Several readers have asked me to repeat my favorite column. That is quite difficult. Actually, there would be two but neither was ever written. There are many questions that are never selected to be in a column.

The first was from a young woman who came to Japan as a singer to appear in nightclubs. Instead, she found herself billed as an exotic dancer. However, the money was good and no one here knew her, so she continued to perform. She had dropped out of college to take the job and had left a boyfriend behind, but once begun, it proved difficult to quit.

There was a problem. She had become concerned about reports of negative reactions from taking birth-control pills so she had stopped. However, the result was that her once-ample breasts had been reduced in size and her popularity was similarly declining. She wanted to know of a good doctor who did breast augmentations.

I gave her the name of a doctor but pointed out that in her chosen profession, unlike most others, the longer she worked the less her skill would be valued. Employability declined with age and then what would her future options be? How much better, I suggested, if she took the money she intended to spend on the operation and returned to England to resume her college studies. Prepare for a career with a future was my recommendation.

It was some time before I heard from her again. She had gone back to school and graduated. She was working with a government trade office where she was recognized for her expertise in dealing with Japanese businessmen. At one of the meetings she had met her former boyfriend. They were now engaged to be married. It is always good to know that good advice has been accepted, and I wish that I had heard from her again but I never did.

The second left me humbled. No matter how preoccupied I might be, I would never again treat a question lightly. It was from a woman studying one of the new cults known as the dancing religion.

A country woman had suddenly been able to recite ancient scriptures in archaic form. Her followers -- there were many -- joined her in a remote mountain area. Services consisted of chanting and trancelike dancing.

The woman who wrote was an anthropologist doing research on Japan's new religions. She reported that suddenly she had a serious problem with her eyes. She wondered if I knew of a good hospital in her area where she might find a specialist.

There were no nearby hospitals that I knew of and no time to find one. I was leaving in less than an hour for the airport and a trip to the U.S. I tossed the letter aside to answer when I came back a few weeks later. But I found myself with a few extra minutes so I wrote a quick note explaining that I didn't know of a hospital but there was a U.S. military base not so far away and sometimes, in cases of emergency, they would see American citizens. This was a long time ago, well before Japan's health service covered the country. I suggested that she go there.

Again, it was much later that I heard from her. She had gone to the base and they had given her an examination. There was a problem but no one could identify it. However, there was a specialist there for a day's visit and he was called in. He was probably the only doctor in Japan who could identify her rare condition; if she did not receive immediate treatment, she would be blind. With the doctor, she was flown to a larger base where she could be treated. Her eyesight was saved.

The coincidences involved in that happy ending would never have been activated if her letter had not been dealt with before I left. For me it was a sharp lesson in the obligation a writer has to his or her readers, especially if an early answer may be essential. It is of course not possible to give an immediate answer to each question, but it is not difficult to determine which ones should be dealt with quickly.

There have been sad failures, too -- a Filipino who had good reason to believe his wife had been smuggled out of the country by yakuza operating a prostitution ring. By the time I returned from that trip and found his letter, and finally went to his apartment because I could not reach him by phone, I learned he had been deported. He could get no one to help him and when I checked with local authorities, no one seemed to have any memory of his case.