japan

thirty years ago, i was a mormon missionary in the tokyo area of japan. for this, i need to apologize...not to any single person, but to several dozen people. people i wanted to think of as friends, but that my bosses insisted i think of as clients.

i'm sorry that as a 20-year old kid, i thought i could tell you how to live your life.

i'm sorry that i told you stories that i wasn't sure of myself, yet pushed you to accept them as truth.

i'm sorry that i caused trouble for you with your family, or your school, or your work.

i'm sorry for my reckless disregard of your society and culture.

i'm sorry that i took advantage of your desire to have a U.S. penpal or english speaking buddy, and dragged you into an organization in which you had no interest, and which has no meaning in your life.
the one thing that i'm glad of, is that i never convinced anyone to give the church any money.

i may be writing to you, if you lived in any of these cities between 1980 and 1981:

yoshiwara
fuji-shi
ofuna
koganei
shizuoka
shimada