I'm feeling kinda lonely with no one to speak with in Japanese. I have a friend that can speak to me in Japanese, but lately he's been busy with government law. He decided to put Japanese studies aside. I don't have any other friends to talk that are studying Japanese or doing/done RTK.

I think after RTK, because during you're unlikely to know enough to hold a reasonable conversation... Unless you're talking to other RTKers in heisigspeak

No time like the present... There's language exchange sites like lang-8.com where you probably could meet someone for skyping.

ASAP. It doesn't matter if you only know one word of Japanese. Speaking with a person improves your pronunciation, you learn the rhythm of conversation, and you learn Japanese body language, which is key to blending in in any country.

Also, having new relationships is an intrinsically good thing, and having a friend who speaks the language you want to learn helps to motivate you. Making friend(s) is a great way to connect emotionally with a language and culture, even if you don't stay long or don't even ever go at all.

There is a blog called http://www.fluentin3months.com/ where this Irish guy tries to become fluent more by speaking to real people than by pure study (which, don't mistake, he still does a lot of). So it's a much more self checking system. You try to think more automatically of the words you want to say because one, you want to express yourself more; and two, the awkward pauses and fear of mistakes is good pressure to help you learn.

You can find language partners on italki.com, though I find talking to strangers online a bit uncomfortable, so I opt for finding groups on meetup.com, which will have a group in most cities, or just by searching "japanese" and "[your city]" on facebook. And there are ESL departments at universities you can contact to become a language exchange partner.

Best of luck!

Yes, make Japanese friends now. The more you have, the better. They are a never ending resource with lots of precious knowledge. The better they like you, the more useful they become. Why wait later to have more friends?

People are not tools. You make friends with people based on personal experience with them, not when it suits your personal study agenda. It happens spontaneously.

Honestly, if someone wanted to be my friend on the pretension of learning English I would not find it all that honest nor friendly.

or you could look at people as very utilitarian tools... use them and throw them away as soon as they become boring. then find someone else! the internet is full of people to talk to but most of them suck after a while so move on once their usefulness has ended.

people are THE most useful language learning tool... by far. way better than anki or podcasts or textbooks whatever. problem is that your skillz probably suck right now. and until you get them up to a certain level for competent interaction, no one really wants to talk to you for very long. the language learner's paradox...

the internet however gives you lots of people to engage with shallowly... so don't miss out on this good resource for basic back-and-forth. once you're good at that they won't get miffed and disappear so quickly. after a while you might actually make a real friend or two that would be worth investing some time in.

^People are an excellent source of language as people create and propagate language. The feedback is necessary, and simplistic back and forth over the internet can be a very useful direct source of correction and insight- that's not making friends, though. It's just using the internet what is it currently used for: throwing in light and hoping to find a reflection.

People use each other and throw them away all the time. One of the reasons why empathy is hard to find.

OK guys thanks for the replies. I will check those websites out. I believe I made a lang-8 account a year ago. I made one Japanese friend from lang-8. The reason I stop going was because I thought I should only talk to Japanese people after RTK which I never took that time. I've also had Japanese friends on Skype in the past, but at the time I didn't take Japanese seriously. Now they are all gone without reason.

Besides not knowing much kanji yet and constructing on-going sentences, i do know basic grammar, and know how to introduce myself or another friend in Japanese.

I wouldn't bother actively seeking making Japanese friends till after you've finished it and ensure you don't end up being the one giving the language lessons.

Start making friends online and in real life. No time like the present. The more you practice speaking, the better you'll become.

Get Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication. Try and use one or two new constructions in every new conversation.

Rehearse beforehand: think of a story about yourself or your day that you want to tell, and try and tell it to yourself *in Japanese*. Rehearse - without writing it down - until you have it down pat. Then, try it out on a Japanese friend. (Thanks to AlexandreC for this kick-ass idea.)

And have fun. You'll meet some great people. I've talked to some people on Skype and in real life, and have never seen then again. Other folks have become really great friends. It doesn't have to be a "using" situation; you can make friends, share interests, *and* exchange languages.

I am where you are at: get RTK understood and build enough momentum to build on/with what you know.
For friends I think now is better then later, or they may feel used, and all the other common sense things. I've debated for instance when to poke or otherwise ask my few friends. I do think waiting a bit to show that you've placed time into what you're doing (ei know enough to ask/converse) is best. I know it's mostly common sense (be reciprocal, etc), but I've mulled it over for one reason or another. One idea that looms around (but I could be completely wrong about) is finding someone that wants to improve their English and making that a reciprocal exchange. I'm rather patient, I've finished a few college level English courses, and (when I concisely try to since everybody has degrees of formality) am good with writing.
But that's me, someone that's still rather clueless

This question makes completely no sense to me. RTK isn't even Japanese, knowing RTK will not help you at all in communicating with new Japanese friends. Although it will have value to you later when learning to read, you cannot communicate any easier with a Japanese person in Japanese because you know 2000 english keywords for chinese characters.