Laughter and lively chatter filled a room at a modest apartment in Tokyo one recent Thursday night, as more than two dozen kids and volunteers gathered around tables laden with curry, rice, salad and fruits.
Misako Omura’s weekly dinner is one of a growing number of kodomo shokudo, or “children’s cafeterias,” that are springing up across Japan. The mostly grassroots efforts seek to address a range of child-related issues, from poverty to ensuring that those with late-working parents get a proper dinner.
A tally by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper found 319 such places serving free or low-cost meals across Japan as of May, up from 21 in 2013.
Photo: AP
Over the past 70 years, Japan’s rising affluence has banished most of the penury of the lean years during and after World War II, when children sometimes starved and many families went hungry. However, despite its ultramodern conveniences, Japan had the 10th-highest child poverty rate among 31 relatively well-off countries in a 2013 UN Children’s Fund report.
Poverty in Japan is largely hidden, as it can lead to public shame and discrimination. Families often skimp on food and other necessities to ensure children are dressed well enough to avoid being seen as disadvantaged. Such children might have smartphones, but not the money to buy a ¥100 (US$1) box of juice or participate in a school field trip, said Setsuko Ito, who heads the child-rearing support division in Tokyo’s working-class Arakawa ward.
Omura started her weekly dinner in Arakawa in 2014 to create a space to welcome local children who might not get enough support from their families, schools and communities.
Her initiative, supported by donations and a grant from the district office, is meant to counter a void left as communities hollow out and family ties unravel, leaving many parents and children isolated and struggling to cope.
The kids and volunteers pay ¥300 for dinner.
Omura emphasized that the children who come to her weekly dinners are not necessarily living in poverty. In some cases, they just have to dine alone, because their parents are working late.
She asked reporters not to interview the children, out of concern that public exposure might lead to harassment at school and in their neighborhood, or even when applying for jobs in the future.
Slightly more than half of all Japanese single-parent households are considered to be under the poverty line. Single mothers, who make an average of ¥150,000 per month, get limited support from welfare programs.
Although a 2013 law aims to coordinate national and local government efforts to provide educational, living and economic support, many local officials are struggling with the issue, said Kaori Suetomi, a professor specializing in education administration and finance at Nihon University in Tokyo.
“Until now, Japan hasn’t really dealt with child poverty, and officials are not sure what to do,” said Suetomi, coauthor of a recent report on policies devised by local governments across Japan to address the issue.
The problem is that budgets for those programs are not guaranteed, so some local governments have had to abandon programs, she said.
Child poverty issues overlap between the education and welfare ministries, she said, adding that securing funds is difficult, as the ministries shuffle the responsibility of which should bear the cost.
The children’s cafeterias are an attempt to fill that void.
Kazuma Omoto, a former participant and aspiring teacher who volunteers at Omura’s dinners, said he attends to find himself and learn how to interact with younger children.
“It’s a wonderful place for that,” the high-school junior said. “I come here every week. Going forward, I hope I can study and learn many different things myself.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was