In March of 1963, Dr. Seiji Kaya, President of Tokyo University in his speech to the graduates encoouraged, “I want all of you to bravely practice “small kindness” and trigger an avalanche of kindness so that kindness prevails among the nation.”

In the 1960s, while the Japanese society was undergoing rapid postwar development, young people were missing their ideals and purposes of life.
Their energy was poured into student movements. Miss Michiko Kamba, a student of Tokyo University dies in a clash between police corps and student demonstrators. Herein lies the impetus of Prof. Kaya urging the initiation of the “Small Kindness”movement.

In the 44 years since then, we have been promoting the building of a thoughtful society where people communicate well with a motto of “Let’s practice whatever kindness we can offer, so that it will become the habit of our society.”

1. The Small Kindness movement is a nationwide movement but it is based on local communities.

1) National Executive Office
The “Small Kindness Movement” in Japan has a membership system. At present, we have corporate, individual and organization members with about 170,000members in total. We publish a magazine and information booklets, offer information materials for activities and coordinate activities organized by our local offices. We also support efforts by our local offices.

2) Local Executive Offices
We have local executive offices in 35 prefectures with branches in 167 municipalities. These local organizations are linked in a nationwide network to build emotionally rich communities.

2. “Small Kindness Movement” conducts various activities.
We organize activities to nurture emotionally rich children and youth, to clean the environment, to carryout exchange with movement-related people in other countries, to spread the spirit of “Small Kindness,” to present wheelchairs and used stamps and telephone cards to other service organizations, to organize volunteers to help sufferers from typhoons and earthquakes, and other activities. Anyone of any ages and both members and non-members can take part in our activities. I would introduce major activities:

1) Clean-up Operation
In 1983, we initiated the clean-up operation under the slogan “Keep our town clean and beautiful.” The first Sunday of June is designated as the National Clean-up Operation Day. Last year, 540,000 people took part in this operation. In addition, local groups organize clean-up operations from time to time. Groups near beaches clean the beaches before the swimming season starts.
For these occasions, member corporations offer about 400,000 plastic bags to collect trash.

2) Essay Contest
We organize an Essay Contest for elementary and junior high school children with the theme of kindness. This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of this contest. We receive about 40,000 entries not only from schools in Japan but also from overseas Japanese schools.
Every year when we announce the award winners in newspapers, we receive requests for the copies of the essay book. Some of the award-winning essays are included in the textbooks of moral education.

3) Postcard Campaign
This is a contest of short essays written on postcards on the episodes of kindness a person has received or witnessed, and on the heartwarming feelings that the person felt. This is targeted at people of all ages, from children to the elderly. Episodes of kindness written on a sheet of postcard give warmth and encouragement to the readers.

[Essay on a postcard]
The caretaker in the city swimming pool takes a one-month leave from his company. To get this leave, he saves his holidays for one year.
One day, I met him at a different place from the swimming pool. It was at the outpatient clinic for child heart diseases of the hospital that I visited regularly.
He said, “I had a weak heart from my childhood, and I trained myself by swimming. So, I am well now. Tomoyuki, try your best!” and patted me on the head.
When I become sickly while at the swimming pool, he immediately runs to me with a bucket. “Throw up if you feel like vomiting! I used to vomit.”
I want to see him next year again, not at the hospital but at the pool.
(Tomoyuki Ogawa, Tokyo, 8 years old)

These episodes are collected in the book series titled “Touching Stories Bringing Tears into your Eyes.” So far, series 1 to 10 have been published, and became a long-selling book series with over one million copies. In 2004, two picture books were published based on episodes contained in this book series.

４) Donation of Wheelchairs and Sending Volunteers to Hospitals and Care Institutions

We present more than 200 wheelchairs to nursing homes for the elderly, hospitals and nursing institutions every year. We also sent volunteers in 2004 to these facilities to interact with people staying there. These volunteer activities were covered by local newspapers and drew much public attention.

3. We Present the Small Kindness Action Award
The most important activity of the Small Kindness movement is to give the Small Kindness Action Award to individuals who have practiced kind acts. We invite the public to find the conducts of kindness around themselves and recommend the persons who extended their kindness to others to the Executive Office. Through presenting them the Small Kindness Action Award, we expect that thoughtfulness will spread in society. We present a certificate and a badge to the Award winners.
In March 2005, the total number of Award winners exceeded 4.5 million. There are many schools, corporations and communities that are promoting Small Kindness activities, and the number of recommendations from them is increasing.