MC's corporate culture is based on the desire to grow together with local and international communities in order to contribute to building truly prosperous societies around the world. With this in mind, we are engaged in a diverse range of ongoing social contribution projects and actively support the participation of our employees in volunteer activities.

Senegal has continued to be plagued by a chronic shortage of maternity hospitals. To help improve the condition of medical care in the country, the Dakar liaison office led an initiative to construct two maternity hospitals on the outskirts of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, which is located in the western part of Africa. The opening ceremony was held in April 2008 and was attended by the Japanese ambassador to Senegal, various dignitaries and interested parties as well as many local citizens, highlighting the high expectations held locally for the facilities.

The British Museum and MC signed a 10-year sponsorship agreement in January 2008 under which MC will be the sole sponsor of the permanent galleries dedicated to Japanese culture in the Museum. Under the sponsorship agreement, MC will contribute £1 million (approximately ¥0.21 billion) to the Museum. The galleries tell a chronological story highlighting the continuities of Japanese culture over the centuries, up to the present day, and are a focal point for disseminating Japanese culture in Europe. MC regards support for the galleries as internationally significant and consonant with its policy of enhancing its international contribution activities. Through this financial support, MC aims to build a continuously strong relationship between Europe and Japan that will help to spread Japanese culture.

In fiscal 2007, MC donated a pickup truck to the Bardo Museum in Tunisia. The presentation ceremony included roughly 20 invited guests, including the Ambassador of Japan to Tunisia, His Excellency Ambassador Endo. The Bardo Museum was opened in 1882 and boasts a plethora of historically valuable pieces of work. These include North African mosaics from the Roman era in the Second Century B.C. to the Byzantine period. Such famous exhibits have earned the museum a comparison with the Louvre. The donated vehicle will be used in the museum's archeological surveying and excavation work as well as for transporting artworks and other uses.

Through the Experimental Project in Forest Regeneration, launched in 1990, MC is engaged in the intensive, mixed planting of tree species native to each region. The aim of this project is to regenerate near-natural forest ecosystems in a short space of time, about 40 to 50 years.

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Experimental Project in Forest Regeneration

Since fiscal 2005, MC has engaged in the Global Coral Reef Conservation Project, a project that is actively researching the causes and effects of the coral reef crisis. This project aims to help conserve coral reefs around the world through a research-based approach. Research is being conducted in cooperation with universities, NGOs and other organizations. As part of the project, MC also recruits volunteers from inside and outside the Company, in a program designed to deepen people's understanding of environmental issues.

*For details of activities, click
Global Coral Reef Conservation Project

With the cooperation of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, MC has donated 200 solar-powered streetlights to villages without electricity in the Koraput region of Orissa in eastern India. The installation of environmentally friendly, solar-powered lamps will contribute to the development of local economies and improved safety and security for their residents. In other news, MC has newly established a human resource development center on the grounds of the Bijupatnaik Medical Plant Garden & Research Center, which is run by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, also in Koraput. MC is helping to reduce poverty and encourage agricultural development as well as improve living standards by running short-term programs for agrarian ethnic minorities that promote economic independence.

MC teamed up with Plan Japan (a national branch of the Plan International organization) to build a new Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) center to help with restoration efforts in Central Java following a major earthquake in May 2006. The center was completed in May 2007 and local citizens were actively involved in planning the center. They also now help run it. ECCD has benefited roughly 140 children and parents.

There are many elementary and junior high schools in the Philippines that struggle with a chronic shortage of classroom space. Since 2006, MC has been participating in a project that donates classrooms to elementary and junior high schools in the Philippines. The project was originally initiated in response to a call by the Philippine government MC plans to donate 20 classrooms over 3 years.

MC continues to support Taipei Municipal Yang Ming Home for The Disabled, a facility for the intellectually disabled in Taipei. In 2007, pickup trucks were donated for transporting residents and glasshouses which are used for growing vegetables in order for residents to gain agricultural experience.

MC has engaged in the Ecology Education Afforestation Project since 2003. Every year, this project brings together employees, secondees and family members of a local subsidiary in Beijing, who plant fruit trees in an effort to beautify an approximate 20 hectare area in China's Hebei province. Management of this land is entrusted to local farmers via the State Forestry Administration. Not only does this project help ensure work for local farmers, but the sales from the picked fruit are used to purchase educational materials and equipment for area elementary schools. It is thus a multifaceted social contribution program that supports impoverished regions.

Since 1991, MC has provided scholarships to international students attending Japanese universities, who show promise as future leaders. A total of 70 students benefited from this program in fiscal 2007. From fiscal 2008, MC plans to expand the program to around 100 students.

MC volunteers have participated in Tokyo Greenship Action preservation activities in a Tokyo Metropolitan Government-designated conservation zone since fiscal 2005. Around 50 MC employees and family members participate in this program twice a year. The program is coordinated by a local NPO. Since fiscal 2006, newly hired MC employees have taken part in activities as part of their orientation and training.

MC has lent a hand to the Guatemalan education ministry's Schools for the Future project to provide educational support to impoverished areas of the country. MC has donated two pickup trucks, which will be used to transport equipment and teachers to schools in locations that are difficult to reach.