Kids Without Families Meet Olympic Visitors (February 20) Admission tickets to see Olympic contests are expensive and can be hard to come by, but 16 kids who live in a Nagano home for those who've lost or can't live with their parents got a taste of the Olympics by strolling around outside a sports arena and meeting visitors who had gathered from all over the world At the end of the day, the kids took home not only notebooks full of signatures and Olympic pins that spectators gave them but fond memories of this once-in-a-lifetime event. "Signature, please." With simple comments like these, the kids approached foreign visitors outside the M-Wave speed-skating rink. The kids were thrilled when a Canadian couple not only gave them their signatures but also Olympic badges. In exchange for the pins, the children gave the visitors used telephone cards with pictures of famous sites in Nagano, like the temple Zenkoji. "Nagano may never host the Olympics again," said Koichi Takashima, who led the children on the outing. "And so I wanted them to have a chance to at least meet some of the many foreign visitors here. Even though they didn't get to see actual competition, I think the pins and signatures they got will remain with them as good memories." (Shinano Mainichi Shimbun)

A young resident of an orphanage receives a signature.

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