That's what they said about facebook. That's what they said about twitter. Not once has it actually been true for me.

name at least 10 things; if there’s plenty, this should be easy.

sure.

* made friends to meet up with locally in the bay area from multiple hobbies (roadtripping, photography).

* made friends to meet up with in japan:

  * i've now made at least a couple dozen friends who i've visited for meals, road trips, baseball games. 

  * been invited by other friends to come and take photos at their events and workspaces (like one works for a famous car tuner shop in Saitama and they asked if I could take photos of the owner as he fabricated parts for his race car)  

  * made another friend who's an expat living in Japan who takes photos as a job for various tourism agencies/local governments who i've hung out with  

  * made friends while in japan with people who also have shiba inu dogs and we keep in touch between visits using IG

I could go on and on.