Photo= Small dishes for 100-yen breakfast at DWCLA. Students can choose three (Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto)

A movement to start"100-yen breakfast" to encourage students to have breakfast is spreading at universities in Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures. The aim is to improve students' lifestyles and enhance their concentration in class by offering well-balanced meals for 100 yen. It is said that this arrangement is especially popular among students living alone away from their parents and is catching on at each university.

As planned by the university and the student union, Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts started the breakfast from July in the cafeterias at both its Imadegawa campus in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, and its Kyotanabe campus in Kyotanabe City, Kyoto Prefecture. Students can choose three small dishes, including fried foods, boiled vegetables seasoned with soy sauce, salad, eggs, and so on, in addition to rice and miso soup. Approximately 150 to 180 meals are served per day on both campuses. Although the breakfast will stop at the end of July, resuming it from fall semester is under consideration. A senior in the Faculty of Human Life and Science who lives alone, is pleased and said, "I can eat breakfast regularly. It is good the menu changes every day because I won't get bored."

The first among universities to begin efforts to offer breakfast for 100 yen was Kyoto Tachibana University in Yamashina Ward. It started in May 2008 due to requests from students' parents. The breakfast is offered at the cafe on campus except during university vacations. Students also like being able to get an extra-large helping of rice.

Kyoto Sangyo University in Kita Ward, and Ritsumeikan University at Kinugasa Campus in Kita Ward, Kyoto, and at Biwako Kusatsu Campus in Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture, also adopted the breakfast from last year. To interest freshmen in the 100-yen breakfast, Ritsumeikan University launched the "100-yen breakfast recipe contest" from mid-May to late June. Among approximately 70 entries, spinach curry was selected for the highest award. At each university, mutual aid societies for student health insurance, parents' associations, and others bear the cost difference.

Tomoko Imai, a national registered dietitian and professor in the Faculty of Human Life and Science at DWCLA, specializing in public nutrition, said, "University students tend to start keeping irregular hours and establish a habit of skipping breakfast. Eating breakfast makes you realize that you are in good shape. It is important to create better conditions for students to have breakfast."