As an ex radio man and self-appointed philosopher i am used to picking
up wanted signals from among the noise, both literally and figuratively,
and learning new methods of communication is a bit of a hobby of mine.
To wit, I have been learning Japanese now for half a dozen years and
find myself out on a limb: due to the nature of my work and social
environment most people who I have been communicating with have until
recently been adults of at least 40 years of age in relatively settled
social circumstances (family, jobs, society, etc.).

Having become single again a good two years ago (nothing acrimonious,
she just oncreasingly wanted to "go home" and did exactly that, while my
home is now firmly established on this side of the Pacific), I fund it
convenient to make some changes and thus moved to another island and
took up a new line of work. As a result, my social life has chaged to
the effect that most people I am now communicating with are younger than
me - you might say, "much younger than me", since the age difference is
from 15-30 years.

Having beeen siongle now for over 2 years I find it increasingly
unsatisfactory to (on one hand) enjoy looking at the highschool girls in
front of Starbucks (or other places where they pass by or hang out) and
(on the other hand) spending my time at home alone. As someone with a
well-developed professional attitude and a good sense of what is
socially appropriate I have o difficlties, however, to direct my
interest toward women who are at least in their late 20s anmd who are
not in a teacher-student relationship with me.

The problem (if one may say that) is that although the majority of those
in my large enough social circle are women, and although they appear to
enjoy hanging out with me, coming to social events I organise or
paticipate in, and visiting my home, I cnnot pick up any signals that
make me think any of them is interested in me any more than on a social
level. To find out more about what I really would like to know, I need
to 'send message", I think, and I would like to do that in a polite,
non-invasive, and cheerful manner. So... how to say it in Japanese? Is
there any recommendable esource for the inept or ignorant?

Any considerate advice would be much appreciated!

Al

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