Hiroko: I saw on the news that the Children's Cafeteria has become a topic of convesation.
Syoh: By 'Children's Cafeteria,' do you mean a cafeteria that only children can go to? Like where they have special kid's meals?
Hiroko: No. 'Children's Cafeteria' is a service where meals are served to children from poor families for free.
Syoh: Is that something the government runs?
Hiroko: No, it isn't. It's run by private citizens, and there are already more than 300 of them across the country.
Syoh: I understand that there are a lot of children who come from poor families, but should't the government take the initiative and develop welfare services like this?
Prof: You're right,Syoh. The involvement of private citizens in volunteer work is praiseworthy, but essentially, projects like the Children's Cafeteria should be undertaken as a part of social security policy.
Syoh: But, Japan is one of the richest countries in the world, is't it? Are there really many families struggling with poverty?
Prof: To understand this, you must first understand that there are two types of poverty. There is abusolute poverty, and there's also relative poverty.
Hiroko: What's absolute poverty?
Prof: Absolute poverty is a situation where a person is unable to get the resouces they need to maintain a minimum standard of living.
