Yuji Arakawa is a writer, and at the same time, a well known person as a volunteer of picking up trashes from six in the morning at Shinjuku, Tokyo, when he used to attend Sophia University. Although there were struggles of being distracted by those who work there or live there, he was picked as a topic on Asahi Newspaper, which came out as his turning point. As he appeared on TV shows and radios, his volunteer became famous and the 'trash picking' volunteer enlarged from one person to 1500 people. The movement is reaching to foreign countries, increasing the number of participants. When he faces some difficulties in his life, he takes a look back to this volunteering experience, and convinces himself that he had succeeded in 'picking up trashes' volunteer, then, why can't he succeed in other things?

作家・小説家、GOMIファンタジスタプロジェクト代表 1986年生まれ 上智大学経済学部経営学科卒 大学時代に「自分を変えたい！」という思いで、毎朝6時から日本一汚い場所新宿駅東口の掃除をたった1人で始める。その活動はホームレスから始まり、1人また1人と仲間が増え続けた。半年後の2007年5月3日には、全国に呼びかけ一斉にゴミ拾いを開催。総勢444人を集める。その活動は現在全世界15万人以上に及ぶムーブメントに広がっている。現在は小説家業を行う一方で、全国の学校を中心とした講演活動等様々な活動を行っている。著書に『半ケツとゴミ拾い』、『神風ニート特攻隊』（講談社）がある。 2014年6月より、内閣総理大臣夫人 安倍昭恵氏と首相公邸で行われるネット番組『首相公邸チャンネル』の司会を務めている。

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx