Mushrooming kids’ cafes masks serious child poverty issue in Japan

TOKYO — More people are launching makeshift cafeterias offering free or low-cost meals to children left home alone by working parents, as awareness grows about the issue of child poverty in the world’s third-largest economy.

Since the launch of the first makeshift cafe for poor children in Tokyo in 2012, the number of children’s cafes has sharply increased to about 500, with their activities expanding to dietary education, learning assistance, reduction of food waste and rekindling lost ties in local communities.

The temporary cafeterias open regularly at such venues as community centres, grocery stores, restaurants, Japanese-style pubs and private homes. Local volunteers and governments help run them and ingredients are often donated by farmers and companies.

Beneath Japan’s much-vaunted advances in technology and wealth, there are about 3.5 million Japanese children under 18 who eat alone at home with a bento box. Their parents could both be working in jobs that pay poorly or irregularly, and one out of these three children live with divorced or widowed mothers.

Japan’s 2015 child poverty rate stood at 13.9 per cent, compared with the average figure of 13.2 for OECD countries. At 13.9 per cent, one in every seven persons aged below 18 were in households living in poverty, which is defined as having incomes below half the national median household disposable income of S$37,135. The child poverty rate is then calculated by dividing such a household’s disposable income by the number of family members.

Child poverty has been worsening. A report by The Japan Times noted that, in 1985, a household at 10 per cent from the bottom earned 50.92 per cent of the mean income. In 2012, a family living at that level was earning 39 per cent of the mean income.

It does not help the children, as the Japanese regard it as a loss of face to be seen as poor. Of the 3.5 million children who are eligible for state support, only 200,000 actually receive any. Cash-strapped parents go to great pains to pay for expensive school trips for their children, even as the family cuts down on food. Experts have warned that some affected children are as young as five, and tend to be bullied. This increases their odds of dropping out of school, worsening the poverty cycle.

On a summer evening, about 80 children and adults gathered at a kids’ cafeteria in Tokyo’s Kita Ward. It is open twice a month. Diners get to cook and eat together, with pork, soup and ice-cream on the menu.

At a local community centre kitchen, some children helped prepare meals, while others played in an adjacent room as they waited for the dishes that were provided free for kids. Accompanying adults paid just ¥300 (S$3.70).

“I came here for the third time because my son wants to play with older children,” said a female participant. She brought her pre-schooler to the cafeteria called “Kita Kuma”. Ms Miwa Tsuboi, 39, who founded the cafe with her friends in May last year, said she created it to support children who eat alone.

“I was on a long leave to take care of my third child and thought it would be my last chance to do something while away from work,” said Ms Tsuboi. “It’s fun to eat together and I try to talk to children who may have problems,” she added, referring to kids from single-parent households or those on welfare.

To put the children at ease, she said, she invites children to come to the cafeteria with their friends. Kita Kuma also provides children with second-hand school uniforms and other student supplies. “Ideally speaking, we’d like to increase the number of dishes featuring seasonal food and start a learning assistance programme,” said Ms Tsuboi. “I hope children’s cafeterias will (grow) so that kids can walk to a nearby diner alone.”

Although a step in the right direction, the children’s cafeterias, cannot address the more entrenched problem of children suffering from neglect or other social difficulties, which require professional care, said experts.

Ms Chieko Kuribayashi, 50, who leads a campaign to promote children’s cafeterias across Japan, said the recent sharp increase of such diners reflects the goodwill of many people worried about children in dire situations.

She said the new awareness about the state of neglected children living in poverty is in stark contrast to the criticism her group, the Toshima Kodomo Wakuwaku Network, attracted when she opened a children’s cafeteria in 2012. Critics said parents “would become lazy” if they didn’t have to prepare meals for their kids, and the diner might be an “intrusion into each family’s private affairs”.

“Whether in urban areas or the countryside, local communities are losing the capability to support each other,” she said. “Kids’ diners could help shed light on the disadvantaged, who often remain invisible in Japanese society (due to a stigma), and give them much-needed connections with others to address problems they are facing.”

Despite the good intentions of Ms Kuribayashi, however, Ms Masumi Kanazawa, associate professor of social welfare at Momoyama Gakuin University, said the cafeteria cannot replace the long-term specialists’ care some children need.

“But troubled children who refuse to go to school, are neglected by their parents or the disabled tend to stay at home … (they) require long-term care before they can rebuild relationships with other people,” said Assoc Prof Kanazawa.

She said volunteers at children’s cafeterias need to alert welfare experts when they find kids with problems, because they have not been trained to handle such situations.

Local governments should not jump on the bandwagon to boost subsidies for kids’ cafes, she said, but try to allocate budgets to help those in dire straits instead. KYODO NEWS