What do you think about Japanese long working hour culture? Please correct my essay. I think employees in Japan should work within their regular time, though this long working costom made the country developed. I have two reasons to support my opinion. Firstly, many studies have shown that working too much causes serious diseases such as heart stroke, insomnia and depression. Reducing working hours make workers healthy. People in workplaces need to finsh their work at least 7 pm to go home. Secondly, if you have a family, especialy children, you should have a good time with your families. Nowadays many women continue their jobs after having babies, and they are great workforce too. Child-raising must be hard for them in this working condition. If both working fathers and mothers can go back their homes earlier to take care of the children, it will be better for parenting. For these reasons I think Japanese long working customs should be regulated to improve work-life balance.

My Mother in Law's Peonies A little about me, my mother in law used to grow pink peonies in her garden and loved them when she was alive. She used to say " you should come here when the peonies are in full bloom." Our family lived in Kagoshima those days, so we couldn't come to kumamoto so frequently. We couldn't live her house after she died, but I replanted her peonies in my mother's garden, because I had no place to grow the peonies, and my mother lives nearby town. My mother takes care of the peonies, so I can see them every flower season. I also offer the flowers my mother in law's Buddhist altar in my home. I hope she likes to see them, she lives in the next world though. * This writing is a part of a letter to my penpal. Would you mind correct my writing? Does this make sense? Thank you in advance.

Do you have some recommend books and picture books for kids? My sister works at an elementary school as an office worker, and asked me to recommend some English books for non-natives especialy for very beginner kids. As you know, Japanese government has led the students to learn English more effeciently. Therefore 5th grade schoolchildren will start to learn English as a compulsory subject from 2020. One of my teachers recommended "Oxford Reading Tree." I think this book looks great as far as I saw on the website. I would like to have more information about books and picture books for schoolchildren. Probably, teachers want books which read for the children, and children learn English with fun. Would you mind correcting my writing and tell me about the recomended books. Thank you in advance.

New Year's Holidays in Amamioshima Island I went Amami island with my family during New Year's holiday. This island is located the 4th southern-most in Kagoshima, almost Okinawa. After I arrived Amami airport, I was surprised that it was warmer than my city Kumamoto. The weather in the island is similer to Okinawa island, but less well-known tourist site than Okinawa. I also found many plants were differnt from ones in Kyushu main island. While I was heading to my hotel, I wanted to take some pictures which I stood in front of sugercane fields. However, my hotel's driver advised me " There are dangerous snakes in the sugercane field. Don't step in the fields." I gave up to take sugercane's pictures. The snake is called "habu" in Japanese. People in Amami island make some products from this snakes. One of them is a lucky charm. The lucky charms are made from habu's skin. Habu lucky charms are believed that they can bring us happiness. My husband bought one from a souvenir shop. I hope his wishes come true. By the way, I looked up "habu" on the internet. Habu is "Protobothrops flavoviridis" in English. I can't memorize such long name, so I wrote the Japanese name "habu." We had wonderful days in Amami. I will write more about our trip next time. Would you mind correcting my writing? Thank you for taking your time.

My nephew came back to Kumamoto from Gunma and visited Kumamoto Castle. My nephew came back to Kumamoto. He took three days-off to stay in Kumamoto. It's been a long time, actually 10 years since I've met him at the last time. He runs a ramen shop in Gunma. I think it is too busy to take long days-off. He wanted to visit Kumamoto Castle. We drove to the castle, but we couldn't walk in the castle buildings. Due to the earthquake last year, we can only see it from a nearby park and walk limited roads around the castle. He was very shocked, because he saw many damaged stone walls and the wounded castle towers (if they have minds.) Some castle towers are under reconstraction. He took thier pictures, and bought some souvenirs at a shop. I hope we can step in the castle tower to see beautiful view from the top of it in the near future.

Kitaoka Jinja (Shrine) I made a brochure about Kitaoka Shrine two years ago. Could you mind correcting my writing below? Kitaoka-jinja Shrine is located near Kumamoto train station. The shrine is one of many Gion-jinja Shrines in Japan. It takes about 8 minutes on foot. It's a really relaxing place. The shrine is famous for the god of matchmaking. We japanese say "enmusubi", it means matchmaking. There are two big sacred trees behind the torii gate made of stone. Actually, they are male and female trees. The two trees are called "goshinboku", it means sacred tree. The god lives in the tree and makes your wish if you pray in a particular way below. If you are a man, walk round the female tree first, then walk round the male tree. If you are a woman, walk round the male tree first, then walk round the female tree. Please walk calmly to pray seriously. Watch your step, the ground is slippery. Good Luck!

Is there someone who knows tofu recipes ?

Hello everyone,

I have a penpal in Decatur Illinois. She has started to eat a plant based Vegan diet.

She has made a tofu recipe twice, and both of them were "baked tofu", but she didn't cook it well.

 I'm a Japanese house-wife, I eat tofu most of days, but I have no idea what "baked tofu" is.

She also asked me "If you have any tofu tips for me I would appreciate your help" in the letter. I like to eat it simply such as chilled tofu (hiyayakko) and hot tofu (yudoufu). I cook miso-soup with it as well.

If someone knows tofu recipes for Americans, could you tell me how to make it?

In Japan, I can buy many kinds of tofu products such as silken tofu (kinugoshi dofu), firm tofu (momen dofu), thin fried tofu(age) and thick fried tofu(atsuage). Is this the same in  Illinois?

If someone helps me, I would appreciate. 

Rakugo Story Telling Is there someone who want to learn Japanese with fun? I want you to watch Rakugo story videos on youtube. First of all, I'll explain Rakugo. It is traditional Japanese storytelling that a person performes by oneself and wearing kimono on the stage. The storyteller perfomes not only funny stories but also scary stories especially during deep summer. It makes people fun and sometimes cool in the hot days. I recomend one storyteller, because he perfomes Rakugo by using both Japanese and English. His stage name is "Katsura Sunshine". His rakugo is good as sunshining days. Surprisingly, he is from Canada. He has learned Rakugo with his teacher in Osaka, and his teacher is one of the most popular Rakugo masters. He went on world-wide tours for his performances last sevral years. I think that watching his English Rakugo is both educational and fun for me and for forigners as well. People in different countries will be able to be familiar with Japanese culture. Perhaps, they would be surprised with culture gap.

How times have changed! I have learned English with a teacher by using a text book named "inter change." My teacher is from the US. He is very interested in Japanese culture, and always enjoys Japanese food. I have to write to prepare for the class. The topic is " Talk about how life in your country has changed in the last 50 years. " Fortunately, it is suitable for me, because I was 10 years old 50 years ago. I will write as much as I can remember. Could you correct my writing? Question1) How big were families 50 years ago? My answer ) Families in Japan used to be much larger. My father had a brother and two sisters. I used to live with my grandparents, parents and two sisters. In the past, it was general that people live with their parents after they got married. Question 2) What kinds of homes did people live in? Answer ) Most of people lived in cozy wooden houses, which have yards or gardens. There were several tatami rooms in the houses. I used to spread my futon and slept on it. Right now, I live in an four- room apartment. I have only one tatami room here, so I sleep in a bed instead. Thank you for reading, I'll continue to write about this topic another time.