I hope you will forgive me for resurrecting this thread, but I just spent an enjoyable several hours reading through it. Sargon, I think it was really admirable for you to jump headfirst into the lifestyle in Osaka and keep at it with such persistence. If you'll permit me I will give my thoughts on how things might have worked out a little better. However, I have never spent any time in Osaka so my advice might be complete crap. Nevertheless, here goes:
I think you should have used more social group game from the get-go. The Japanese closely identify with their various groups, so if you are a member of their group, it gives you cred. I understand your desire to avoid ending up in a Melrose Place situation, but social groups are, based on my experience, one of the best places to find and hook up with quality J-girls. There are several ways to go about it.
One is to join an activity group that interests you.
The Meetups site is a good place to start. I have been to a Spanish speaking party in Tokyo through this site and the girl attendees outnumbered the men. Also, your Japanese friends at the university or elsewhere could help you get hooked up with a group that only advertises in Japanese. Groups like hiking, running, cycling, cooking, salsa dancing, scuba diving, etc are great places to meet women you wouldn't otherwise meet. Another thing about it is even if you never find a girl through the group, you will still make many Japanese friends and have fun doing an activity with them you really enjoy.
Another way is to explore around and find at least one hangout bar at each of the small train stations around your area. About one or two nights a week hang out at one of the bars. To save money, buy a bottle of liquor at each place. They will put your name on it and you can drink from it each time you go. You will only get a "snack" or "ice" charge each time you go of about 500 yen in addition to whatever the bottle cost when you purchased it. Make friends with the bartender and he or she will stand there and talk to you in Japanese for hours, greatly improving your Japanese skills. The bartenders at those kinds of places think it's their job to help you relax and enjoy yourself. The bartenders you befriend will give you social proof with the locals, both women and men. I'm talking a normal bar, not a hostess bar. Avoid hostess bars. As you spend time at these bars, you will, of course, start to make friends with the regulars, both men and women, who come there. After they observe you for awhile they will start to invite you to do things with them or tell you about events or activities that you wouldn't otherwise be aware of. The bars themselves sometimes organize parties or sightseeing trips for their regulars. Eventually, perhaps after a couple of months, the women, both married and single, you meet through these avenues will start to make themselves available to you. At least, that has been my experience.
As for clubs, I've noticed that Japanese women often like to observe someone for awhile before they decide to be attracted or not. So, when I go to a club, I will usually not try to pick-up on any women for at least an hour. Instead, I will project an extremely gregarious attitude. I will dance energetically by myself for awhile with a big, shit-eating grin on my face. I will ignore any attempts by women to make eye contact with me. When I buy a drink, I will walk around "cheersing" everyone, men and women both, throughout the entire place. A little later I will start to tease some of the dancing women by imitating their dance moves in an exaggerated way while smirking at their looks of dismay and confusion. If a girl grabs me and starts grinding, I will go along with it for about 30 seconds, then I will grin at her like she's a silly rabbit, turn my back, and go dance on the other side of the floor. If you do this, you will notice a lot of the women will be watching you with blank expressions on their face, but if they're watching you it means they are starting to get interested. After awhile, start looking for ways to accidentally start interacting with some of the women who are paying attention to you or who somehow have found a reason to stand near you. Be cool and slightly aloof but playfully tease them like Skotch suggested. Push & pull/cat-string I have found to work well with Japanese women.
In each entertainment area, there should be at least one, if not more, cheap, divey bars that stay open all night. These are often located in the basement floors of the buildings in the area. When bar hostesses get off work around 2 or 3 a.m., they often go to these bars to wait for the first train. It's a good place to hit on them as they are often drunk and horny after drinking and flirting with their club customers all night.
In every entertainment area scout around and find office buildings that have an enclosed stairwell that is open at the bottom to the outside. There should be many. Then, if the love hotels are full, such as happened to you on one occasion, you can just take her to the stairwell and have your way. I did that before.
Also, I think you should have used more dating forums. I don't know if
Metropolis has an Osaka edition, but if it does you could have placed a personals ad. Also there is OKCJapan, Mixi, and a couple others. Most of the women who respond to those are 6s and 7s in their late 20s and 30s and looking for a husband. But, you can still get some action out of it plus get experience learning how to talk to Japanese women.
Finally, perhaps you could have gotten a part-time job teaching German at a language school. That would have provided you some extra income and another way to meet women you wouldn't otherwise meet.
One other thing, I thought most Japanese universities' social activity groups arrange go-cons with groups from other universities. Doesn't your school do that?
By the way, the housewife you were with who kept protesting that she had small breasts when you tried to take her bra off? After you said "daijobu" the first time and she kept protesting you should have said "Urusai" in a firm voice and yanked her bra off without further ado. We're not kidding when we say the girls here like to be dominated.
Anyway, it was really impressive how you got out there and did your best to make it work instead of sitting around in your dorm room.