More Than a Meal: Children's Cafeterias Build Community Across Japan
A Place to Belong
Begun as a voluntary, private sector initiative, children's cafeterias provide affordable or free meals to children and other community members. However, not many operators rank feeding kids as their foremost goal, according to Yuasa, who has been involved with children's cafeterias since 2016.
"Most say their mission is to provide a sense of belonging, a place where people from the neighborhood will feel comfortable," he explains. "Belonging' is key to the identity of children's cafeterias."
Certified Nonprofit Corporation Nationwide Children's Cafeteria Support Center, Musubie, established in 2018, does not run a cafeteria itself. Instead, it acts as an intermediary for corporations and individuals, who want to support children's cafeterias, as well as helps cafeterias network and meet their funding needs. It has supported over 12,000 organizations with a total of 1 billion yen as of 2022.
Musubie also conducts surveys and research. They found that kids who repeatedly visit children's cafeterias are more likely to see the cafeteria as a safe space where they can share their true feelings and discuss their problems, Yuasa says.
"Another thing in the survey findings that caught my attention was the increase in the number of children who answered that they were able to get along with anyone," he adds. At the cafeterias, children can interact with kids of different ages or from different schools, as well as various adults. "I think we have obtained great evidence that this kind of experience enhances children's social skills," Yuasa says.
Children's cafeterias play an important role in crowded Tokyo as a place for kids to play and relax.
What's in a Name?
"Children's cafeteria" may be a bit of a misnomer. Yuasa is eager for people to gain a more nuanced understanding of these diverse initiatives.
Children's cafeterias often do not only serve the very young; in fact, the elderly may make up a large portion of attendees in some places. If it takes a village to raise a child, then feeding said child is a happy excuse to get the village together and build community ties.
Another assumption some may have about children's cafeterias is that they are only for children from low-income households, a misunderstanding Yuasa is quick to debunk. In Japan, an average of one in nine children live in relative poverty, rising to one in two for single-parent households. While Yuasa acknowledges that providing low-cost or free meals is an important way children's cafeterias support low-income families, he cautions that labeling all cafeterias as "anti-poverty measures" is reductive and may discourage some from going.
Finally, Yuasa emphasizes that there are no top-down rules dictating how children's cafeterias are run.
"People often mistakenly assume that children's cafeterias are a standardized public service, but no two cafeterias are alike," Yuasa says. He likened this diversity to curry restaurants: Some are small, some large; some serve Japanese style curry, some Indian style; some charge more, some less — but no one bats an eye at the variety. "That is because we believe it is better to have diversity," he concluded, hopeful that people will come to think about children's cafeterias the same way.
Weathering Challenges, Looking Ahead
Since emerging around 2012, more and more children's cafeterias open in Japan every year, from roughly 300 in 2016 to over 9,000 in 2023. That is almost as many cafeterias as junior high schools nationwide, and Yuasa expects that cafeterias will also soon exceed elementary schools in number as schools are consolidated due to rural depopulation.
"As elementary schools become further from kids' homes, children's cafeterias will become the closest place where they can get to know their neighbors," he predicts, adding that these ties will also make communities more resilient to natural disasters.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for children's cafeterias grew and changed, as many families found it harder to make ends meet and schools closed. "Because of this, municipalities requested children's cafeterias' help with food distribution, as well as with detecting cases of children at risk of abuse," Yuasa explains.
Even after restrictions were lifted and cafeterias could return their focus to community building over a meal, some continued the activities they began during the pandemic. "The cafeterias' activities are diversifying," Yuasa says.
Currently, the rising cost of living — including food and energy — continues to put pressure on children's cafeterias. According to Musubie's research in 2023, cafeterias' average cost per session has risen by roughly 4,000 yen. However, they are loath to raise prices for attendees.
"Most places want to offer meals to children for free, and to adults for 300 or 500 yen," he said. "They find ways to cover the extra costs themselves," with Musubie supporting these efforts.
As for the role municipalities can play, Yuasa suggests that rather than financial support — which may be difficult for local governments to secure, even more so in the long-term — they can use their networks with chambers of commerce and neighborhood associations to connect potential supporters with cafeterias.
Going forward, the number of children's cafeterias will likely continue to increase, with opportunities to get involved for the whole community.
Yuasa Makoto
