CORRECTED-FEATURE-Pandemic puts pressure on Japan to open up rice stockpile to charities
Reuters
2/17/2021
(Corrected name of organisation in paragraph 26)
* Pandemic highlights often-overlooked poverty in Japan
* Government releases stockpiled rice to charities for first time
* Calls to ease rules over distributing rice to the needy
By Chang-Ran Kim and Izumi Nakagawa
TOKYO, Feb 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Ayumi lost her part-time job at a restaurant last summer, she ended up relying on rice and pre-packaged fare delivered once a month by a food bank to her college campus in Tokyo.
"I cut my meals to once a day, in mid-afternoon," the 22-year-old said. "Many friends were in the same boat – they worked at eateries that were hit because of the coronavirus."