Letter Reiko San, my wonderful neighbour translated and wrote out so I was sure to understand... How kind of her to goal the way to the library in town to find all this out former and source english pamphlets to help! Kindness yet again, to the full! Reiko San, I owe you more than I feel I can even repay in kindness. I am far behind...

The kindness of the Japanese people goes far beyond what any of us can imagine. I, for one, have been bowled over by their sincere kindness, always only too happy to go the extra mile for any and everyone_including foreigners, and strangers! Religion is sadly not deeply entrenched I their life, few believing in any God - thus their kindness purely a culture of a proud nation. To me, it's how I always imagined heaven...hence it feels so surreal to be living in ...

My most loving neighbour who tries so hard with her English - it takes lots of hard concentration on her behalf hence this note I was given on our first car trip together. My heart melts every time we are together at the love she pours out.

In Japan, people greet each other by bowing. A bow ranges from a small nod of the head to a long, 90 degree bend at the waist. If the greeting takes place on tatami floor, people get on their knees in order to bow. When bowing to someone of higher social status, a deeper, longer bow indicates respect. Conversely, a small head nod is casual and informal. However, most Japanese do not expect foreigners to know proper bowing rules and so a nod of the head is usuall...

Birthday boy today! Non Hoi Park – Toyohashi Comprehensive Zoo and Botanical Garden Non Hoi Park is a garden, natural history museum, and amusement park a couple of hours from Nagoya in Toyohashi City. It makes for a great day trip. “NON-HOI” is something like “Hey” “Hey, hey” or “Hey That” in the local Higashi-Mikawa dialect of Japanese. I am not sure how the park got such a nickname, but it is interesting none the less. The zoo houses ...