Do’s and Don’ts with Japanese penpals

I have also had the situation when i had pen pals, send me emails after i replied to them and suddenly, stop talking to me. I had this happen to me 3 times already. The first time, somebody wanted to chat with me my yahoo japan messenger. She wanted to use a webcam and i helped her out with that. After chatting for a few minutes, i headed off for work and the next day, she just ignored my messaged. The second time, also another person using yahoo messenger just told me that she don't want to chat anymore without any reason. I don't know what happened there, but i did say sorry if i did anything wrong, but also got those also that ignored. The third time, was actually with several emails in one day and skype. At first, we talked be email, because she was using her cell phone, but then she told me to use her other email to contact her. During the time we talked by email, she said that she has skype and could chat by skype. The next day, we chatted by skype, exchanges pictures of cherry blossoms from Japan and pictures i have taken during the Cherry Blossom festival in Washington DC. After that, she had to go offline and i have never heard back from her again.
I believe she took me off of her skype list and i proceeded to do the same. I sent emails but one again, i got ignored. Are they either busy or bored just to entertain themselves. I have other pen pals that i contact my email and skype that send me emails when they have time, some of them send snail mail and 2 of them i have contact with regularly with MSN and skype. The person i am contacting on skype is acually planning to visit the US sometime late in the summer. Let me ask this, all I am doing is just to help out somebody in their english and to find a good friend, why if going to give a silent treatment, why not saying for what reason. It would have a lot of time just sending email after email just for a person. I have also learned that NEVER send a picture of yourself unless you have talked to a person for at least 3 days or of you are confident that you and your buddy are ready to show each other pictures. With my friend using skype, we made a deal that I would let her see my pictures and when she come over, she would keep her appearance a surprise when she comes over. Sorry for a extremely long 'rant' but that is how i feel about this and the last part is what i would suggest on what NOT to do with a pen pal unless you are very confident with the person.

I find this question rather foolish. Yes, there is culture barriers, but it's similar to asking, "Do's and Don'ts with Friends".

All I'm advising is for trust and whether both of your personalities click. It's similar to cultivating a friendship offline. You two click, e-mail/communicate often, trust builds up and then the relationship blossoms into real friends.

I don't think there is any "do" or "don't"s. If you ever think you made an error somewhere down the line, apologize and the person will forgive you.

One last cliche advice: be yourself.

well you can hide that you are deaf and when you are going to meet up with him/her let her accept that you are deaf..

Simple question. What is "do's and don'ts" with non-Japanese penpals????
Why do you all think that Japanese pals are different & difficult?
Every people are same, right?
Do you believe Japanese are so polite and tolerant? Does Japanese never be rude?
Does all of your friends of same nationality keep friendship forever?
No, that's not. Being friend is not so easy.

I often notice many ppl say "Japanese penpal disappears suddenly with no reply", but, I wanna ask you that do you say something when you wanna quit e-mail friend?
"I'm sorry but I can't continue e-mail because you're not the one I was looking for..." or what?
Ha....that's funny.

Seriously, what do you want your pals to say in such a case?
I never think you want them to keep writing against their will. Right?

And, writing often is very hard. If you really want good penpals, you need to respect their life. Each have own family, own job and issues.

too much emphasis on "cultural differences here"

just imagine it like this.

if you are a young guy talking to young girls (let's say young is anything under 35), just imagine them being girls from your home country.

you could talk to a girl from your home country and she could be a total #####. she might be the city bicycle looking for a new rider for all you know. if the fit ain't JUST right, then they move on to candidate 2, 3, 4, or whatever. some guys/gals are just like that. yes they're idiots, but it's not something unique to japanese or foreign people!

i also agree about not showing your picture until you know somebody properly, unless you're just looking for a sex friend. chances are if you are not brad pitt, if you show your picture in your first or second email, you're never going to hear back from the person again. girls/guys that insist on a pic that soon are looking for the quickest way into your pants.

sorry my post is full of innuendo. but i think for most people here 18-35 it's at least partially the truth.