Just wanted to share things about my beloved homeland, Japan

11-11-09

Hi, everyone,

You know I once decided to completely close this group. The reason why was that I had promised to go to Japan together with some members for the first time, but I couldn't keep it because of various reasons and caused problem and trouble to them. I felt so bad about it and I thought I should no longer organize or keep this group.

According to Meetup.com instruction, for me to completely close this Meetup group I needed to ask members to remove themselves from the group. Once everyone is removed I intended to ask Meetup.com to complete the closing process instead of stepping down as an organizer as I was feeling very ashamed of the inconvenience and trouble I have caused and felt that this group should not even exist anymore.

However, many members have shown support, encouragement and desire to see this group keep going. Thank you so very much. While I was deeply hurt by some of the members' remarks, it was very nice to hear from majority of people who tried to cheer me up and give advice and suggestions. They were very understanding, forgiving, and supportive and I was really consoled. I truly appreciate their kindness. And that's why I was kind of dilly-dallying about closing it, without doing anything further, just waiting to see members gradually leave.

I organize another group with 500+ members and that's about food doing all kinds of food-related events including cooking lessons, dining events and recipe exchanges etc.

Last year I hosted an event for Thanksgiving. An opportunity for so-called "Thanksgiving orphans" like myself who don't have families here in LA to gather and cook together traditional thanksgiving food. That was a very special event that I'd wanted to host for a long time so that we have one less lonely person on Thanksgiving day. 24 of us cooked 16 dishes and dined together and it was such a memorable night we all had together.

It took too much work and time and I was really burned out and with the venue we used last year is not available anymore, I decided not to do it again this year. However, many members have asked me about it, and luckily another member who has a huge house in the Valley generously gave me permission to use his house on Thanksgiving night.

This time I can invite 50 people (!), and I thought of invite many of my fellow Japanese (and non-Japanese) people living in LA alone, far away from their families. And thought of posting the event on this group too as I have a feeling that many members can benefit from the event.

So, I have decided to keep this group active, under a different name with the different scheme. It's no longer just a travel group planning to go to Japan together one day. Although that's still my biggest dream, I would like this place to be somewhere we can get together and talk about many things Japanese. I would like to help members learn Japanese language and culture as well, and of course have Japanese food together as it's my most favorite thing in the world! lol I can also have a series of Japanese cooking lessons too in hopefully Japanese language to give you unique way to hear native speakers talk and learn the language, which really makes me happy just to think about it.

I still don't have really clear and definite picture of which way this once abandoned ship will take us to, but for the time being, I hope you can enjoy some ride with me in your pursuit of the culture and studies of Japan. It was earlier this year when I made the decision to give up the ship. Since then I have further made more useful connections mainly through my food group, and with renewed vow, I'd like to devote my time once more to create opportunities for local LA people to explore Japanese culture, customs, language, food, connections, and whatever Japanese.

Thank you for reading, and let's see how it goes, starting with Thanksgiving feast together.

Sincerely,

Sally