News
News
Published Letter to the Japan Times
Jan 24th
Michael’s letter to the Japan Times about orphanage donations was published January 20th.
You can read the letter here.
Ophanage visit reported in Hokkoku Shinbun!
Nov 11th
This just in from Anna Henderson in Ishikawa!
Hi! Thought you’d like to hear the Hokkoku Shinbun has published an article on orphanage visits in Ishikawa and some of the fundraising we’ve been involved in: http://www.hokkoku.co.jp/subpage/H20101029102.htm
I told them a lot more about Smile Kids and the origins in the interview but they couldn’t fit it in![]()
The article is in Japanese, but take a look anyway with a little help of Google Translate.
Fukui Newspaper talks about Smile Kids Japan
Oct 11th
The Fukui Newspaper has published an article about Smile Kids Japan! (In Japanese only.)
SKJ featured on The Japan Times Online
Sep 27th
The Japan Times as written an article on our own Mike Maher-King who started Smile Kids Japan. The article was written by a former JET, Jody Godoy.
Link to the Article: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20100925a1.html
A Call for Translators
Apr 23rd
Hi,
We are currently looking for volunteers to translate our site into Chinese, Portugese, Tagalog and Spanish. If you are fluent in one of these languages, as well as either Japanese or English, and you would like to volunteer your time to help us, please email us on smilekidsjapan@gmail.com .The more languages we have, the more communities can start to visit orphanages all over Japan.
Thank you for all your help,
Smile Kids Japan
Our Mission Statement
Apr 16th
We are a recently formed small non-profit group. Our aims are to
- Promote awareness of orphanages across Japan, especially amongst the foreign communities.
- Encourage these communities to set up regular volunteer visits.
- Help show these volunteers how this is possible, with hints, tips, and an overview of everything from setting up the first meeting to keeping up volunteer motivation.
- Ultimately we are aiming for every orphanage in Japan to have a two hour visit once a month.
We started at one orphanage in Fukui Ken and are now setting up regular visits at our third orphanage here, and want to replicate the success we have had here all across Japan. There is nothing to stop every orphanage in Japan having regular visits, and there is nothing to stop you being the one that makes that happen. If you are considering starting then rather than listen to me, please read stories of our volunteers from all over the world here.
Good luck with your volunteering and remember, this is only one model for a visit. There is no single correct way to do volunteer work, and every home will have slightly different needs. We hope only to provide you with one example, one model, something for you to build upon. More than that we hope to provide you with the spark, the idea, and the self belief. We want to show you that you can make an enormous difference to children’s lives while you are here in Japan, children that need more care and affection than most.
Ganbatte Kudasai!
Michael Maher King
Fukui Volunteers Were Featured in the Fukui Shinbun
Nov 8th
The Fukui volunteers were featured in a story in the Fukui Shinbun (prefectural paper) on February 25th 2009. The Fukui volunteer program has also been discussed on local radio in Fukui and becomes AJET first JET Effect article.
November 2008: JET Effect Spotlight



