KKyoto

I built an app to help make friends and try new things in Koyto.

  • March 11, 2026


Quick context: i moved to kyoto three years ago and spend 1 year there without making any friends.

It led me to build an app called joind. The main idea:  anyone can post an activity (drinks after work, a morning run, tennis, whatever) and anyone nearby can find it and join. So you basically see something happening near you and you just show up.

A few things I built specifically around safety since meeting strangers is a concern:

  • You never see the exact location until you've been accepted
  • Activities can be set to public or private – hosts approve or deny requests
  • Women only mode – female hosted activities visible to women only
  • If someone requests to join, the host views their profile first. Accept or decline. If declined, the meeting point is never revealed

Joind works best once there are enough people in the same area, so I'm looking for real people in Kyoto to be among the first.

The waitlist is open at joind.me if you're interested! We'll be launching in the next 3 weeks 🙂

by conoroha

9 comments

  4. Omg this is a great idea! Also thank you for the women only mode, this is very thoughtful

  5. One idea: does it include a field for the language used in an event? Especially for talk-based events.

  8. I would love to download this. I am going to Kyoto for uni studies this September, it would be really helpful

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