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I'm tired of drinking and clubbing and even caffeinated tea at an Izakaya messes up my sleep. What low cost hobby clubs do people recommend for a lonely Student?
fwiw man, check out your local ward's volunteer fire corps or disaster drill stuff. they're always looking for warm bodies and you learn useful skills, plus it's a killer workout sometimes. no japanese needed to haul hoses or set up tents lol
also, night photography groups are a thing here, just a bunch of people wandering around at 2am with cameras. free, quiet, and you can treat it like a technical challenge for your audio brain, framing and timing and all that.
Your audio background makes this a bit of a cheat, but the 放送大学 (Open University of Japan) radio courses are free to audit if you just want the broadcast materials, and their studio production workshops at the main campus in Chiba run on weekends with an English-friendly application process. It's not a club, but you'll be around other gear nerds and it keeps your skills sharp without the social pressure.
For something completely different, look up your local ward's 盆踊り practice sessions in the summer. They're held in parks and community centers, free, and the choreography is repetitive enough that you can just follow along, plus you're learning rhythm structure that maps to your field. The older crowd loves teaching newcomers, and you'll pick up more conversational Japanese than any class because they'll repeat the same phrases over and over while you're moving.
If you want something with actual output, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government runs maker spaces in places like Akabane and Ota where you pay around 300 yen for a day pass to use the tools, and there's usually a quiet corner to bring your own audio interface and just work. No one will bother you, and you can leave your projects set up between visits.
Try the NHK Gakuen culture centers, they run cheap evening courses and some are taught bilingually. The cooking ones fill up fast but the photography and design classes have more spare seats, and you can bring your own laptop to mess with audio on the side. For something more active, check the ward's 囲碁 or 将棋 club at the community hall, it's weirdly meditative and the old guys will happily teach you with hand gestures and a translation app, costs maybe 200 yen a visit.
Another angle: look into the local 落語 or rakugo storytelling workshops. They're free at some libraries, you don't need much Japanese to follow the physical comedy, and as an audio engineer you'll appreciate the timing and vocal control work. It's a genuinely useful skill for your craft, and the performers are usually happy to explain bits in broken English afterward.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.