ABSTRACT
The Great East Japan Earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011, resulted in nearly 20,000 fatalities and missing persons in the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. A large number of the victims of this disaster have still not been able to return to their daily lifestyles. Focus has also been placed on the difficulties that women and society’s vulnerable face in the workplace and in evacuation centers, etc., which raises the question of how support should be provided. This research concentrates not on the issues of poverty faced by single parents as a direct result of the earthquake, but on the visibility that the earthquake brought to preexisting issues. Also, the problem of poverty in single-parent families, including the families that lost a parent as a result of the earthquake, is especially grave in Iwate Prefecture, which is one of the areas most affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and which is showcased herein. This paper describes the support activities provided for children in single-parent families by NPO Inclu Iwate (including a children’s restaurant, the Inclu Café, and employment support for parents), and examines the significance of this.
