Our school encourages students to develop their passions and interests. My daughter Ocean is a caring little girl and she chose to help the poor and homeless. Yes, there are homeless and poor in Japan. There are not as many as I saw in Los Angeles or New York, two cities with similar populations in the USA. Japan does do a better job of taking care of the disadvantaged in their society, but of course, no society is perfect.
Ocean organized a group of her friends to collect donations for the Sanoh Children’s Center. The center provides a place to supervise and care for children of low income families. Often the parents are working and the center is a home away from home for them. One of the activities the Sannoh Children’s Center is a monthly night patrol to find homeless men and give them food, blankets, heating pads and other essentials.
Ocean ever since she was little, would want to help poor people she saw on the streets. This is an ideal activity for her. The center is located in an old building in a warren of homes and businesses in the Kamagasaki neighborhood of Osaka. It is one of the poorest areas of the city and is in stark contrast to our upscale suburb of Onohara. It is good for the kids to see lower socioeconomic areas and interact with the people who live in those challenging environments. Japan has a much lower crime rate than other countries, so it is fine to walk with children in those streets on a Saturday evening. Due to language barriers, I wish we could do more. The center is accepting donations.
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