<<      Maybe the most important plant in Japan is aloe. Aloe is a plant colored with green. It has needle-like leaves which contain juicy, nutritious body. Aloe is used in many ways in my country. For example, we use it for medical purposes. Juice of aloe is said to be effective for patients suffer from atopy. Recently aloe becomes more popular. This is because people begin to think that aloe is one of the healthy foods. If you visit food shops in my country, you can find many aloe foods, such as aloe juice and aloe milk.      When I was 5 years or so, I suffered from an atopy, an allergy reaction which occures on our skin. If we use steroid or some other drugs, we can cure them temporary. But we can't cure atopy completely with the drug. On top of that, if we continue to use drugs such as steroid, we must suffer from side effects. If we can, it is better not to use such drugs and wait until atopy disappears naturally.      To avoid using steroids, my grandfather used aloe as a medicine. He planted aloe in his garden, and gave it to me to cure my atopy. I don't know whether aloe acted effectively on me. But now, my atopy disappears completely. The effect of aloe to allergy reaction doesn't yet established medically. But it is sure that many Japanese like my grandfather belive that aloe can be used as one kind of medicine.      Recently, aloe becomes popular especially among young people. They believe that aloe is a healty food. I don't know exactly why aloe can be good for our body. But I also eat aloe yogurt as my breakfast. When I eat aloe yogurt in the morning, I feel like as if I can relax my body. Maybe most people also feel the same way, so now in Japan, aloe is used for medicine, healthy foods, cosmetics, and for other useful purposes.