A Sydney-based Japanese mum and director of a Japanese learning community in Melbourne Naoko Inuzuka published a book to expand the community activities. Source: SBS
Ms Inuzuka has been teaching Japanese in Australia and saw some Y3 children start to show reluctance to go to Japanese community language schools, it becomes more obvious as they grow older.
Learning Japanese as a second language and becoming bilingual is not for everyone. It needs commitment and dedication followed by constant efforts for years. Going to another school on weekends and getting homework done every week often gets too much and stressful not only for the kids but also for their parents.
Ms Inuzuka decide to create her own fun environment to focus on celebrating connections to Japan in a more non-school, relaxing setting. She started Aozora Shokudo in 2015 with eight families at her home's backyard.
At Aozora Shokudo, teachers are not Japanese language experts, but mothers. They pick the subject they'd like to teach, such as cooking, Japanese folk dance, and story-time. Cooking together and sharing cooked snacks is one of the main activities at Aozora Shokudo.
In the audio, Ms Inuzuka shares how the activities started and what they'd like to achieve through their Aozora Shokudo community.
Ms Inuzuka recently published a book in Japanese hoping that their activities can spread across the Japanese communities on the globe.
"Make children bilingual and speak Japanese fluently is not our goal,' Ms Inuzuka said.
"We'd like to create a place that children can have fun and, at the same time, can celebrate their connection to Japan, regardless of proficiency of the language." 
Aozora Shokudo (Blue-Sky Cafeteria) in Melbourne is a learning community for children and family with Japanese background. Source: Aozora Shokudo/Facebook
