The Playground of Hope story started writing itself after the disastrous earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that struck the Tohoku region of Japan in March 2011.
At that time, Playground of Hope’s founder, Michael Anop, dedicated his free time to volunteering in the area. First, he took part in the initial clean-up, and later helped supply communities with drinking water and fresh food as part of the Save Minami Soma project.
Over time, the situation in the Tohoku disaster zone stabilized and the basic needs of the society could be met, including rebuilding of parks and play spaces.
We took what we learned in the disaster zones and are now applying the same approach to children’s homes across Japan.
Kids with elevated stress levels need play to help them relieve stress. Our experience has taught us that play and laughter can be some of the best medicine for children.
As we were looking for areas to start expanding beyond disaster zones, we were introduced to the first children’s home in our expanding network – Koyama Home in Chiba.
The problem that children’s homes face are similar to the disaster zones – funds to build quality play spaces are insufficient and children living there are often stressed because of their family circumstances.
Seeing this, we have jumped at the opportunity to match the home with a play set donor and conduct an event at the home.
With the community around children’s homes being tight-knit, we were helping with revitalizing play spaces of several other orphanages throughout the Kanto area in no time.
While working on play space revitalization projects at children’s homes, we have interacted not only with many children, but also with the staff that both administers the facilities and takes care of the children.
One question that kept popping up while talking with the staff was whether there was anything we could do to also engage the older children – junior high and senior high school students.
As a result of that, we developed our Real Life Learning Program which lets the youth from children’s homes not only learn about and try through internships but also get a full-time job at participating Hilton group hotels throughout Japan.
Michael’s initial plan was to build four or five play sets. However, a closer look at the situation in the area revealed a much bigger need for safe play spaces.
Not only did facilities in the coastal region have their play equipment damaged or even washed away by the tsunami, play sets in areas relatively close to the nuclear powerplant in Fukushima had to be torn down as well. As such, there was a lot of play space rebuilding and revitalization to be done.
Since then, with the help of our partners, donors, and supporters, we built more than 60 play sets in the Tohoku region and also a number in the Kumamoto area, which was affected by a major earthquake in 2016.
We are also ready to be the first ones to start bringing play into any future communities affected by a natural disaster.
We believe in the importance of long-term relationships with the children’s homes we serve. That is why, in addition to improving their play spaces, we also organize a variety of events at the homes. Our flagship event, Circus Playtime, gives volunteers a chance to meaningfully interact with the children and the children a chance to learn circus tricks they will remember for a long time to come.
Supporting play at facilities where needed the most, including at children’s homes and in disaster zones, is our priority. That said, play is in short supply in other places throughout Japan too.
Because of this, we build playgrounds and hold events in partnership with companies that have a strong presence in their local communities.
