Staff of a private organization pack emergency food for single-parent households in March 2020, when the government introduced school closures in the COVID-19 pandemic and children of low-income households could not receive school-provided lunches. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
When historian Masakatsu Okado was studying old documents kept at an elementary school, he kept seeing this phrase over and over: “Child’s presence required due to dire poverty.”
According to Okado’s book “Minshu no Kyoiku Keiken” (Education experience of the masses), the phrase was used in petitions from desperately poor parents seeking the school’s permission to pull their children out so the youngsters could be put to work.
Dec 12, 2020
For a homesick international resident in Japan, a snack from home, or a beloved name brand from childhood, can sometimes be just the thing. Today, non-Japanese ingredients are available at most supermarkets, and peanut butter is sitting right there on the shelf. If the local supermarket doesn’t stock it, there’s a good chance it can be found and ordered online.
Because it’s become so easy to find these things, maybe the closing of Foreign Buyers’ Club (FBC) on Dec. 5 didn’t hit the international community quite as hard as it once might have. Many new-to-Japan residents might never have heard of a company that, for decades, was the only way to get Honey Nut Cheerios, Kraft Mac & Cheese and many other staples of a life left behind.