Have you ever met your penpal(s)?

If anyone want to share, they will. If not, then not. Simple as that. Me, yes i did. Not a good experience. I met a closet perv.

I have not met any penpals that I have communicated with on this site. Over time, I have had maybe three or four people that I have communicated with for more than just a few rounds back and forth, some for over a year and one ongoing, but I have never met any of them in person.

But that's OK. Who knows what will happen in the future?

I'm afraid you completely missed my point which was that you can't conduct a survey this way, it's completely invalid. For it to have any statistical significance you would need to contact a representative sample, not ask for just anyone to respond.

horse,

I wouldn't spend time worrying about the statistical significance of this thread. The OP seems to be looking for anecdotes that they can relate to, and there's nothing like the echo chamber of the internet to tell us what we want to hear.

Btw, notice that only the foreign women seem to be able to make successful relationships with Japanese penpals. Obviously that just goes to show that all the foreign men... nah I just messing with you. Nothing but anecdotes here.

I met japanese penpal from this site when I went to japan for travel last year.we had dinner together she really kind and nice.we still contact each other ,sent x'mas present
and on this march I will meet another japanese penpal because he will come to my country for travel I hope we will have a great time together

Just curious, of those that did meet your penpal(s), how long were you in contact before you actually met? And before you met, did you know what the other person looked like or did you find out on the first meeting?

And for those that haven't met their penpal(s), do you think it'll happen or are you planning on it?

I personally haven't met any of my penpals. The topic has never really come up in conversation either. And while I'm curious (don't know about the other party), I'm not sure I'd want to meet the other person...in case things got awkward or some other reason. It's great that the Internet lets you meet people from all over the world, but taking that step from a virtual friendship to a real life one is pretty scary, I think.

With some pals we have been in touch for one year or two. We used to exchange postcards and small presents at first. It was nice. I still have all of them. Those postcards were really different from the European ones..- I remember taking some time to think about the quality of the paper, stamps, handwriting, envelopes.
In between, we kept in touch by mails, or m s n. The busiest ones didn't use m s n, but send mails every now and then with updates regarding their daily lives. Younger girls, my age talked about studies, exams, asking me about my country, like food, so on an so forth. Send me also pictures of their fury animals covered by handmade dresses. That was really lovely.
Older girls seemed to struggle a bit more with life, and were focused on relationships, the topic was "how to make it work with a foreign man". Especially one girl, whom I met in Tokyo,
sent me loooong letters regarding her fragile marriage.
We met in Tokyo after one year of exchanging letters. I met her husband as well on that occasion and was glad to see
they made it work.
On the contrary, at that time, I was having difficulties with love life. So she listened to me a lot.
Some how we lost contact. i still have her mail and need to write her these days.
With boys, we kept in touch on and off by Skype-chat or m s n. I met most of them. We used to talk about respective countries, music, language. I used to teach them online when needed.
I met all of them after one year or two.
Having them on Skype helps to keep the contact alive.

I did not have any bad experience, like perverts...- As soon as i sensed something strange, I deleted them.
One guy, asked me to send a picture of my breast stating that all foreign women did that..
I was kind of shocked LOL. Of course he lasted one minute followed by a laugh.
What unites them all, to my experience, is the will to talk about their life...thats how we spent hours talking and talking.

With my bf, we spent a long time chatting-not talking- about everything in a deep way. At first it was one hour per day, after that..almost every day. After the chat, we sent mails to each other. I didn't know what to think..as my feelings were confused. I sensed his interest...- But I was reluctant to believe that he might actually the one...till I could not resist to bla bla bla bla. Open myself more.
We didn't meet in Tokyo for other reasons which caused me a big disappointment. I wanted to forget about him, thinking he was strange...though inside me I know some pieces were missing. After some time I got a mail explaining the reasons of his disappearance. He went to study to another country.
Soon after that, we tuned into Skype and...bla bla bla bla bla.
Seven hours talk about us.

my advice is to have your pen pals on Skype. and chat from to time. It helps =) !

@yllwsmrf:
please read my first post again. I was just saying that I was curious about how people here deal with their penpal(s). A topic like that has never been done before, so it is interesting to ask that kind of questions.

@Yes!:
That is indeed a good thing to stop immediately when you meet a pervert penpal. I faced once a female pervert penpal (not a Japanese), she sended mails like "do you think my breasts are big enough?".. I immediately deleted her from my contacts. The more we reply to these people, the more they will harass us.


I feel sorry for the forumer who wrote she met a pervert penpal... Those pervert people give a bad image of their country. That is shameful

@yllwsmrf:
please read my first post again. I was just saying that I was curious about how people here deal with their penpal(s). A topic like that has never been done before, so it is interesting to ask that kind of questions.

Yup, I got it the first time, you're interested in other's experiences (anecdotes) with their penpals. Btw, its nothing new. This is a fairly recurring topic, with several dozen threads on these forums alone.

I am glad this post was brought up because I wanted to know how everybody else was doing aside from myself!

I am happy that there was a site like this. I was hoping to have some penpal friends and there were a few I communicated back and forth with, but most just mysteriously disappeared.

There were a few that I kept in contact with, and there was one that wanted to meet me immediately since she was coming here to a university in the city where I live. I met her once, and it went well, but after that I never heard from her since.

Finally, there was another girl that we corresponded back in forth for weeks and it turned out we had much in common! We began to use Skype and before I knew it, we fell in love! She even went to Hawaii so we could have a chance to meet since she had no time to go to the mainland. I went there to meet her, spent time together, and we had a great time together! She even purchased an iPhone so we can communicate as often as possible, and now this summer, she is moving here to be with me and are engaged to be married!

I was incredibly lucky to find her here. I visited her in Japan a few times, and its been great visits, seeing the country and being able to experience and taste different kind of foods and meeting her family. I wasn't trying to meet anyone like that at all, but it just happened and I cannot be more happier!

I still feel like its a dream because I would've never thought this would happen. When you least expect it, things happen. I am eternally grateful for this site. Maybe I lucked out, but I am happy that I did!

@Gmkr79, I think it's interesting to see how everyone is doing also. I love reading about other people experience :) Good luck to you and your girl ^^

@Yes!,
me too, if anything perverted comes up, I dodged them right away. But sometimes, they don't show it until later.
One man told me the same thing about foriegn girls and thought I would do the same too. Heck no! I told him off and blocked him.

I've known my pals for about 2 years before meeting them. My two good lady freinds and my boyfreind talk talk talk about daily life, fashion, beauty, hobbies, and random things for hours. Love them, they are so ginuine. About 4 years now knowing them ^^ Just only one bad experience. It's one penpal who visited my country and he ask if we could meet up. He was nice and I've known him for quite a while thinking nothing could go wrong, so I decided to show him around. Mistake! This guy is no gentleman and and harrassed me when I told him I don't want to be his girlfreind. With threatening emails and gifts. Lesson learned for me. I'm extra carefull now. Good and bad experience. I'm glad I have that bad experience because it shows not everyone is as they seem even If you know them that long, some people are very good at hiding their character.

I've kinda got a guys perspective/question for you if anyone is interested.
Been speaking to two japanese women around my age (26) for a year now. Both great and I get on with them really well. I've only have ever been chatting with them through through e-mails/facebook and LINE. I'm actually going to Japan for my first time ever tomorrow until the 1st March. 2 Weeks are on a tour going all around but I've got 10 days where I'm free and with both they've shown an interest in actually meeting up whilst I'm here. So, any advice with a face to face meeting lol. I really want to meet them as well but I worry because my japanese is extremely little and they've said there english is alright but I dunno I'm a bit worried that there could be quite a few moments of akwardness/silent/lack of actual conversion. Does that make sense? Any advice from you guys that have met your pen-pals?

oh no, its ThatGuy again.

you wanna know something funny.your better off make friends from a random chatroom than making penpal friend from Japan-Guide. i don't think anyone on here want to be friends for long. am i wrong or am i right

Do not get on a plane to go visit your penpal friend. even if your going to Japan and you already plan on visiting Japan.

most likely it may not work out when you get out there they might say "no" or "i'm to busy, or not even contact you back" that right they do not say no.

Talking to someone on the internet is one thing. Meeting them on their own doorstep is a scary, surreal experience.

Talking to Japanese in England about arriving in the U.K. they said they felt the same way.

Just be yourself. Things pan out or they don't. Such is life.

I have met several of my penpals in Japan. Some I knew for over a year, some I only knew for a couple of months before meeting. Some I don't keep in contact too much with these days, but most are very close friends now. A few I keep in daily contact with, either with emails or LINE, or phone calls.
Some of my friends from Japan have come to the US to visit me and I have played tourguide for them while they stayed at my house.
I dated one girl for about a year, and another girl for over 5 years. Some of my friends I see almost every visit to Japan, and other I can not. Mainly because I have friends all over Japan and it is not always possible to travel all over Japan.
I've had good luck meeting people and making friends on this site. I have some penpals in a few other countries but have not met them in person yet.

I have looked for a numeber of penpals through the classified ads on this site and most of them dropped out of contact pretty quickly. One person, though, who I've really enjoyed talking with stayed in contact and we've been emailing and talking back and forth for about two years. We stopped communicating for long periods of time for a while, though, which is really sad. We're back to talking more now, especially because we use Line to talk instead of always sending very long emails and I'm about to meet her when I travel to Japan in May. I'm so excited! She is also really excited. (:

Beyond that, I have met quite a few people from online in real life. I am part of the Lolita fashion community which is a very large and spread out community with a lot of people all over the world. I've met quite a few people at conventions and fashion meetups from online, it's really fun to finally meet people you chat with a lot! Some people get worried about meeting people online in real life but I've never had to worry about that (maybe I just feel comfortable because all of them have been my same sex?)

Also I should note that ever since we first started talking we've talked about meeting up as both of us wanted to visit each others' countries and got along really well right from the getgo. (and to answer the question a little later in the thread: we have skyped a few times)

That�Ls a nice topic!

Well I met several of my Penpals during my trips to Japan.

But the most were just one time met and never again, however I met a guy here which has become my best friend since almost 2 years, we met several times!

I remember our first meeting in Kyoto it taked me 1 hour to find him in Kyoto because I was at the wrong station. hehe

We did so many things and everytime when we go drinking we become the biggest idiots in public. Japanese have a serious problem with alcohol hehe

Well an other good ex friend was my ex-girlfriend, we had good time together to but one day to an other she broke up, as I was waiting for my plane at the terminal because she had a relastionship besides me. That was just well "lol"

However it�Ls really difficult to find serious friends, before he wrote me a mail I had maybe about 100 other people but they were all the same "friends for 2 weeks" I guess you all know what I mean.

@Big Daddy Joe:

It has been a while nobody posted on this topic :)

Big Daddy Joe, how was your experience with your penpals in Japan?

Of 6 penpals on this site, I met 4 of them. I did marry the last one. All meetings were nice. No problems at all. I knew three of them for many years and the last one who I married was like a best friend for 2 years online. We could tell each other everything. He was very supportive during a sad breakup with my former fiance. We dated after I had recovered from that breakup (the guy was also a former penpal but we did live together a bit).