Hi !  I never think of writing so often. It is nice experience for me.

Darrell Clarke wrote:

> I thought I would mention in passing, that from my experience, "Megumi"
> is a lady's name in Japan.

   In Japan recently "Megumi" is considered by many people as a lady's
name.  But it is not right.  More than 50 years ago there were only little
ladies named "Megumi", but some men named "Megumi".  I know some men
whose name is Megumi.

  And I am not a lady.

   I am a piano tuner.  I have my small workshop. There I repair pianos.
About 20 years ago, some one who lived in Kobe purchased 3 automatic
pianos in Germany.  But he found that they didn't work at all when they
were brought into his house.  He asked me to introduce someone to fix
them.  But I couldn't. I didn't know anyone to fix them.

   It was the reason why I came to repair automatic pianos.  I knew
nothing of them.  Automatic pianos  were very rare in Japan.  It was the
first time that I had seen one. I didn't even  know the fact that there
were automatic pianos in the world !

  I have no manual or material.  It was hard work but it was pleasure.

Good bye for new.

(Please correct my English. I'm studying and writing this very hard.)

 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ I've made minor adjustments to the text above.  However, Megumi
 [ can be proud of how easy his writing is to understand.
 [
 [ Every letter we receive by a person who's native language
 [ is not English makes me very self-conscious about poor my own
 [ non-English language skills (French, Spanish) are.  My thanks
 [ to Megumi and others who take the trouble to write to
 [ us coherently in a language other than their native one.
 [
 [ Jody

   *****************************
   Megumi Imai
   cresc@alles.or.jp
   http://www.alles.or.jp/~cresc
   (I'm sorry but Japanese site only, now.)
   Kobe, Japan
   *****************************

 [ Editor's Note:
 [
 [ There are a number of Digest subscribers with "gender ambiguous names".
 [ Name usage changes with time.  Jody was a popular nickname for a boy
 [ in the deep south (U.S.).  I figured that after President Jimmy Carter's
 [ term in office, people would have figured that out.  His male press
 [ secretary's name was "Jody Powell".  No such luck.  Many people
 [ still are confused.  By current usage, some names are very confusing.
 [ Consider male actor Carroll O'Connor.  Two r's and two l's, but pronounced
 [ the same as Carol.
 [
 [ Gender ambiguous names are surprisingly common.  In college I dated 3
 [ different women with gender ambiguous names (Gayle, Daryl, and Ev).
 [ It was sometimes hilarious to observe the confusion at parties, when
 [ introductions were being done.  Which name went with which person ?
 [ No one could ever remember...
 [
 [ Jody