Santa Project to Deliver Donated Books to Children in Noto

Tokyo, Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)--Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus will deliver donated books as Christmas gifts to children including those on the Noto Peninsula in central Japan, which was devastated by a powerful earthquake on New Year's day this year.

Under the "Book Santa" project, such volunteers will bring books, purchased as donations at bookstores across the country cooperating with the project, on Christmas Eve to children aged zero to 18 who are experiencing such hardships as poverty, illness and natural disasters.

Under the slogan "You Could Become Santa Clause for Someone," 1,868 bookstores joining the project across the country's 47 prefectures at present will continue to collect donations until Wednesday.

Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Charity Santa launched the project in 2017 and a total of 95,616 books were delivered last year.

Book recipients this year will include 156 children from a total of 71 quake-hit households in the central prefecture of Ishikawa, including those living in temporary housing in the city of Wajima, hit hard by the Jan. 1 quake and a torrential rain in September, as well as those who were evacuated to the Ishikawa capital of Kanazawa.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]