Have any of you seen the movie "Nobody Knows" directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, released in 2004?
The movie "Nobody Knows 誰も知らない"
Watch the trailer here
The boy who played the role of the 12-year-old eldest son became the talk of the town when he won the Best Actor Award at the 57th Cannes Film Festival.
This is a movie based on a real case of neglect that happened in 1998.
The real incident was truly tragic. There are many problems that children face, but sometimes it takes an incident for others to notice.
Poverty is one of them.
Japan seems to be a wealthy country, but because of this, there is a real poverty that we cannot see.
Japan's Poverty is Invisible
Elementary and junior high schools in Japan are compulsory education. As long as they attend school, they can eat well-nourished school lunches.
However, there are children for whom this is their only meal of the day. The causes are poverty and neglect.
This was reported in the press, and it sent shockwaves through Japan. This is because I don't have any children around me who look like that.
But it may not be that they are not there, it may just be that they are not aware of that fact.
They never say "help" in order to protect their parents and their own dignity.
Children's Cafeteria
こども食堂(しょくどう)
The Children's Cafeteria was opened in 2015 by a grocer in Tokyo who knew about it as a "cafeteria where children can go alone".
There, they can eat well-nourished meals at a reasonable price.
Children's cafeterias have since spread across the country, and as of December 2020, there are at least 4,960 of them nationwide.
Difficulties in running a children's cafeteria
It is a wonderful experiment run by volunteers, but there are many problems.
(1) It is difficult to use the cafeteria only for children who are having trouble eating.
In some cases, other people were also reluctant to use the cafeteria because they did not want to be perceived as being in need.
For this reason, many cafes are run as places where anyone can casually and cheaply have a meal.
This raises the question of whether the children who really need help are getting it. There are rumors that obviously wealthy people are using their transportation money to come and eat.
Therefore, in addition to providing support to the poor, there are also cafes that are run in a style that facilitates communication with each other to solve problems that people cannot discuss with others.
(2) Children may be hurt by the words of the supporters.
Words spoken out of kindness can hurt a child's feelings.
The person who volunteers is a very kind person. There have been cases where volunteers, out of a desire to help the children of the community, have asked the children about their families or told them about their manners, making it difficult for the children to use the center.
In some cases, it is difficult to see the results of the activities, which makes it difficult for volunteers to maintain their motivation.
This is a bit of a sensitive issue.
We need to be aware that children have pride just like adults.
First of all, when they truly believe that it is a place that accepts them in any condition, they may be able to open up from them and accept what is said around them for the first time.
It will probably take a long time.
Because it is an invisible problem, it is hard to see the results.
(3) Children's cafeterias are said to be used for advertising, and volunteers are said to be hypocrites.
Unfortunately, donations and support always come with this set of problems. When a major convenience store opened a children's cafeteria, some people said, "Why don't you solve the labor problem first?
Personally, I think it's a good thing that donations and support are spreading even if there is this aspect. Let people say what they want.
With covid-19, things have changed.
The covid-19 epidemic forced 90% of the cafes to abandon their operations in order to avoid densification.
However, the number of unemployed people has increased and the poverty situation seems to have worsened further.
The government has allocated a budget for 2021 to support children's cafeterias as one of the safety nets.
Of the 90% that had stopped operating, half have changed their operation methods and are now resuming operations in the form of distributing lunch boxes.
This is when communication is important.
By working together, not only the people being supported, but also the people providing support, we can understand each other's anxious feelings, and this will have a positive effect.
Reference: President Online
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