Regarding the May 7 story “Japan Red Cross seeks donors as blood and bone marrow supplies run low,” my husband and I tried to donate blood at a Red Cross location in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, but were turned away because our Japanese isn’t very good. They didn’t want to bother trying to explain everything to us in English, once again highlighting this country’s woeful relationship with the language.
The Red Cross is an international organization. We don’t need English explanations or omotenashi (hospitality). It would be an easy solution to just get the English info sheets and forms from HQ, if it’s that big of a deal.
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