[queuebert]

I'm looking for any advice people may have on obtaining a cultural activities visa.

First and foremost, I'm not trying to portray myself as trying to "get away" with anything, but my main goal is to experience day-to-day life in Japan for an extended period of time, and cultural activities is the means by which it makes the most sense for me to do this. Thus, while I'd really like to find something that interests me, it is more important for me to have a low-cost activity that doesn't make great demands on my time.

My first thought was to take Japanese language classes, because that could always use improvement. My findings are that classes that act as sponsors tend to have fairly long courses (6-7 hours a day) and cost... well, not an unreasonable amount, but certainly more than I'm hoping to spend... to the tune of $5-600 per month.

I've heard of people undertaking other studies such as a martial art, an ikebana course, etc., which I assume requires substantially less time. But I'm not having a lot of luck with finding information about organizations who are willing to act as my sponsor for such activities.

I would really appreciate if anyone could share their experiences or knowledge with a cultural activities visa, in terms of finding a cost-effective activity, and whether most places are willing to act as a sponsor upon agreeing to enroll as a student of their institution.

Edit: Actually, in retrospect, definitely some and probably all of those 30 hours/week and $5-600/month classes were for student visas, not cultural activities visas (though I had searched for cultural activities visas originally...). So maybe my problem is more specifically that I'm having difficulties tracking down any organization at all that will help as a sponsor for a cultural activities visa.