Long lost Japanese Penpal

[Carmen FR]

I'm looking for a Penpal I had over 20 years ago. Any help I can get to find her? I have her information from back then. Old letters etc. I'd appreciate some help finding her again off she's interested.

 

[thomas]

Have you tried to contact her under her old address? Sometimes Japan Post can work wonders.

You could also post some of her details here. She might look up her name and find this thread.

 

[Carmen FR]

Ok thank you for that Thomas

 

[Carmen FR]

Hi I'm looking for Namiko Ohwa in the city of Matsumoto. Maybe a last name has changed. I don't know. She had a friend named Mitsuyo. I also have her address, birthdate, but not sure how much I can post on here.

 

[Toritoribe]

Is it possible to send me her address via Private Message? I might be able to help you. Also, do you have her kanji name?

 

[Carmen FR]

Yes I could send to you private message not sure how mayb u know how. Also I don't know what kanji is.

 

[Toritoribe]

Please refer to #4 Conversations in the following thread.

Getting Started

Welcome to the Japan Forum, and thank you for joining our community! This is the first of a multiple-page help series to guide you on how to use the Japan Forum. This page will give you an overview of the main features common to the forum and all its related features. This is the forum home...

jref.com

 

[Carmen FR]

Also I just found two other friends names of hers Haruka amd Yoko. I am looking for what I think is kanji

 

[Toritoribe]

Japanese writing system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The fact you don't know the word kanji shows that you don't know her kanji name, either, I think.

 

[Carmen FR]

I looked it up before and ya it's what I thot maybe it was and I looked thru everything I hav and can't find it anywhere.

 

[Carmen FR]

It's basically character(s) that make her name right?

 

[Toritoribe]

That's right. Usually it's very hard to find out Japanese people without their kanji name.

Her family name is 大輪 in kanji. Fortunately, Ohwa family still lives in the same address you have now. Thus, even if she married and her family name has changed, her relatives must still live there. It's highly possible you can contact her by sending your letter to the address. Good luck!

 

[Carmen FR]

I am so excited. I am ever grateful to you. Thank you for now. I will write her tonight. One thing, any way of getting any email address or way of private messaging them?

 

[Carmen FR]

So is a kanji name a very "personal" name? That kanji name u gave me is obviously this particular Ohwa family if I understand u correctly. This is all very interesting.

 

[Carmen FR]

I am interested now, underneath my name on this forum it says this Kouhai. What does tht mean? Is it Japanese?

 

[thomas]

So is a kanji name a very "personal" name? That kanji name u gave me is obviously this particular Ohwa family if I understand u correctly. This is all very interesting.

I am interested now, underneath my name on this forum it says this Kouhai. What does tht mean? Is it Japanese?

Kanji are Chinese characters used in the Japanese language. As @Toritoribe san explained a few posts above, your friend's surname 大輪 would transliterate to Ohwa or Ōwa.

The Kouhai tag under your username is part of our user title system and relates to how many posts you made here on the forum.

 

[Carmen FR]

That's right. Usually it's very hard to find out Japanese people without their kanji name.

Her family name is 大輪 in kanji. Fortunately, Ohwa family still lives in the same address you have now. Thus, even if she married and her family name has changed, her relatives must still live there. It's highly possible you can contact her by sending your letter to the address. Good luck!

Is there any way to get any further contact info other than just postal service? Email? Facebook?

 

[mdchachi]

Is there any way to get any further contact info other than just postal service? Email? Facebook?

Not really. It's hit or miss. Similar to if you wanted somebody's email or FB in the U.S.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

It amazes me on Facebook when you search for someone , there are about 100 people with the same name that belong there. I get the feeling that finding someone in Japan is like trying to find the right Mr. Smith in the US. I always wonder if finding a Japanese female that has married and changed her name contributes to making the search more difficult. When I was trying to find my old Japanese girlfriend , someone bought up that she may not want to be found because her husband might not know she once was engaged to an American. I do hope you find her and catch up on your lives.

 

[Carmen FR]

Any Facebook messages I've sent to Japan don't get read by anyone. Am I doing something wrong?… because it's a diff country???

 

[Toritoribe]

You wrote your messages in English, right? Think about if you want to read and reply to messages written in Japanese on Facebook.