I don’t understand

I have a Japanese penpal, who I believe are only friends. He doesn't mind telling me basic things about his friends or family, but when I just made a small note about that I hoped that his girlfriend was doing fine in the U.S. He didn't say anything about if she liked it or not. I was just wondering if that was to personal to him or he just didn't think he needed to share her basic likes and dislikes?

Or they broke up. If you really want to know how she is doing, you could mention it one more time. If he didn't say anything about it again, just accept the fact he is not comfortable talking about it.

Try not to get too hung up on the details. I did that for a year and it drove me crazy! I would do the same as you. Ask questions and wait for answers and I remember the first time I asked my pen pal (now fiance) if she had a boyfriend that she spent time with. She did not answer me at all the first time I said this, or the second, or the third!

She told me she was shy to talk about such things with the opposite sex and that she did not know what my feelings were when I asked her this. Plus she has a habbit of ignoring the parts of my email I want her to answer the most and concentrating on the parts that are just normal conversation. Give him a bit of time and he might just say one day oh my girlfriend and I went here today or something like that. If he stays tight liped either they broke up or it is too personal for him. I could see either of these things. Hope that helps.

Dave

maybe he didn't even read that part of your message. don't overanalyze every little detail when it's likely to give you wrong information. just ask an honest question if you want an honest answer.!

How truly fluent is he in English? there are a lot of subtle things and cultural clues that a non-native speaker doesn't pick up on. English friends of mine have trouble communicating with Americans just like I have trouble communicating with French Canadians (French isn't my mother tongue but I was born and raised in France) because the North American versions of our respective languages are different from the European ones and there are also very different cultural clues. This could be the case with your pen pal. Another thing is that men everywhere don't ask or answer the same type of questions as women. Women are big on relationships and feelings. Men are big on general things or technical things (like sports statistics, complex figures about cars or railways or fishing etc.)