We used to hear a lot about the so-called "generation gap" between parents and children. Last year we experienced that economic gaps are also increasing greatly. By such economic gaps, relationships between people are becoming more broken because people are valuing financial status more than relationships. 

Urbanization is drastically increasing, not only in big cities, but in the countryside. We see more and more families without a father present because either he is working in another city or the parents have divorced. As a result, children often don't know how to relate to their parents.

We Japanese used to be known as the people who value relationships above everything else, with our communities being formed by intimate relationships. But today, we see children who refuse to leave their homes or even their own rooms. They refuse to play with friends. They abandon friendship because of a small quarrel instead of seeking to mend it. Others wear headphones on trains in order to avoid being approached by other people. At every turn they miss opportunities to make connections with those around them.

We are finding that these social changes are causing more and more people to become involved with us out of a need for authentic human relationships.