To give disadvantaged children a better chance to interact with others in their communities, a number of makeshift eateries run by volunteers have begun sprouting up throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Known as "children's diners," the sites are typically found at temples, churches, community centers and existing eateries, where they drawing attention not only as charities for children from low-income, single-parent or other disadvantaged households, but as places where the kids' frayed bonds with their communities can be revived.
There are about 100 of the diners so far, mostly in Tokyo and surrounding areas, feeding needy children for free or on the cheap. That number is likely to climb as seminars introducing volunteers to the basics of the operations grow.