
Second Harvest is the first incorporated food bank in Japan, they strive to ensure everyone has access to food within their own community. They help organizations such as orphanages, women shelters and welfare institutions, as well as individuals, families and disaster victims with a ’food safety-net’.
What do they do?
Second Harvest has four programmes that work on food issues.
Kitchen
The Kitchen programme cooks meals every Saturday and gives it to people in need at Ueno Park. They also provide food to victims of natural disasters, for example, they went to help after the Nota Peninsula Earthquake in 2024.
Pantry
People who need it can have access to food directly from pickup, food boxes and mobile pantries. Various types of food are provided here, from staple food to fresh products.
Food bank
The main activity of Second Harvest is to collect food in order to distribute it to those in need and to agencies that are working with them. They collect food from various sources such as huge food industry donors, government, companies, retailers as well as individuals donors and farmers.
Advocacy and development
Second Harvest participates also in education programmes and public speaking to raise awareness among the population and promote food bank development. The organization also conducts researches.
How can you help?
You can support Second Harvest by donating with the amount of your choice.
Volunteering is also a great opportunity to help with different activities like preparing packages, preparing food or driving vehicles to deliver food or pick up food from a donor.
EXO Foundation support
EXO Foundation and Second Harvest have a long-standing partnership that allows tourists visiting Japan with EXO Travel to donate the remaining value on their IC cards to Second Harvest upon their departure. The amount of tickets left on the card is then converted into money that benefits the organization.
Recently EXO Foundation has donated to Second Harvest to support the funding of pantries, especially in the region of Okinawa which has a high rate of poverty in Japan. This allowed the construction of 20 pantries in the region which can approximately help 10 000 people in a year.