Five hundred foreigners have paid their own way to come to Taiwan in order to clean toilets while on the island. On Sunday, the volunteers visited Shihlin Junior High School and Shihlin Elementary School, where they cleaned the restrooms from top to bottom. President Chain Store President Hsu Chung-jen and the founder of a Japanese association of volunteers that clean restrooms and other such places led the brigade of volunteers into action. On a steamy Taipei day, the volunteers wiped away beads of sweat as they scrubbed away to clean toilets and urinals. The conscientiousness of the crowd of volunteers in their work left many onlookers speechless.

Among the 500 volunteers who participated in the event from the volunteer cleaning association were the heads of several major Japanese corporations as well as well-known individuals in Japans educational circle. All of the members of the group were inspired to join the brigade by the call made by the founder of the association. They have all taken it on their own to devote themselves to cleaning work and to promote their efforts. They decided to start their task by addressing perhaps the dirtiest and most stinky places of all, namely restrooms. They treat their work as cleaners as one of the means to practice the moral teachings of Buddhism.

One of the people visiting Taiwan on this trip is the director of the Kyoto Citys Education Commission. He said that these days, children in Japan and in Taiwan are alike. He said that they have been overly protected by the parents, and none of the children are willing to even think about engaging in an activity such as cleaning toilets. He added that most schools these days also source out this work to outside companies, ending up fostering a concept in many children that they are above doing such work.

Starting two years ago, some schools in Kyoto began re-introducing the concept of having students clean the restrooms, making this work an important link in the overall educational experience at school. The official said that the result of the initiative has been quite positive so far. He said many of the children have become much more humble and based on the reality of life. He said he hopes that this type of experience can be passed on to the educational community in Taiwan.

The association of learning from cleaning was established in 1993 by the founder of Japans Yellow Hat Company, an automobile parts and goods chain store. The first chapter of the association was established in Taiwan five years ago. Taiwan presently has over 40 chapters. The president of Taiwans President Chain Store Corp., Hsu Chung-jen, has been the main promoter of the initiative in Taiwan.