Japan's Ashinaga Foundation is partnering with Vassar, alma mater of novelist Jean Webster, whose 1912 novel inspired founder Yoshiomi Tamai.

"Orphans like Oliver Twist and Harry Potter have always held a special place in literature. But despite their resourcefulness, they rarely succeed without the benevolence of others. That lesson drives the work of Japanese charity Ashinaga, which helps children in Japan and Uganda who have lost one or both parents pay for their education. The nonprofit owes much of its success to another fictional orphan, Judy Abbott, in the 1912 American novel Daddy-Long-Legs, by Jean Webster.... The book also led Ashinaga to forge a unique partnership with the author’s alma mater, Vassar College. With the help of a Tony Award-winning director, the charity and the college have produced a musical starring the Ugandan and Japanese children that Ashinaga serves." -- Rebecca Koenig, the Chronicle of Philanthropy