ANdrew! Hi, my name is Hank Hyena and I organized an Atheist Film Festival in San Francisco, now there is a group in Manila, The Philippines, that wants to put on a atheist festival. They want an American atheist there as a guest -- do you want to go? Might be some funding for you. They are Pinoy Athiests, but contact me at info@hankhyena.net

Thanks for writing back. No need to apologize. I am sometimes really late in responding to things. There ARE A LOT of distractions in life these days. That is cool you wanted adventure and just did it. I admire that. I was always much too shy and timid to seize the day, and while I am intellectually very adventurous, that has never translated into action, I'm afraid.

Yeah, their language does seem difficult. In a phonetic language like English, phrases can have visual and auditory similarities, such as I'M hungry, I'M sleepy. But from what I can tell of Japanese, it is not like that. I'm hungry has no grammatical similarities to I'm sleepy.

More than the art, I really like the ancient architectural interiors and gardens -- that kind of minimalism. I'm not wild about their roofs, but I like the heavily geometric, simple, balanced, and spacious interiors. Not wild about the sculpture either. I much prefer Greek, Roman, or Indian sculpture to Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan, or Thai sculpture.

Conichiwa. Welcome to Atheist Nexus Andrew. That is cool you live in Japan. I have become increasingly interested in Japanese history and language over the years. I especially like the eras of feudalism and the samurai culture. They were so disciplined and dignified, for the most part. I watch just about very Japanses samurai film I can get my hands on, especially the older stuff from the 50s - 60s, and even the early 70s. I've seen a good deal of the Kurosawa films, as well. (You can read some of my reviews on them in Atheist Cinema.) I've also spent a little time studying the language, but it is grammatically nothing like English, and I don't really have the time to dedicate to it (as I think to really learn it I must be immersed in it). I'd love to go to Japan one day, if I could. I also like the minimalistic traditional architecture and interiors.

What brought to to Japan to begin with?