When I visited the surgical department of Tokyo University in 1996, my father went with me as my  personal translator. During this visit, we had the time to discuss many medical topics including the relationship between doctor and patient, and some diseases in chest surgery. I was impressed that he translated a Japanese book about the management of spontaneous pneumothorax. When he suffered from cancer in early 1998, I recalled the time in Tokyo and decided to set up an association of friends of spontaneous pneumothorax . Through a web site, we can receive comments from patients, and give advice about solutions to their problems. We hope a complete care of this disease to achieve by a mutual understanding between physician and patien.