It’s been said friendship isn’t based on geography. That’s certainly the case for Debbie Green (nee Merkle) and Yumi Yamada (nee Takahashi), who will celebrate 50 years of friendship around March 2024.

The women became friends as teenagers, not because they lived close by or were classmates. They were worlds apart in Bethlehem and Tokyo, Japan. The friendship they began in 1974 as pen pals is still going strong, with their most recent visit taking place this past August.

“Yumi and I began corresponding during a unit on Japan when I was 12 years old and in the sixth grade class of David Drabic at Marvine Elementary School,” Green said.

Green said with the help of Drabic and two other teachers – Mrs. Piff and Elizabeth Elterich – she was able to visit Yamada for three weeks in August 1977 when Green was 15.

Before Green’s initial trip to Japan, articles were published in The Morning Call and Bethlehem Globe-Times about her impending journey. “Because of these articles, many people sent me money to help fund my trip,” Green said. “I earned money delivering newspapers for The Morning Call and babysitting.”

That summer she also volunteered each morning in the fifth grade summer school class Drabic taught at Marvine.

When Green was 17, Yamada came to visit her in Bethlehem. Yamada made a return visit in August 2014 and was able to meet Green’s family.

“I had planned to visit her again in August of 2020 but the trip was canceled due to COVID-19 and Japan did not allow people to visit again until October 2022,” Green said.

Green and her daughter, Alison Thakrar – an advertising sales representative with Lehigh Valley Press – and grandson Raiden Thakrar were at last able to make the trip to Japan Aug. 11-20 of this year.

Green said she was finally able to meet Yamada’s husband, two children and two grandchildren as well as two of her friends.

“It was a wonderful trip and I was so happy to be able to take my daughter and grandson,” Green said. “It was a great experience for all of us.”

The women have never lost touch through the years, and have always exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts. “We have a lot in common,” Green had said of Yamada in the 1977 Globe-Times article. “We both like photography, birds, Snoopy and Donnie Osmond.”

Today, the English language is something they have in common. “Yumi has been taking English throughout her school career and has taken some English classes as an adult. She gets to practice with me,” Green said.

“We both like to travel, and we both look for different items to send each other for birthdays and Christmas when we travel. We both love spending time with our families. Our husbands are our best friends. And we both have vegetable gardens,” Green said.

Green said Yamada is recently retired and is looking for a part-time job. Green plans to either volunteer or work part-time when she finally retires.

“Our friendship continues because we are just good friends,” Green said. They don’t write letters anymore, and instead message each other through Facebook messenger and keep in touch through Facebook. They send pictures of places each has visited, and keep each other up to date on their families.

“Now that we have met each other’s families I believe we have become closer.”

Green said Yamada has invited Raiden to stay with her for a high school exchange program. Green recently sent Yamada photos of sushi Green made with Raiden, and Yamada sent pictures of her grandchildren at DisneySea, a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort.

“We may not communicate as regularly as when we were children, but we enjoy hearing about travel, everyday events and our families.”

In the 1977 Globe-Times article, Green said she was thinking about police photography as a career, or joining the Air Force and using that route to get a college education.

Green, an alumna of Northeast Junior High School (now Northeast Middle School) and Liberty, did join the Air Force in the delayed enlistment program, but even though she was ready to go and sworn in, she was able to get a release and instead married her husband Bryan Green in August 1980 after high school. They are now celebrating 43 years of marriage. Green grew up in Bethlehem, but has called Salisbury Township home since they got married.

Green earned a two-year degree in medical lab technology at Northampton County Community College and worked in the clean room at B. Braun until their second child was born. “I was a stay-at-home mom until my third child was in school. Then I worked part time as a teacher’s aide, health room aide and eventually full time as a computer technician in the Salisbury School District until 2003. I earned a two-year degree in computer networking at Lehigh Carbon Community College while I worked at Salisbury.”

Green then worked in the Bethlehem School District as a computer tech at Nitschmann Middle School until January 2005. She has been a computer tech at Northampton Area School District for the past 18 years, and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems at Cedar Crest College in 2008.

One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is her appreciation for Drabic.

“I have kept in contact with Mr. Drabic and recently visited him to thank him for being such a wonderful teacher and let him know how his teaching has influenced my whole life,” Green said.

“Teachers seldom get feedback and sometimes don’t realize the impact they have on their students. I wanted him to know.”