name:

Your new "jealous of your travels" friend in the States!

comments:

Hi Joseph!

I'm xxxxx and I live in the US. I am a late bloomer. It's always taken me much longer to discover things about myself than it takes most people. Traveling has always been my passion. Years ago I was very naive about being a student/worker in another country, or doing youth oriented travel, and so I thought the one way I could travel was to become a travel agent! So, off to travel school I went.

Unfortunately, I didnt' get to travel as much as I would have liked and now I"m 30, single and thinking "the time to do it is NOW!" Sooo, as I was roaming the internet searching for the best way to live somewhere else for awhile, I ran into your website.

I haven't finished reading through it all yet, but I plan to. It's so interesting and your commentaries are so funny! You seem very down to earth and motivated to live your life exactly the way that inspires you. I absolutely love that and felt the need to write and tell you.

Do you have any suggestions for someone like me to be able to live in another country for awhile? I would definately have to work, since I wasn't born wealthy, and am still crossing my fingers to be a lottery winner. If you don't, that's fine - but I want thank you for making my day more interesting!

Your new "jealous of your travels" friend in the States

30th June 2003

response:

I hope the email that I sent you in response was useful, and I look forward to sharing in your travel experiences in the not-too-distant future!.

name:

Your favorite monkey loving american girl =)

comments:

Joseph - You're my favorite brit out there and I say you're not allowed to be sad
=(

I was there at the very beginning of all of this! I was just thinking of all our good times together and reading your rambling mumbles makes me sad. Cheer up kiddo! I think you need to take a trip to the zoo with geri! I can't believe you're actually working! How does it feel to not be able to sit naked in an onsen all day? eheheheh! Cheer up kiddo and know i'm only an email/phone call away! Hey and what's up with all these US jokes you've been cracking!! You know you love the US and my whiney NJ accent/ben!!! hahaha!

30th June 2003

response:

ahh, geri, my monkey-loving whiney NJ-ben American blonde... Thankyou for your kind words, you're a sweety.You were there on that fateful day. In fact, if it wasn't for you it wouldn't have been a fateful day! I thank you for that, for that day has since brought me much happiness - and more recently sadness. But there is no happiness without sadness. I really hope we can meet up again someday, I do love you so!

name:

F

comments:

Sorry to hear you're feeling so blue.
Broken hearts will take their course regardless of blame. Remember to be kind to yourself.

19th June 2003

response:

Thankyou F. That's very kind of you, really muchly appreciated.

name:

Samantha White

comments:

Hi I to was a staff member at Jened the next 3 years after you were, I would love to see more photos if you have them.

response:

I'm afraid I only have the one album (three pages containing 186 photos) from Camp Jened. The address of page one is http://www.tamegoeswild.com/photos/america97/america1/ .

I do have a lot of photos of the guests, but for privacy reasons I am not allowed to publish these online.

I'd love to hear more about your time at Camp Jened. Drop me a line!

name:

Josh

comments:

Very interesting!

April 2003

response:

Thank you Josh.

name:

Kurt ...following on from his message 3 entries below

comments:

Hi Joseph...!!!

Have we met before.? Maybe! Do I have a personal dislike to you ? Answer: No. Actually I enjoy reading your tales on a daily basis! Its very entertaining, maybe we could be freinds someday! We have a lot in common.... eg.Superstardem

Oh! I think you are kidding yourself about university, I think you should come back to Japan and try your luck again! Gambatte ne! Kurt.

April 2003Name:
Josh
Comments:
very interesting !

response:

Kurt san arigatougozaimasu. Boku ha anata no messeji wo edit shimashita. Mae ha chotto shitsurei deshou?!!! kore ha family site deshou!! Hai.

I was thinking about who you might be, but drew a complete blank as I have very few gaijin tomodachi in Tokyo, and none under the age of 18. Your attitude towards university reminds me of mine not one year ago. Still, live and learn I guess. If you want to read more about why I did a U-turn in my thinking on further education, click here.

Kurt san kiwotsukete ne! Tokyo ha tanoshin de ne, you lucky boy!

name:

Nike

comments:

very nice!

April 2003

response:

Whatever happened to "Just Do It"?

name:

Klaus-Achim von Droisdorf

comments:

Thanks! That was what I wanted!

April 2003

response:

Yes. Er... You're welcome?

name:

Kurt

comments:

Hi Joseph....

Wow.. I cant belive you actually left japan..........!!!! Blimey !!! .....

I've been in japan for a few years now, and to be be truthful i wake up in the morning sometimes in a cold sweat, having just had a nightmare that i was back in the UK, when i come to my senses and realise it was just a nightmare and that im still in my bed in tokyo i feel so bloody relived, its so good to be here in japan and not there in old old blighty.... You must have lovely lovely dreams about being in tokyo, then waking up in the reality nightmare of being in the UK.....!! Am i right....!!

Blimey man, please tell me how you are handling it !! CRICKEY.

April 2003

response:

Dear Kurt,

many thanks for your wonderfully negative message, and the anonymous one that you sent a few weeks back! I can see that you deserve a very sarcastic reply but feel that it might be wasted on you! Have we ever met by the way or is this purely an online dislike that you have of me?

name:

Carla

comments:

hey you,

i am an german-girl. and i love asia !!!!! was two times in thailand. i am very interested in japan, too.

hope that i come back to thailand and vistit vietnam and japan. maybe to work there.

i enjoy your pictures... and i hope you feel ok (maybe when you leave :-(

wish you good luck all the time

greetings from me, carla

March 2003

response:

Hey you. Thankyou Carla!

name:

Pliscan

comments:

Oh Tame !! I dont belive your going home !! I bet 50quid your still here this time next year. I know cos your too predictable.... Theres no way you will leave JP... ne..!! Anyways i dont belive a Bicycle tyre can possibly inflate itself, well actually dont be dissmayed i have seen it before, it is possible for a tyre to inflate due to friction and back pressure due to Bumps...Dont think your jesus !! Its only Science !! Not a miracle....!!! ne...... 22

March 2003

response:

Me? Predictable? Chigau yo!

name:

Ms. Whiney, New Jersey

comments:

Was that really a two-headed elephant??????????? Or, are you just a very talented picture taker!!!!

March 2003

response:

Haven't you seen a two-headed elephant before? They used to roam freely around Japan, but have now been driven into a small pocket of land in the far southeast of the country. <this entry is sponsored by Adobe Photoshop 7.0©>

name:

Lim Eun Jung

comments:

Hello Joseph I'm Korean girl Eun-jung!

How are you ? From tomorrow I will attend English academic school like ESL program. I will study hard.

I enjoy the pictures and stories about Korea^^

then have a nice day~and bye bye~~~

March 2003

response:

Thank YOU so much for your hospitality whilst I was in Korea. You were the perfect tour guide! See you again!

name:

Jessica Brown

comments:

Cool Web Site. I really enjoyed the visit, and hope to come back soon.

Feb 2003

response:

Thanks "Jessica", sorry I deleted your link to your site! This is a family show you know!

name:

Tito

comments:

Hello, Joseph. Reading your e-mail, I couldn't help but send a no doubt unconventional response.

The following are facts, not disputed by anyone with an understanding of the situation with Iraq and Saddam Hussein:

* Saddam has launched two wars of territorial acquisition against his neighbors: in 1980 against Iran, and in 1990 against Kuwait. It is clear he has no respect for peace or the territorial sovereignty of other countries, and it is well known that he aspires to rule the Arab world.

* He possesses chemical and biological weapons, and has continuously attempted to acquire nuclear weapons since coming to power in 1979.

* He has used chemical weapons against his own people, causing the deaths of thousands.

* He runs a ruthless police state, in which dissent is brutally suppressed. Refugees and defectors have given many accounts of the horrors experienced by those who oppose him; documentation can be found here.

* Since having been ordered to surrender all weapons of mass destruction by the U.N. after the Gulf War in 1991, Saddam has consistently refused to give up any such weapons, denied Iraq has them, and offered as much resistance as the political situation allowed.

* Since economic sanctions were applied in 1991 in an attempt to coerce him into cooperating with the U.N., he has used what little oil money came from smuggling to rebuild his military and to build opulent "presidential palaces," while allowing many ordinary Iraqis to go hungry or starve, especially in regions which have not been supportive of him in the past.

Now, that is what I would like to raise my voice against.

Lest you get the wrong idea, I am a political liberal. If I lived in England, I would be a dependable Labour supporter. I strongly dislike the idea of war, and I know that innocents will be killed if there is a war, as they will in any war.

But there are some times, when a person or a country is both obviously threatening and monstrously evil, when people of good conscience must conclude that a greater wrong would be done by not standing up and opposing those who would do as he does, and have done so in the past. Since Saddam's behavior clearly shows that he responds to no means of persuasion other than force, I feel that doing what is necessary to remove him is a statement, a statement which says "We will not tolerate a head of state who behaves in this way." Removing him will be a message to others that his kind of behavior will not be tolerated; leaving him alone tells others that they may profit by doing as he does. That is not the kind of world I want to live in.

To me, the only reasonable argument against removing Saddam is one of principled pacifism: that violence is wrong in every circumstance, whatever the reason. I don't agree with that position, but I respect it. Saying the U.N. inspectors should be given more time is pointless; they were at it for 7 years, and Saddam resisted them all the way. There is no reason to think he will not continue to do so, and U.S. troops cannot stay poised to invade year-round to ensure his continued tolerance of the inspectors. But I strongly suspect that there will be many people at that park, and at many peace demonstrations around the world, whose point of view is no more sophisticated than "war is bad and peace is good." That is what I cannot respect. If the peace demonstrations are successful, Saddam will have more time to outwit inspectors and build up his arsenal, which his past behavior shows will be a danger to all people. I suspect most demonstrators are unaware of that, or of the points I listed above, and more's the pity.

You're welcome to put this up on your website if you like.

Tito

Feb 2003

response:

read what inspired this email