Puchi House Website Studio

Forever starts today.

Life stories from Japan, kept in words and photographs

Your mother or father lives in Japan. You live somewhere else. Kotonae turns one person's life into a single web page — in their own words, with their own photographs — and we make it entirely by message, from wherever you are.

See the finished page Ask us anything

See the price (one plan, made online)

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What is worth keeping

The road they walked.

What they held dear.

The day they never forgot.

Family. Friends. Small things.

None of it belongs to anyone else.And unless somebody writes it down, it quietly drifts away.

What Kotonae is

A life-story web page, made by a care company in Yokohama — and made entirely online, wherever in the world you are.

Words and photographs, in one place.

We ask questions. You and your family answer them — by LINE or by email, at whatever pace suits you. You send the photographs. We write, arrange and build a page that belongs to that one person, and hand you the link.

AskWe ask, you answer.
No interview to schedule, no camera to face. Short messages are enough.
KeepWe shape it into a page.
Photographs that have sat in a drawer for forty years, given a date and a story.
ShareYour family opens the same link.
From Tokyo, from London, from anywhere. One page, one address.

Made without meeting.

In Japan we also offer plans with a home visit. For families overseas we do it differently: everything happens by message. We write in Japanese and use AI translation, so you can write to us in English — or in your own language — and we will understand each other perfectly well.

The page can be in English.

Your parent will tell their story in Japanese. We write it down, and then we prepare the finished page in English — or in another language, if that is the one your children read. Japanese and English side by side is also possible. Tell us who needs to be able to read it, and we will build it that way.

Up to 20 photographs. Around one week from the day we have everything, though it moves with the number of photographs and the length of the story.

This is what you receive

One page, one link. Send it to your brother, your cousin, your children. Everyone opens the same thing, on a phone or a laptop.

Sample

The Story of ○○ ○○

— born in Yokohama, 1953 —

1971 — his favourite photograph

The road he walked

1953Born in Konan Ward, Yokohama
SchoolBaseball, every day until dark
1971Began work at a printing house
1978Married. Settled in Kamiooka
2006His first grandchild was born

A day he never forgot

The first family trip. The car broke down on the way, and everyone got out and pushed it. I think that was the day we laughed the most.

To the people I love

"To all of you.
I never said it at the time,
but thank you."

A sample. The name, the words and the photographs are invented — yours will be your parent's own. Every page is different: some have a timeline, some are almost all photographs.

Ask about a page like this

Who it's for

Not only for the end of a life. Mostly for the middle of one — while there is still time to ask.

You live abroad and your parents are still in Japan

You want to ask them while they can still tell you

Your children read English and should know where they come from

There are boxes of photographs and nobody knows the stories behind them

Who will listen

Keiju HiranoPuchi House Website StudioSenior Care Manager

Kotonae is made by Puchi House,
a care company in Yokohama.

Day careHome careCare managementDisability servicesCafésA singing café

We are not a web agency. Our ordinary work is looking after older people in Konan, Totsuka and Izumi wards — and listening to them. Every day, for years, we have heard the sentences that begin "back in those days…".

Those sentences are where Kotonae came from.

The person who will read your messages and build the page is Keiju Hirano, a certified senior care manager. Asking people about their lives, gently and without hurrying them, is not a side project for us. It is the job.

How it works

No appointment, no video call, no travel. Four steps, all by message.

Write to us

Email or LINE. "I'd like to know more" is enough to start. We answer in your language.

We send questions

A set of gentle questions for your parent — where they were born, the work they did, the day they remember best. They can answer in Japanese, in writing or by voice message. You can help, or step back entirely. There is no deadline and no interview to sit through.

We build the page

We write the text, arrange the photographs and prepare the page in the language you asked for. About one week. Then you read it, and we change whatever you'd like changed — up to two rounds, at no extra cost.

You get the link

Nothing is published until you and your family have seen it and said yes. Then it goes online and we send you the address. Share it with whoever you wish.

Your photographs, your family's words

You are handing a stranger your family album. Here is exactly what we will and will not do with it.

You see it first

Nothing goes online until you and your family have read every word and approved it.

You choose who can find it

The page can be set so that search engines do not list it. It will not appear on Google. Anyone you send the link to can open it — so share the address only with the people you mean to.

We use it for nothing else

Your photographs and your family's stories are never used in advertising or shown elsewhere. If we ever wanted to mention your page as an example, we would ask you first.

The page stays

There is no expiry date. For as long as we run this service, the page remains online at no further cost. And on the day we publish it, we hand you the page itself — a complete set of files, photographs included — so it stays with your family whatever happens to us. Ask us to take it down and we will.

Price

One plan, made entirely online. One payment — there is nothing after it.

For families overseas

Kotonae Online

Made by message,
from anywhere.

59,800yen(tax included)

No meeting, no video call
everything by LINE or email
Questions written for your parent, and their answers written up
Up to 20 photographs
Two rounds of changes before publishing
The finished page in English, or another language
Ready in about a week

For anyone whose parents are in Japan and who is not.

Why this price Puchi House is not a web agency. Our real work is care and disability support, and asking people about their lives is what we already do every day. That is why we can offer this at all. Inside Japan the same page, made the same way, is 29,800 yen; overseas it takes translation and considerably more correspondence, so this plan is 59,800 yen. Everything in the list above is included. There is nothing to pay afterwards.

A few practical things

Prices are in Japanese yen and include Japanese consumption tax.
We will agree a payment method with you when you write — tell us which country you are in and we will find the simplest way.
Payment is due only after the page is finished and you have approved it. Nothing is paid in advance.
Once published, the page stays online at no further cost, and we hand you the finished files so it stays yours.
If you would like to keep adding to it later, there is an optional monthly plan. Ask us and we will explain it.

Ask us anything

Questions

Do you speak English?

Not fluently — we are a small care company in Yokohama and we work in Japanese. We use AI translation for everything we write to you, and it works well. You write in English; we read it in Japanese; we reply in Japanese; you read it in English. In practice you will not notice.

My parent doesn't use a computer. Is that a problem?

No. Many of the people we work with don't. They can answer our questions on paper, or speak them into a phone as a voice message, or you can ask them yourself over the phone and send us what they said. Whatever is easiest for them.

Can the page be in English if my parent only speaks Japanese?

Yes — that is the usual case. They tell the story in Japanese, and we prepare the finished page in English so that you and your children can read it. Japanese and English together on the same page is also possible. Another language is possible too; just tell us which.

How many photographs should we send?

Up to twenty for this plan. Photographs of photographs are fine — a phone snapshot of an old print works perfectly well. You do not need to sort them; send what you have and we will choose together.

Will strangers find it?

Only if you want them to. We can set the page so that search engines do not list it, which means it will not turn up on Google. Anyone you give the link to can open it, so treat the address the way you would treat a family photo album.

How long will the page stay online?

There is no time limit and no renewal fee. For as long as we run this service, it stays.
We also give you the page itself. On the day we publish, we hand you a complete set of files — the page and every photograph in it — so that even if we could no longer keep it online, your family still holds it and can publish it anywhere. Should we ever close the service, we will tell you 90 days beforehand, give you all of the data, and help you move it.
If you ever want it taken down, one message is enough.

Can we add to it later?

Yes. There is an optional monthly plan for ongoing changes and additions — new photographs, a story someone remembered afterwards. You are not obliged to take it, and the page stays online either way. Ask us and we will explain how it works.

How do we pay from outside Japan?

Tell us which country you are in when you first write, and we will agree a method that works for both of us before anything begins.
You pay after the page is finished and you have approved it. We never ask for money up front.

Contact

Write in English. We will understand, and we will answer.

By email

puchi@puchi-house.info Please write "Kotonae" in the subject line.
We usually reply within a day or two, Japan time.

By LINE

The easiest way, if you already use LINE.

Add us and say hello

Scan with your phone camera

By telephone

+81 45-392-7934 9:00–18:00 Japan time, closed Sundays and holidays Japanese only, so email or LINE is easier.