I have started e-mail about five months ago. What's good about it is that I can communicate easily with friends of mine who live far away, even abroad. It doesn't take time at all. I didn't know how much I love writing until I started e-mail. I write essaylike letters and send them to my friends at a time. Few friends send reply soon, but even so I enjoy sending letters.

What do you think about Japanese students compared with American ones? I graduate from a university in Japan and a college in Los Angeles. In my opinion, American college students are more diligent, otherwise they cannot graduate.


I had lived in the U.S.A for 1year because of my husband's business. After going back to Japan,I didn't have an opportunity to speak English at all. I really wanted to have a friend who speaked English. Then I looked for an friend on the Net. I find a man who was interested in Japan. After mailing to him,I got a mail from him. But he wote a strange thing on it. It was that he wanted to get a next mail by letter. So he wanted to know my Japanease address. I was confused to get that. It takes much time and more money to send a letter to overseas than e-mail. Why did he want such a thing? So I didn't write an air- mail letter.

Soon I realized his real purpose. After gettinng his mail ,I had got a lot of direct mail from U.S.A on my e-mail address. I knew its his business that he sold the e-mail address to some agents. If I had told my address to him ,maybe I would have gotten a lot of overseas direct mail. Because I learned by its exeperience,I had never tried to finding friends on The Net.

I really know there are various people on the Net..... Maybe I was unlucky about that!


I'm 16 years, but I don't go to high school now. I read your article in today's Asahi news paper. So I send you this mail. I agree with you. Most of My Mail-Friends wanna exchange E-mail with their acquaintances. But I want to know many people and chat with a light heart like you.

However I don't know how to find foreign Mail-Friends on Internet. I also have only Japanese Mail-Friends after all. Would you mind telling me how to do that? I'm looking forward to coming to communicate with many countries' people.


You showed one of the most characteristic aspects of Japanese. We Japanese aren't good at communicate with a person whose cultural background is different from us.

I can see your point. As you've said, we are too shy to speak in English in front of people. So did I. However, I think there is one more reason that we Japanese can't hundle English very well. In my opinion, most Japanese lose confidence to hundle English because we were demanded perfect answer in school.

Fortunately, an English school changed my attitude toward studying English. This is my example.

I was fortunetely sent to an English school by my boss for six months two years ago. The perpose of the school is to acquire a practical English skill which can be accepted in the real business world. At first, I feared to enter the school, because I thought I had to study English just like a high school student.

For me, and most of the people I think, studying English is painful even I love English. The reason is that I had to memorize a lot of words to pass the university's entrance exam. English was just a tool to get the permission of the entrance. How can to study English become interesting?

The English school which I was sent was completely different from what I had studied. The teacher of the school encouraged me to speak English as much as possible even I made a mistake. They told me that there was no perfect English speaker as there was no perfect Japanese speaker, so never mind making a mistake, having a opinion and expressing it was crucial. I have never been taught like that before I entered the English school. I had been requred perfect English answer in exam. The answer was only one.

Thanks to the English school, I love English now from the bottom of my heart. I could find a plesure in studying English. It's to communicate with foreigners. If I hadn't been sent this English school, I couldn't write this e-mail.


I am fourty years old male living in Tokyo. I have lived in Columbia South Carolina from '94 to '97.Because I have stationed at our subsidiary there. According to my experience,american people accepted me with warm hospitality.For example,I could rent appartment without any guarantee such as "Hoshonin".This is impossible in Japan.


I am a senior college student. My major is Internationl communication. It's a study about clutural differences between Japan and America. I was in America last year. One thing which surprised me is that American students use computers a lot. I think a computer is a part of thier daily lives. I had never used a computer before I went to the United State. I just stated using a computer in America. Computers are anywhere in the college. And my teacher gave me homework through e-mail. That surprised me, too. You know, I had to figure out how to use a computer. And now I use a computer everyday to e-mail my friends in Japan and in America, It is very useful. I think Japanese students should use a computer more, I mean they should learn.


I got an e-mail address last March and it seems I can not think about my life without e-mail system anymore.

I lived in Texas, America from '91 to '92 and everyting was amazing to me at that time. You mentioned that Japanese people are very shy and can't talk to the person who sit next to you in a train. It is true and that I do not like the part of Japanese style.

I even could not think about any good side of Japanese style when I just got back from Texas and that made me so sad as I am a Japanese. I was born in Japan and I grown up in Japan. I wanted to like my hometown. I now got over from the "Homesick"and can look the bright side of Japan now.

My ex-roommate invited me to her wedding last summer so I went back to Texas! You know what? The e-mail system helped me a lot when I had to ask about the detail of the party. And I also e-mailed to my teachers if they have time when I visit there. That was really great!!

I also have some e-mail friends in Japan but nobody was a stranger to me. I heard some people are using e-mail to meet "a girl" or "a boy". It bothers me as I like meeting new people only to talk with, not to look for 'a girlfriend' or 'a boyfrined' so that part, it would be inconvenient to me.

Sorry, I did not write who I am. I am a girl (not looking for a boyfriend) and work for German company making valve for alcohol tank. I live in Itami, Hyogo and interested in the difference between other countries and Japan. I learned how to teach Japanese to foreigners. I really want to help foreigners as I was helped by American people when I was there. Is that enough to show you I am not a strange person?


I am very shy so I think I lost so many opportunities to make friends or get informations or something like that so I always think I envy europian people. You know they are so friendly and socialize more than Japanese. But on internet(e-mail) I don't be shy.(especially when I type in English) I can think as long as I can to make sentences! don't worry about time. I would like to make friends through internet. but, I do not know how....(maybe, have to learn how to use internet first)


I want to be an English teacher in a junior high school. If I can be a teacher, I'd like to use the internet in class and to interchange E-mails with some foreign countries.

Now I interchange E-mails with Korean friend. He can't speak Japanese and I can't speak Korean. But thanks to the internet and English, we can enjoy talking each other in English anytime. Our English isn't always perfect, but we can make ourselves understand.

This is wonderfull !! The internet enables us to exchange cultures with the world. It's easier and cheaper to send E-mails than airmails.

I hope Japanese students gain confidence in their English by interchanging E-mails with the world. As you said, we don't have to speak perfect English. So I dare to write this mail in English though it's difficult for me to express myself in English. :-)


I use E-mail to communicate with my husband who studies in the U.S.A. I think there are several advantage to use E-mail. First of all, it is cost. Calling overseas is still expensive even it is getting cheaper nowadays. E-mail doesn't cost so much. Secondly, we can send and receive E-mail quickly. Thirdly, we don't have to care if we are disturbing to call a person. Whenever it is convenient to us, we can E-mail and we can read it. At last, we can take our time to think what we want to say. Most of Japanese may be very nervous to speak to a foreigner. However, by using E-mail, they don't have to worry about speed of correspondence. Since we study English at school, most of us can read or write English though it is far from perfect. For us, E-mail is much easier communication tool with a foreigner.

In my opinion, many Japanese, especially school kids are interested in making a friend in a foreign country. The reason why they can't do that is they don't know how they can do that. As you said, I have to admit that we are generally very shy people. But younger Japanese are not like that any more. We are always seeking something same as you are. Therefore, it would be great if you can give those chances to younger kids here. I don't know what a kind of technical problem you had when you tried, but if you can solve the problem, you can be a mediator between other culture and our culture.


The customs and culture reflect on the way people use internet. Americans tend to use small talk to greet each other and non-native speakers feel ackward at first when they speak English to the native speakers. I also point out Japanese are not used to communicate via e-mail. Now it is common for to have internet access at colleges and offices in Japan. Yet e-mail is not a ordinally communication tool in Japan. Having PCs and internet access are still expencive for many Japanese people. I would not have this account without an access point near my house. Internet access is not as common as phone access in Japan.

Language can be a major obsticle for people to use internet. English is the prmary language in cyber space. It seems that native speakers expect non-native speaker to speak perfect English altough no one speaks "Standard English" in real world. For non-native speaker, the relevence of their statement depends on their fluency of English. I think it is a lot of pressure. I think it is practical to use English have commonality. However, the we have to be aware that English is the second language for the majority of people around the world


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