So heres something I just started working on.

Main Char:
In the throws of an early mid-life crisis. 20 something, post college, made some money at a .com. Currently unemployed.
Lives in a small apartment in trendy Belltown area of Seattle. Drinks to much coffee and alchohol.
Has a Japanese girlfriend. Started dating her because he speaks japanese nearly fluently.

simple plot so far:

Main Char. feels angsty and unsure about where he's going in life. The only thing he really cares about is his girlfriend. Loves her deeply and therefore becomes distrought when she goes missing. through some sloothing he finds that she has returned to home to Osaka, Japan. She doesnt respond by email or returns his calls so the main char. flies to Osaka to find her.
He knows osaka well having lived there for 3 years teaching english. Loved it back then but now finds the city unsettling. He hates the massive city sprawl and the packed commuter trains.
Main char. searches for his girlfriend and finds that her family line is incredibly ancient and has ties with the imperial line. Learns that her family actually lives on a tiny island off the coast of japan. The island is famous for being closed to new residents and only open to tourists during the day. He journies to the island and finds that the island sort of exists in another time. The same residents have lived there for hundreds of years, resisting change and the march of time.

Not sure where I want to go with it from here but..

I was thinking that he finds peace on the island and ends up marrying his girlfriend and living out his life ont he island.... where the old ways of living life are valued.
oh, and I still havent figured out why she left so abruptly to return home, but i'll flesh it out more.

anyway, comments and crits are welcomed.

It seems a bit contradictory to me; she leaves him without notice/won't return his e-mails or phone calls and then they end up getting married? other than that, it sounds okay.

Well so far it sounds pretty good to me. You are in the early stages so you could work them getting married into it all quite easily really, once you work out why she dissapeared. I'm really keen to see how you go with this it's really got me interested with the island existing in another time.

Yes, she definitely needs a reason for initially leaving him for instance, there could have been some tension between them or they could have had an argument before she left which they manage to sort out in the end. Other than that it all sounds like a workable idea. Good luck.

it sounds like a story I would throw away...but then sober up in the morning and enjoy it by the fire- did I mention people have more bones than they do I.Q.

or maybe she went home because of her ancient familly history,someone could of passed away and she felt guilty for her part in the modern world and rejected all including the modern relations of the eastern world

sounds like a Brigadoon, Far Eastern version... you'll need to work on your spelling, if this post is indicative of your writing skills... for starters, 'throws' should be 'throes' and there are many more goofs that can't be mere typos...

plotwise, any plot idea can be developed into a good story, by a good writer, or can end up as unpublishable junk, by a poor one... this one could be interesting, but it all depends on where you take it and how well you can write...