Welcome to the forum Aletheia!

I'm surprised that your community in Japan lacks substantial philosophical groundings. But that's probably the exoticist in me that thinks half the male population in Japan are samurais and all the women in Japan wear Kimonos on a daily basis. Big Anime and import car lover, so I can freely say "you lucky bastard."

But you'll definitely find the forum very interesting and a whole bunch of people ready to discuss philosophical issues with you. But I completely agree about just reading philosophy doesn't cut it, you definitely have to discuss it to get the full effect. By the way, is there any particular aspect of philosophy you are particularly interested in?

P.S. While in Japan, watch out for sales and ninjas... because they wont just cut prices... they'll cut you.

The sun is still hidden behind the anger that the afternoon thunderhead pushed ahead of its sudden outburst, the day being much drabber than it had been in the morning, but it will not stop me from shouting out a big YOUKOSOU !! Welcome to the forum.

This'll make 3 of us here on this island (Honshu) who are members here (as far as I know at the moment). I'm up here in Nagano, and our friend is down over on the Eastern seaboard. We'll have to get together some day (my place would definitely be best...BBQ, good brew, darts, badminton, and an escape from the otherwise real world. (and yes, we can discuss all kinds of philosophy...)

See you 'round ! KJ

Thank you both for the welcome ^^
VideCorSpoon, I guess I am a lucky bastard, and I certainly do feel that way :p However indeed, although it's a pity, you don't see many samurais around here anymore, except in manga, anime and movies... Concerning the aspects of philosophy I am interested in, I really thought about it but I ended up with a rather long list (Metaphysics, Epistemology, Aesthetics, Philosophy of History, Politics, Law, Language, Science, Religion...) In the end I am interested in most of them, simply because they all refer to a different aspect of life. Although, I am currently more concerned about metaphysical questions, because you cannot really build any thought on a weak basis. But once I am done with that I think I'll be able to go back to the other fields. And I'll be watching for ninjas although sales are more likely to cut me :p Oh by the way I just noticed you're located in Philly... I've lived there for two years when I was in Middle School ; it sounds clich? but isn't the world small...
KaseiJin, I am so glad to learn that we're three here on Honshu ^^ I'm near Fujisawa, which is maybe 40min away from Tokyo by the shinkansen, but is closer to Yokohama. Surely it would be fun to meet some time.
Thanks again for the welcome ^^ Hope to see you on the forum.