Friday, May 04, 2012
We Had a Booth at Earth Day Tokyo 2012!
Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) had a booth at Earth Day Tokyo 2012 on April 21 and 22 in Yoyogi park. Same as the previous year, many people came to the event, and 2HJ shared our mission with them. We were glad many of them were very curious about food banking.
2HJ’s Kurosawa explains about the organization to visitors.
Link to News story »
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Mainichi Shimbun Newspaper Featured Seccond Harvest Japan!
Mainichi Newspaper, one of the most popular papers in Japan, features 2HJ and our food bank activities on Apr 11. The circulation is 3,454,981. We appreciate this publicity.
You can click the image to expand.
Link to News story »
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
“More like having fun than working” Volunteer interview No.9: Ms. Sagane and Ms. Shiramizu
For our volunteer interview No. 9, Mr. John Wood interviewed Ms. Sagane and Ms. Shiramizu, both college students helping 2HJ’s soup-kitchen program.
Ms. Shiramizu
By way of introduction, please tell me something about your background. Where do you come from and what are you studying at university?
Ms. Sagane: I’m originally from Kyoto. I lived in the United States for three years when I was little, so I speak both Japanese and English. I’m now majoring in English Studies at my university.
Ms. Shiramizu: I’m from Fukuoka and now I’m studying English at Sophia university.
How did you hear about 2HJ and what was your motivation to seek a volunteer opportunity at 2HJ?
Ms. Sagane: I heard about 2HJ in my class and I wanted to volunteer in my community since I had already done some volunteering outside of Japan.
Ms. Shiramizu: I had a course called “Investigations for Volunteer Activities” last semester, and I got to know about 2HJ through it. In that course, we were required to do at least 45 hours of volunteer work. The teachers suggested some volunteer organizations and I chose 2HJ just because it was close to my house and school.
Have you been involved in any volunteer activities before?
Ms. Sagane: Yes, I volunteered in Cambodia. I taught English to junior-high students every summer since 2009 for a total of three weeks using original texts that we designed. It was a very unique experience.
Ms. Shiramizu: No, I haven’t.
Ms. Sagane
Are university students around you aware of and well informed about volunteer organizations and what is their attitude towards volunteering?
Ms. Sagane: I think university students are more aware of organizations helping people outside of Japan than those working inside the country. Within my group of friends, it seems like they aren’t opposed to volunteering, but they are hesitant to actually do so.
Ms. Shiramizu: I think there are many students who have never been involved in volunteer activities. I personally know only a few people who have worked as volunteers. But that doesn’t mean university students are not interested in volunteering, it’s just because they never think about doing volunteer activities since we don’t have volunteer education in school. In fact, when I talk about 2HJ to my friends, many of them seem interested and some even want to join us.
What were your first impressions about 2HJ?
Ms. Sagane: My first impression was “comfortable.” People at 2HJ have been nice to me from the start. I feel very much at home here.
Ms. Shiramizu: The volunteers and workers at 2HJ were all very friendly, and the atmosphere was nice and open. I thought it was more like having fun than working as a volunteer.
What are you most excited about volunteering at 2HJ?
Ms. Sagane: Meeting people. There are many people at 2HJ. I enjoy talking to people from different backgrounds and getting to know many things.
Ms. Shiramizu: The best thing about volunteering at 2HJ is being able to talk with people of different ages, nationalities, occupations, backgrounds, etc., all while having fun working together.
Do you have any ideas about what you want to do after you graduate from university?
Ms. Sagane: I like to interact with people so I want to do something where I can meet many kinds of people. It would be even better if my job allowed me to use English to communicate with people around the world.
Ms. Shiramizu: I’m right in the middle of job hunting right now. I would like to work for a commercial company after I graduate. Once I find a job, I plan to continue volunteering at 2HJ about once a month.
Link to News story »
Public Speaking
Second Harvest Japan’s staff members do public speaking on many different occasions. Due to the limited staff personnel power, we might not be able to answer all requests, but we will try to utilize as many opportunities as possible! Our public speaking themes include food banking, the nonprofit sector in Japan, and food issues in Japan.
If you are interested in having one of our staff make a speech about our activities, please contact us at info@2hj.org with the following information:
1) Theme about which you would like us to speak
2) Number of attendees
3) Date
4) Venue
5) Your contact information
Thank you very much for your interest in Second Harvest Japan!
Recent public speaking
2012
2HJ Speaks at Junten Middle School and High School!
4/5 - 2HJ CEO Charles McJilton Speaks at The American School In Japan (ASIJ)!
2/16 - 2HJ Speaks at Shinobugaoka High School!
2/10 - 2HJ Speaks at Minato Ward 3R Promotion Campaign!
2011
12/15 - 2HJ Executive Director Charles McJilton Speaks at Meiji Gakuin University!
12/2 - 2HJ Speaks at Deutsche Bank
11/30 - 2HJ Speaks at Kagawa Nutrition University
11/29 - 2HJ Speaks at Aoyama Gakuin University
11/20 - COO Masahiro Otake Spoke at Food Bank Yamagata’s Inaugural Meeting
11/4 - 2HJ Speaks at Japan Snack Serial Foods Association
11/1 - 2HJ Speaks about Nonprofit Internet Strategy at NPO Support Center
10/28 - COO Masahiro Otake Speaks at Hattori Nutrition Collge
10/20 - 2HJ COO Masahiro Otake Speaks at Social Entrepreneur University on 10/20
10/18 - 2HJ Speaks at NPO Support Center
10/13 - 2HJ Executive Director McJilton Spoke at Okayama Forum on 10/13
Link to News story »
2HJ Speaks at Junten Middle School and High School!
On April 9, 2012, 2HJ PR Officer Rumi Ide spoke to 400 9th and 10th graders at Junten Middle School and High School in Kita-ward, Tokyo. The talk mainly focused on 2HJ’s food banking and disaster relief activities in Northern Japan.
There was another nonprofit giving a speech at the school on the same day.
The school have a walkathon, Sponsored Walk, on April 28, in which the students will walk long miles. When a student finishes, a sponsor donates money to a charity. Their sponsors will donate money to the charity the students chose. 2HJ is in the competition with the other nonprofit for this waklathon event.
The school is famous for its international-spirited education and welfare education. The school offers various volunteer programs from local community activities to international NGO aids. They also held food drives in which the students were encouraged to bring food from home to the school to donate to 2HJ.
As we expected from their reputation, the students were very serious when listening to our speech. We sincerely thank the students at Junten School for the opportunity.
Link to News story »
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