Tokyo, Japan

Greetings. I wanted to let you know what’s happening in our group in Japan. We have a small group of four to six regular members. Two of us are foreigners, and the rest are Japanese. We all speak Japanese. I joined the group this January, and the meetings are held every Saturday afternoon, in English. In May, we started a meeting in Japanese one hour before the English-speaking meeting to attract more Japanese newcomers. We have translated some basic SA materials into Japanese for outreach so that we can explain what SA is and how it works. We have translated the SA brochure as well as parts of the White Book. It is slow going, but tremendously gratifying and a real challenge. If any of you out there know of bilingual members who are willing to help, please let us know. Our goal is to eventually translate the entire White Book. The Central Office has our contact address and telephone number. Also, we invite any visitors to Tokyo to attend our Saturday meeting. Call Central Office for my contact number before your trip.

I also wanted to thank the fellowship for the strength, experience, and hope that was shared with me at the recent SA/S-Anon International Conference in Portland. This was my first conference, and I loved it! To be able to share with so many other members of the fellowship and to listen to so many stories of hope and recovery—it was a real spiritual experience. I made lots of friends, collected lots of telephone numbers, got a sponsor, and bought the conference tapes. One of our fellow members here in Japan is now listening to the tapes daily, and he says they are a tremendous source of strength and inspiration. I have made a commitment to attend the January conference in Los Angeles, and one of the Japanese members wants to go with me to attend the July conference next year. Hope to see all of you there!