Japan's rising child poverty exposes true cost of two decades of economic decline
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo from on (#294XB)
Soup kitchens have sprung up to provide meals for some of the estimated 3.5 million children officially living in poverty in one of world's richest countries
The smell of beef stew wafts from a kitchen as a brigade of volunteers put their cooking skills to use on a recent Saturday evening in Tokyo's commuter belt.
In an adjoining room, children chat and make paper cutouts while they await the arrival of what, for some, will be their only proper meal of the day.
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It's not right that in a country like Japan there are still children who have to go to bed with an empty stomach.
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