| All About DGAF |
| September 20, 2003 |
| During my senior year at Georgia State University, I was talking to a friend in class. He told me that all students get a free email account from the university. So, I rushed down to the admissions office and signed up to receive my free email account right away. When I got my email address and password, I went to the computer room at the university. I stood in the line for more than 20 minutes waiting for a computer. Finally, I got my computer, but I quickly realized I didn't have anyone to email. Since I didn't have anyone to email, I browsed the internet. I was a novice at using the internet, so I just typed in a few words in the search engine. I was more curious at to what kind of page would pop up. It got very boring within a few minutes even when the rather risky homepages popped up. After playing on the internet almost every weekend, I lost my enthusiasm for using the internet. Soon, it was time for graduation. At that time, I began searching the internet for a job. I spent about a week searching for a job. It took a lot of time, but I finally decided on a few jobs. Once I found a good job, I wanted to celebrate. So, I started calling some of my friends from college. After making about seven calls and asking my friends out, I quickly remembered that my college friends had not graduated yet. Therefore, while I had a lot of free time, they were still studying. Most of my college friends were part time students or majoring in medicine or law. After finding myself with no one to hang out with, I turned to browsing the internet. I typed in a few random words and "Penpals" popped up. I knew I was coming to Japan on the JET Program in August of 1998, so I typed in "Japanese penpals" in the search engine. WHOA! I was so surprised at how many different homepages there were for just Japanese penpals. After clicking on a few at random, it appeared there were a lot of Japanese people looking for romance or friendship. Most of the penpal magazines were for sale. I wasn't interested in looking for romance, so I just bought a few friendship magazines. About two or three weeks later, penpal magazines started arriving in my mailbox. I was very anxious to see if I would get a response, so I scanned each page looking for interesting profiles. I concentrated on female profiles. The first night I probably wrote about 10 letters to different ladies in Japan, The Philippines and South Korea. I knew it would take a while to possibly receive a response, so while waiting for responses, I continued to go to the clubs and out to the bars. I was slowly building a new group of friends, but I was more anxious for a letter from overseas. About a month later, I got my first letter from a lady in Fukuoka city, Japan. I remembered her name was Yumi. She sent some pictures of Japanese tatami with her first letter. The next letter I received was from a Japanese lady named Chie in Kobe, Japan. It was after I received the letter from Chie, that I decided to post my profile in a few of the magazines. Once I posted my profile in about 6 different penpal magazines, I got a letter from a man named Hiroshi who lived in Yokohama, Japan. Within a few more weeks, I was receiving letters from both men and ladies mainly from Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, Africa and Italy. By the second month, I was receiving letters almost every other day from people all over the world. It started to get difficult keeping up with who I had already answered. When my new friends I had met came over for a few beers or to watch a football game, even they were amazed at all the letters I had received from overseas. Most of the guys just wanted to see the pictures of the ladies. Most of the ladies wanted to see the pictures of the guys. Very few friends were interested in the foreign stamps. When it was time for me to choose where I wanted to live in Japan on the JET Program, I chose Fukuoka or Yokohama. To my surprise, I was assigned to Nishiki Town in Kuma-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture. I stayed in touch with all my penpals when I moved to Japan. I made sure to send them all my change of address. Once I got settled in Nishiki Town, I took a short trip to Fukuoka to meet Yumi in person. We met at Hakata station in the early afternoon. We had coffee and talked. I think we mostly stared at each other because neither one of us could believe we were finally meeting face to face. Prior to our meeting face to face, we had corresponded for almost a year. About a year later, Hiroshi in Yokohama invited me to his wedding in Yokohama. I took three days off and took the shinkansen to Yokohama for his wedding. We didn't have much time to talk because he was busy preparing for his wedding ceremony. Then, one day in the summer of the year 2000, I received an email from a Japanese lady who was living in America. I thought it was funny when I received her email because I was an American living in Japan and she was a Japanese living in America. I answered her email and I mostly introduced myself. Her name was Junko. We exchanged emails for about a year. One day she told me her boyfriend was interviewing for the JET Program. I told her a few of the questions they asked me during my interview, but I told her that her boyfriend's interview may be different since the interview was in different states. I told Junko about my idea to write a book. I asked her if she could do the translations. She said, "yes", so I started sending her the files. It took about a year of exchanging emails, but when it was all over, we had finished my first book "FUN FUN FUN ENGLISH". Junko and I started as penpals, but it turned into a good friendship. Our friendship turned into us writing a book together. I was invited to Junko's wedding in Tokyo, but I couldn't attend because I had to work. We still remain good friends to this day. I did finally meet her husband, and he seemed like a really nice guy. I created DGAF Penpals in the Summer of 2001, after I finished the JET Program. I got a homepage in 2003, and I have been signing up penpals and selling the magazine worldwide. I decided to place penpals with email addresses on the homepage for people to contact for free. For those who want the full list, the cost is mostly for printing and shipping as "bringing the world closer" is my main goal. Imagine how much better the world would be if future country leaders knew other cultures before they led a country. It may create a better understanding and perhaps lessen all the wars and conflicts. Corresponding with others from other countries helps to understand different cultures, religions, way of life and thinking of those from countries not from your own. Remember - "We criticise what we don't understand." Randall C. Miller Jr. Boston, Massachusetts USA - born and raised Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA - Attended Valley Forge Military Academy 1982-1985 (9th - 12th grade) High Sch. Atlanta, Georgia USA - moved in 1989 - 1998 Fort Polk, Louisiana USA - US Army 1989-1992 - "31-K Commo dog" Nishiki Town Kuma-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan - 1998 - 2001 - JET Program Miyakonojo City, Miyazaki Prefecture Japan - 2001-2003 Kumamoto city, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan - 2003 - present EDUCATION: Kindergarten - Montessori (Boston, Massachusetts) Elementary school - Bridge School (Public) - Boston, Massachusetts Junior high school - Clarke Junior High School, Lexington, Massachusetts High School - Valley Forge Military Academy - Wayne, Pennsylvania (private) - Graduated 1985 - Diploma University of Massachusetts Harbor Campus - 1985-1986 Georgia State University - Bachelor of Business Administration 1997 (GPA - 2.95) |
| US Army 1989 San Antonio, Texas |
| Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan 2001 |
| US Army Fort Gordon, Georgia 1990 |
| Osaka, Japan 1998 |
| Bangkok, Thailand 1999 |
| Kyoto, Japan 1999 |
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