First in a two-part series

World Food Day, celebrated every Oct. 16, was established by the U.N. to highlight issues such as food scarcity, agricultural pollution, and food distribution problems that still plague much of the world. So what does that have to do with Japan? Plenty, says Charles McJilton of Second Harvest Japan (2HJ).

McJilton first became involved with the homeless in Japan in 1991 when he lived in Sanya, one of the poorer areas of Tokyo. In January 1997 he began living with the homeless along the Sumida River near Sanya and stayed until April 1998. That experience radically changed him and how sees his role at 2HJ.