Anywhere to chat with Japanese people on the intarwebnet?

[f3likx]

yeah, so I'm looking to shoot the shit with fellow internet goers, but I'm not sure where to look. I've heard yahoo chat, but I fear the lamers. googled pen pals, and people want me to pay for some shit service... any help? I live in a small town, and I know everyone Japanese in it already. Basically, I just want to talk about culture, my general insanity, shit like that. Any takers?
thanks alot, btw.

[eidolon]

Try Japan Penfriends, I've got about 4 penpals through them right now. There aren't tons of lamers either.

[f3likx]

thanks. Damn, its so fucking hot in Alberta (canada) right now, it's 30 degrees in my house... 35 outside, I tried to mow the lawn too. Bad idea, even though I finished, I nearly passed out from the heat. Here I sit in the nude, sweatin away... I'm not even fat, either!
Anyway, yeah, thanks again.

[devicenull]

irc is a great place... i have been talking to a few good people for almost 8 months now (some have offered to help me get setup :P )

it seems that alot of japanese use MSN for chatting, i have a nice legion of japanese minions to talk to when i have a question when i am studying... voice chat comes in handy too

[eidolon]

IRC is good too, but theres a lot of, shall we say, "interesting" individuals there on the larger networks. But, they're well outnumbered by the perfectly normal, and rather interesting to talk to folks.

Hehe, the thing about MSN is true too, all of the people in Japan I know use it, the only other service I've seen any of them use is Yahoo, and that was a second account.

f3likx, I can sympathize with you about the heat. Here in Anchorage its been in the 70 to 80 degree (farenheit of course) range for far too long. Going down to Homer a week or two ago was a big relief because it was raining non-stop, nice and cold. What makes it worse is the fact that I haven't got air conditioning (not worth the investment for my family considering 3/4's of the year the ground is covered in snow) and all of the stores are sold out of fans and not due to restock because they're a seasonal item. I can't wait for below freezing temps again... Of course then I get to learn to handle my rear wheel drive car on ice, should be interesting to say the least.