Runker Room Guestbook

January to December 2005

Date:	21.12.2005
Name:	Scott
Where I live:	U.S.A.
My e-mail:	scott (at) ymail.com
What I liked best:	Japanese section was best acc to me!!
What should be added:	More pics.
Comments:	Good site!!
Date:	Dec. 21, 2005
Name:	Shiori Sakamoto
Where I live:	Claremont, Calif., U.S.A.
My e-mail:	ssakamoto (at) csupomona.edu
What I liked best:	Mochitsuki 2000 Best description of mochitsuki and the larger Portland setting in which it is practiced that I've been able to find. Writing is truly excel-lent. Writer establishes mochitsuki's broader relevance in a world where prejudice is still strong. I'm 5 yrs late but a
What should be added:	Prejudice should be decried, of course, but for balance, appreciation of the many acts of kindness that we Japanese Americans have been shown by non-Japanese Americans, MIGHT have been indicated, too.
Comments:	Continue to keep your website available (even if just the way it is). THANKS, Runker!
Date:	19 12 2005
Name:	Andrea
Where I live:	Bologna, IT
What I liked best:	Viva Italia!
Comments:	Thanks for this site, I found it yesterday and it seems to be very professional! greets from Italy!
Date:	12-01-05
Name:	Katie
Where I live:	U.S.A.
My e-mail:	katiestevens2003 (at) yahoo.com
What I liked best:	Ties Talk Discussions about life in Japan. Nikkei, Sansei and Japanese attitudes. Articles about life in Japan and USA for JA.
What should be added:	More updates please.
Comments:	Well thought out. Sure to attract many non-Japanese who want to learn more about the JA experience.
Date:	11/19/05
Name:	Lisa Kiyoko Tanikawa-Brown
Where I live:	Ventura County, California
My e-mail:	lisa_tanikawa (at) yahoo.com
What I liked best:	About Obon
What should be added:	Baby pictures of Bebella -- love the nickname!
Comments:	I am a Sansei-han (3.5 generation) JA. I found your site from a Google search on "Obon". What a great educational, well-organized, and life-relevant site for any Nikkei to reference!
Date:	October 29, 2005
Name:	Leeland
Where I live:	Seattle, WA
My e-mail:	malesun ( at ) yahoo.com
What I liked best:	Hottoke no Butsudan
What should be added:	Mo sashin onegai
Comments:	Ii Webusite desu ne
Date:	Oct. 7, 2005
Name:	James Mesbur
Where I live:	Philadelphia, PA
My e-mail:	james_mesbur (at) yahoo.com
My URL:
What I liked best:	Fukue-shima, Goto-retto
Comments:	I found your site when searching for pictures of Goto-Fukue. I lived there for a year, from 1998-1999 teaching English privately. I am originally from Toronto, Canada, and now reside in Philadelphia, PA, working on a PhD in Linguistics.
Date:	September 22, 2005
Name:	Roy K. Oshima
Where I live:	Tokyo, Japan
My e-mail:	oshima (at) japan.email.ne.jp
Comments:	I browsed for a total of 4 minutes. In a rush because I was surfing your website when I should have been getting ready for work. Very interesting. Will be back. Gotta run.
Date:	September 17, 2005
Name:	John Wakamatsu
Where I live:	Los Angeles
My e-mail:	kuni123456 (at) aol.com
What I liked best:	I like your honesty and I also like to collect Japanese coins.
What should be added:	I think that you should add pictures of old Japanese coins.
Comments:	I am Sansei or 3rd generation Japanese American. My grandparents were from three different Prefectures and my parents were born in California. My wife is from Shizuoka-ken, Japan and my kids are dual citizens. When I visit Japan, I feel like a foreigner.
Date:	9/13/2005
Name:	Fabio Mitsuo
Where I live:	Brazil
What I liked best:	Keizu (Japanese genealogy)
Comments:	I am Fabio Mitsuo, 3rd generation Nikkei from Brazil! Was just surfing the Web when came across your Genealogy page. I am trying to make mine as well, but it is much more difficult, for I am not Japanese (though I am in Japan right now, researching, and speak Japanese). Congratulations for the research on your family!
Date:	today
Name:	kei
Where I live:	Chicago
My e-mail:	kei@yay.com
My URL:	www.thekanjifactory.com
What I liked best:	the kanji resources
What should be added:	more t-shirts!
Comments:	nice job
Date:	Sept 2, 2005
Name:	Howard
Where I live:	Nobeoka, Japan
My e-mail:	ahner1@hotmail.com
My URL:	ahner-nobeoka.tripod.com/id55.html
What I liked best:	Pictures.
What should be added:	More comments about the pictures.
Comments:	"Right On" has other meanings in Japan.
Date:	august 2005
Name:	francesca holloway- kimiko kusumoto
Where I live:	lakeland, florida 33809
My e-mail:	francescaholloway2000@yahoo.com
What I liked best:	i enjoyed the whole site
Comments:	i will check out the websites to look for my japanese mother. thanks kimiko kusumoto -francescaholloway
Date:	August 21, 2005
Name:	Michelle Mc Bright
Where I live:	Corvallis, Oregon
My e-mail:	embe@att.net
What I liked best:	The Runker's curiosity about the world he is living in and his brilliant expressions!
Comments:	You have an art that tickles the brain and celebrates living.
Date:	08-15-2005
Name:	Tara Wright
Where I live:	Okinawa, Japan
My e-mail:	stmtwright@yahoo.com
What I liked best:	About Obon - the explanation of Obon
Comments:	Sitting at home now listening to the chanting and drums outside in the streets as the Japanese celebrate Obon.
Date:	8/15/05
Name:	Cathy
Where I live:	Chicago, IL
My e-mail:	mex4021@yahoo.com
What I liked best:	All your info on Japanese culture
Comments:	I forwarded your site to my daughter, since she is very interested in moving to Japan. I only started here because I was curious about left-handedness since I am.
Date:	August 14, 2005
Name:	Howard Ahner
Where I live:	Nobeoka, Japan
My e-mail:	ahner1@hotmail.com
My URL:	shiroyama.tripod.com/id80.html
What I liked best:	I liked the information.
What should be added:	Perhaps, more opinions would be nice. As for my Japanese wife, she has no interest in her heritage, lineage, background, or whatever. She is content with her immediate family and immediate friends. I came to Japan looking for my lineage.
Comments:	My ancestors wouldn't accept me as I am, probably not, that is. There are changes. I am enjoying the journey, though. I am trying to help other people get what they want, not what I want. And, it is enough.
Date:	Aug 9, 2005
Name:	Eujin N.
Where I live:	New Zealand
My URL:	freewebs.com/hiro-mi
What I liked best:	Everything
Comments:	Konbanwa Mr.Tadaaki! Suki desu ne! I like browsing through your website. I would like to know if its okay to put your link on my website. I guess reading about anything close about Japan makes me feel at home. Good day!
Date:	03 August 2005
Name:	Thomas Åkerfeldt
Where I live:	Stockholm, SE
What I liked best:	About Obon
Comments:	I just wanted to say that you have a wonderful site with much info about O-bon. Here in Sweden I am a acolyte in training of a Buddhist temple and we are celebrating the O-bon 12-15 of August this year. Although the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist tradition do not conduct all the festivities described on your website, it gives an interesting picture of how O-bon is viewed in Japan today. Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism sees the O-bon from a deeper Buddhist prespective of how every living being exists in relation to all other sentient and insentient existence, and how we repay our depth of gratitude to all existence by "offering our life" in for of our prayers for the benefit of all. I am ethnicly Swedish and have had to learn the meaning and content of the O-bon as an adult. Some Japanese people live many years outside Japan, but it seems like Obon will always have a special place in their hearts. Even very "secular" Japanese people have a strong feeling for O-bon. One Japanese woman once came to our temple during a service, and although she probubly had not attended any Buddhist temple since she was a kid, she got tears in her eyes. She said, "oh, when I feel the incense it makes me remember so many things in my childhood". It can be difficult to aquier everything I would like to have for the O-Bon celebration. We have to buy frozen "mochi-cake", since I have not been able to find a "mochi maker" to make it fresh :-( Swedish graves are not constructed for Buddhist services (simply no room for candles, insence or the "shikimi"), and their often located in places far away from were family live. This makes visit to graves very complicated. But since the Teaching of the Buddha encourage us to offer prayers on the 15th day of the 7th month (which we place in August of the old calendar) we offer our deepest prayers in gratitude of all the living and for the abilty to repay our depth of gratitude at the temple. In the world we live in today, the focus on the individual "Ego" makes us forget that we are not an isolated existance in cosmos, but part of a totality of Cause and Effect. O-Bon is a good time to reflect on this. The Japanese kanji for thankfulness is "ON" - its in two parts. The upper part is the word for "Cause" and the lower part is the word for "heart" -"Kokoro", or "Shin". Its meaning - the "Cause for our heart (life)" - and the Cause for our life is all existence that makes our life possible to live. Especialy the Cause of our parents who gave us life. And their parents, and so on ... generation after generation made it possible for me to enjoy the sunshine today. I am thankful for this, and I pray for the benefit of all. Thank you again and with my wishes for a wonderful O-Bon to you and your family.
Date:	7/6/05
Name:	tanya sakamoto fralick
Where I live:	Albuquerque, NM, USA
My e-mail:	t1kuma@netscape.net
What I liked best:	Keizu (Japanese Genealogy)
What should be added:	love it - can't think of more
Comments:	i was supposed to be looking for the address to write to for a copy of my mom's koseki - from hokkaido - i just can't find the smail addy - so i am wandering here at your site for fun. there are soo many wonderful links here - i don't think i am going to get any work done.
Date:	06/29/2005
Name:	Victor, law student
Where I live:	Sao Paulo, Brazil
What I liked best:	Other Tadaakis on the Net
Comments:	Here in Brazil, I've never met another Tadaaki!
Date:	20 March 2005
Name:	Arjan Bakker
Where I live:	The Netherlands
My e-mail:	eurocoins@originaleurosets.com
My URL:	www.originaleurosets.com
What I liked best:	About Japanese Coins
Comments:	Nice site! Well done! All the best from the team at Original Euro Sets. Keep up the good work!
Date:	March 19, 2005
Name:	Paul F. Hollingsworth
Where I live:	Birmingham
My e-mail:	paul_f_hollingsworth@btinternet.com
What I liked best:	Everything
What should be added:	I'll leave that up to you. ;)
Comments:	Nice site! :D
Date:	14/3/05
Name:	Michael
Where I live:	Vancouver, BC
My e-mail:	Burn_City@hotmail.com
What I liked best:	My Wife ("Dorami-chan").
Comments:	I liked how you refer to your wife as "Dorami" as I do mine. I thought I was the only one. It would be interesting if one day our Doramis could meet. ha haa..
Date:	3/13/05
Name:	Thomas
Where I live:	Utah
What I liked best:	Keizu (Japanese Genealogy)
Comments:	Nice page
Date:	03-12-05
Name:	Chris Largen
Where I live:	Denton, TX
My e-mail:	res1tc3k@verizon.net
My URL:	www.waronjunk.com/warning.htm
Comments:	Runker Room is a great site! Thank you.
Date:	27 feb.2005
Name:	m.a.
Where I live:	France
Comments:	Hmmmm, are you married?
Date:	February 22, 2005
Name:	Erin
My URL:	www.angelfire.com/moon2/erin_01
What I liked best:	The festivals! (Coz I needed th info! Lol)
Comments:	This site helped heaps! Keep it up!
Date:	2/18/2005
Name:	Shanda Lear
Where I live:	Canada
My e-mail:	shandal@rooftop.net
What I liked best:	I like the whole site! :)
Date:	feb 1 2005
Name:	Mike
Where I live:	hawaii
My e-mail:	michache8@aol.com
My URL:	http://intense-rides.com/
What I liked best:	About the Runker. It's all a great job.
What should be added:	a reciprocal link to my site. jk ..i wish
Date:	1-4-05
Name:	juliana
Where I live:	mesa, az.
My e-mail:	jjuliana@iwon.com
What I liked best:	Welcome to the Morgue. I liked how you explained that the autopsy rooms were not bad as most people thought they were
Comments:	I personally have a few questions for you. If you can find the time to answer to some of my questions I'd be more than happy. Please e-mail me for some questions about your profession. thanks alot, juliana
Date:	jan 2005
Name:	John
Where I live:	UK
My URL:	http://www.epoi.com/
What I liked best:	Just surfing and found your great site. I have enjoyed my visit.

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