Letters from a Japanese Pen Pal

In high school, a friend of mine went to a church that did a cultural exchange program where Japanese students came to America for a few days. My friend hooked up all of her closest friends with their own personal Japanese girl to take around school for a day! Let me tell you, this was like Heaven on Earth! MY OWN PERSONAL JAPANESE GIRL, people! I got to pick her out of a line up and everything.
Her name was Lisa and she was adorable! She had short hair and could not speak a lick of English. My friends and I each took our respective Japanese girl and had a big picnic outside, which I think the Japanese girls took to be some sort of American festival or ritual that was called, "Picnic lunch."

From a postcard, dated March 31, 2000

Dear Rachel,
Thank you very much for joyful time. I really enjoyed!!! It was so exciting. I like Picnic Lunch: I'll have that in Japan.
Thank you,
Lisa


We were pen pals for several years after that, up until college when we tried to go electronic but one day her email address stopped working. I might try to contact her again soon, having found her address on an envelope from my closet! She did, after all, mention allowing me to stay at her family's house, should I ever visit Japan. Do you think the offer still stands?
Some gems:

Dear Rachel,
Hi. How are you?
I'll eat lunch with friends who went to America together in pizza restaurant tomorrow. You can eat as much as you like for ten dollars at this restaurant, so perhaps I'll eat too much.
We have sports festival next month. I'm officer of sports festival, so I'm busy making preparations for it. Tomorrow is a holiday! It's Greenery Day (Birthday of Emperor Showa). A day to commune with Nature, to express thanks for its blessings.
We have another holidays too. We don't go to school for five days. We call these holidays "GOLDEN WEEK." What wonderful days they are!
My mom and dad bought a MD stereo for me. I really like it. When is your birthday. My birthday is June 1.
I want to go to America and meet you again.
Bye Bye.
Love,
Lisa