I want to preface this by saying that this is not an attempt to get someone to feel sorry for me and become a language partner, but an earnest request for input, advice, etc. Although if this did end in me finding a language partner I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that.

First of all, I am from the United States and I'm a native English speaker. I joined italki in order to learn Japanese, and have since started taking lessons with a Japanese instructor (two so far.) I was fairly content with that being how I'd learn Japanese, but at the end of my lesson last night I was told that it would be best if I could find a Japanese language partner, someone in Japan that wants to improve their English (since I speak the language fairly clearly in his opinion), and use that as a supplement for his lessons in order to improve my Japanese faster. As it stands I don't speak a lot of Japanese, but that's really not the point of this discussion.

I know that one of the more common stereotypes about Americans is that they're very forward people and are outgoing, and while I've certainly met many of my countrymen that fit that bill, I've never been able to act that way. I've always been very shy when it comes to meeting new people, unless it's a casual conversation with someone working at a grocery store or convenience store. Even online, where you think it would be a lot easier to put yourself out there, I still find it difficult to just introduce myself to a complete stranger. Once I know someone I'm good at that point, open and talkative, no question is off limits really, but it's that initial point of contact that always gets me.

So what I'm wondering is whether anyone has any advice for how to do that in general, how to be more confident and brave, or how Japanese people prefer to be approached. Is it really okay to just send a message to a fellow italki user and say, "hello, my name is Jonathan and I'd really like to become your language partner and talk with you on Skype on a regular basis?" Should it be something so simple, or should it be a more complex introduction? I realize that for a lot of you these are probably very easy concepts and you don't think anything about them when you contact new people, but for me it's always been a problem.

So any advice you could provide on how to be brave, what's the best way to introduce yourself, whether there are any differences in how Japanese people like to be approached from the way Westerners like to be, or whatever else you have in your glorious, brave noggin would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry this is so long but I tend to be pretty wordy. Also thanks in advance for your reading this and your response, whatever it may be.