's the same for me, on no other website I actually found people I could keep contact with, here I even received letters.

Is it against any forum rule to make a thread for posting contact ads though?

I'm not sure but I think it is against the rules because they took the section down for reasons!

They took it down because they couldn't maintain the service because of 'technical and other challenges to keep the site up to date'. So maybe you could try it

If you register on the forum (as opposed to posting as Guest), you can click on the name of the poster and get in direct chat bract with the other person and then also exchange personal details.
I remember there was a similar thread a few months ago also about people searching for pen pals and they decided to post their interests. But I think never really did. Also not sure if there are so many Japanese here that are looking for pen pals. However if you go through this section you will feel bad a few other people with similar interests, al-Sor a few Japanese. Not a very direct way, but possible.

An other alternative is to see if there is any Japanese speaking meetup group close to where you live.

Enjoy talking Japanese.

@Chokohime
I'm looking for real pen pals who do snail mail. Can I find these people on hellotalk and italki, too? Or are these apps for chatting only?