61 M. Yen Collected during "Ashinaga" Fundraising Relay

Tokyo, Dec. 17 (Jiji Press)--A relay across Japan for raising educational funding for children who have lost a parent or both parents due to illness or disaster was completed on Saturday, collecting some 61 million yen, according to the Ashinaga Foundation, its organizer.

The relay, in which students receiving support from the foundation called for donations on the street across the country, started in May. Full-scale street fundraising activities had been halted since October 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 3,000 students on the Ashinaga scholarship and volunteers took part in the relay and visited all of the country's 47 prefectures in about seven months.

On Saturday, some 20 Ashinaga scholarship students gathered near JR Shinjuku Station and expressed their gratitude for donations.

"The situation involving bereaved children has come close to the critical point due to the pandemic and price increases," said Ryusei Teramoto, 22-year-old director-general of the Ashinaga Students Fundraising Association, who himself is receiving support from the Ashinaga Foundation.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]