Michel Chikwanine, a university student in Canada who was once a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has suffered things no ordinary Japanese child will ever have to.
But, he says, that does not mean Japan has no connection to the widespread problem of child labor, including child soldiers.
Chikwanine was in Japan last week for the June 12 World Day Against Child Labor, set up by the International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency that, among other pursuits, works to end child labor.