ASHINAGA Demonstrators in Tokyo¡Çs Ginza district call for enactment of ¡ÈChild Poverty Countermeasures Act,¡É
as well as elimination of high school tuition fees for low-income households

With support from various organizations, Ashinaga sponsored the 21st Orphans and Mothers National Conference on December 6, 2009, held at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, Tokyo. The conference was chaired by Saki Morimoto, an Ashinaga scholar and senior at Komazawa Women¡Çs University. After the conference, 300 mothers and orphans from around the country marched from Ginza to Hibiya Park, calling for more government support for households headed by mothers. View detailed Press Release (in our Japanese site). Read Japanese media coverage of the event: The Japan Times

The conference featured attendance by several government figures, including Kan Suzuki, junior vice minister in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; Hiroyuki Nagahama, a vice minister in the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare; and Diet members Hiroyuki Yoshiie (Liberal Democratic Party), Michiyo Takagi (New Komeito Party), and Tetsuya Shiokawa (Japanese Communist Party). The 300 conference participants from around the country adopted a set of six demands, calling on the government and representatives of political parties to provide systematic relief for households with children who have lost one or both parents. The demands targeted support for education expenses, reductions in medical expense co-payments, the establishment of a ¡ÈChild Poverty Countermeasures Act,¡É and establishment of a new system that would eliminate high school tuition fees for low-income households and provide grants for education.

Separately, on the day before the conference, informal round-table discussions were held for mothers and high school students at the Nippon Seinenkan in Jingu-gaien, Tokyo. The round-table for mothers was attended by 26 women who were raising children after losing spouses; participants came from as far away as Hokkaido and Okinawa. The round-table for high school students, on the other hand, featured 12 students who had lost a parent. The groups talked about their fears and anxieties surrounding areas such as daily life and education, and also discussed desired action by politicians and the government.