New Donation Box2010/06/07

Donation box in Fukuokan style

Japan is a nation of vending machine. A survey says that there are more than 5 million vending machines, which means every 50 people are provided with some sort of vending machine.

 

This machine is of one of the latest model that attempts to boost their sales by  appealing to our conscience.

When you buy your refreshments from this machine, you will automatically donate some changes to support local NPO activities. Recipients of the donations include, guide dog training (make a lot of sense-- it could be expensive to train puppies into guide dogs),

Donate for guide dogs!

child-rearing (I don’t have the slightest idea about how will the money donated for this activity be spent, though. Free nappies?), making ‘greener’ Fukuoka (Absolutely no idea),

In a park...

So, what is the 'creation of green Fukuoka'?
local sports clubs, and local rescue teams. And there will be probably more as the government support for NPOs has been drastically cut down and more organizations will seek some sort of fundraising. 

 

The machines declare that a part’ of the sales goes for each activity. But, according to my quick-to-give-up research, this kind of machines don't clearly state how much the ‘a part’ is, and how the donation will be spent. Only Japan Red Cross says in its website that about 5% of the sales will be donated.

 

Are the other organizations are too shy to state the exact figure, or is there any hidden reason to hide how much they take? Or, is it only blackhearted person who is suspicious about this kind of well-wishing activities?