To the editors: (editors@lookjapan.com).(Letter to the Editor)

It had been almost two years since I had gone to Japan as an exchange student when the opportunity to go back came through an enticing invitation for my father to teach in Kobe as a visiting professor. After being immersed in Japanese society for a month back in my high school days, I missed the country, the people and the culture I had embraced and learned to love. More than that, though, I longed to rekindle the ties with my host family and classmates, The friendships we had formed, built on thoughts and feelings shared in broken phrases of English and Japanese, were precious in