Five children from the Nonohana-no-ie Children's Home got a taste of the newsroom at The Japan Times and spent some time behind the microphone at radio Inter-FM recently, part of a program to prepare the youngsters for a working life outside the home.
Founded in 1984 by Misao Hanazaki, Nonohana-no-ie -- which literally means Wildflower House -- is presently home to 40 children between the ages of 2 and 18 who have been victims of abuse or neglect by their parents. Several were simply abandoned.
"I'm not really interested in working for a newspaper, but it's interesting to see what happens here," said Tamaki Fukui, 15, on the Aug. 30 visit. Interest picked up for Fukui and her friend, Keiko Mineshima, however, when the photo database was used to print out images of England soccer star David Beckham.