Since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, MC has been conducting "MC Volunteer Activity!," as one of its social contribution activities to promote volunteerism amongst its employees. Under this system, MC accumulates one token of virtual currency valued at 500 yen each time an employee declares his/her participation in a volunteer activity.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, MC accumulated 6,221 tokens. Part of the proceeds of this were allocated to the the Shanti Volunteer Association, which is involved in supporting the education and culture of children in Asia, mostly in the area of library activities. This association used the funds to locally create 350 kamishibai (story-telling cards) telling the story of the "Happy Couple Living at Mt. Sasayon," which were distributed in and around Phnom Penh, Cambodia to elementary schools (57 schools), teacher training colleges and libraries to which MC had provided construction aid.

MC has been involved in volunteer activities that adapt Japanese picture books for children in places such as Cambodia, Laos, refugee camps in Myanmar (Burma) and Afghanistan by affixing local language translations.

On October 5, 2009, a ceremony for the donation of 150 picture books translations affixed by MC employees to elementary schools in Cambodia was held at Prey Nhea Primary School in Kampong Cham. Attendees of the ceremony included employees of Mitsubishi Corporation Phnom Penh Liaison Office, people from Shanti Volunteer Association Cambodia Office and officials from Kampong Cham Department of Education. Along with the picture books, the students and teachers of the host school were also presented with other items such as pens, note books and dictionaries.

Since 1992, Mitsubishi Corporation Niigata Branch has been collaborating with local companies, governments and citizens in a social contribution activity called "For the Children of the 21st Century." This year, the program was held on August 17-23.

Under this program, which promotes international exchange amongst children of Japan (Niigata), Russia, China, and the Republic of Korea, university student volunteers act as leaders for children while local volunteers play a supporting role. So far, 947 children have participated in the program and more than 1,700 people, including students, have volunteered. As the program has been running for 17 years, the social network of exchange is gradually developing and some of the volunteers today are children who took part in the program in the past.

The program offers children who take part in it the hands-on experience of overcoming problems such as the differences in lifestyle, culture and the language of communication, and learning to understand each other with body language.

Volunteers participate for about a year, which includes preparation time. In addition to contributing to the community, MC is also contributing to developing human resources.

The Friendship Camp for Mothers and Children is a social contribution activity of MC that has been continuing for 35 years. This year, it was held twice, on July 25-27 and on July 31-August 2 at Yoshizato, Minami Uonuma City, Niigata Prefecture.

For the two events combined, a total of 298 people participated, which included 215 people belonging to 94 single-parent families living in Tokyo Metropolis and Kanagawa Prefecture, 46 MC employee volunteers and other organizing staff.

The camp offered a broad program of activities including mountain hiking, playing in the nearby river, and making and enjoying a campfire. For the children, the camp was an opportunity to play freely amongst nature, while for mothers, it was a chance to forget the daily work and housework and enjoy camping. The camp also aimed to allow mothers to network amongst themselves.

In the total history of this activity, 15,642 mothers and children and 664 volunteers have participated. This activity exemplifies MC's motto for its social contribution activities, namely, "continuation" and "employee participation."

MC supports the activities of Urawa Reds Heart-full Soccer and commencing this fiscal year, it will support "Urawa Reds Heart-full Soccer in Asia."

The event in Japan was held on Ground 3, Saitama Stadium 2002 on Wednesday April 29, a public holiday.
It was a lively event with a record number of about 500 soccer fans applying for the 200 spots available. MC employees participated as volunteers, providing support for the soccer school.

The event in Hong Kong was held from May 3 to 6. In addition to holding soccer school for approximately 220 of local children and students attending elementary and junior-high school for the Japanese, there were also interviews and a talk show featuring the coaches, which was enjoyable for parents and children alike. Even in Hong Kong, the Urawa Reds have a following and the event attracted local media attention. The event finished with a big success thanks to the efforts of coaches, organizing staff and employees of Mitsubishi Corporation Hong Kong. After the event locals expressed a wish for the event to be held again in Hong Kong.

On March 21, 2009, staff volunteers from Mitsubishi International GmbH and their families, 23 people in all, took part in an organized event to beautify the city of Duesseldorf, Germany. This is an event where citizens of Duesseldorf work together to pick up litter from parks, recreation fields and river banks of the Rhine River and generally clean and tidy the city. The volunteers of Mitsubishi International GmbH, consistent with the spirit of contributing to society in regions where MC is active, cleaned up the river banks of the Rhine River, which runs close by the company's office. Although this year was the first time for staff and families to actually participate, as last year's gathering was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather, the company plans to make this an annual event for years to come.

From February 27 to March 1, 2009, staff volunteers of Mitsubishi Corporation took part in afforestation activities in Kaili, Guienou as part of a project for the China Green Foundation, one of China's largest NGOs. Around 40 staff volunteers, who came from places such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangenou, took part in these activities. Although the staff volunteers all work for the same company in the same country, it was a rare opportunity to meet each other, and work together in afforestation efforts. It was also an opportunity to talk with local government authorities and the local residents, making it a rewarding three days for all who volunteered.

As part of its social contribution activities, MC has helped to create and distribute supplementary learning material, entitled "Industry and Trade Linking the World", for 5th and 6th grade elementary school students in Tokyo.

The learning material provides an easy-to-understand explanation of the role of Japan in international society by using an illustrative style to explain the activities of a general trading company. The learning material was created to be compatible with established learning methods and it was designed to be used during Social Studies, or the "Periods for Integrated Study."

MC takes part in various forms of social contribution activities both in Japan and across the world. MC considers its contribution to the field of children's education to be an important activity that helps to promote a bright future for the world and plans to continue proactively engaging in similar activities in the future.

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is supporting a program that gives people with disabilities a golden opportunity to view cultural exhibitions by providing exclusive access to museums after closing hours. The program has been held 20 times since April 2006 with the support of volunteers from MC. A total of 3,000 people have already taken the opportunity to view exhibitions at the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, the National Museum of Nature and Science, and the Science Museum.

On October 12, approximately 200 people with disabilities, assisted by staff volunteers, visited the Edo-Tokyo Museum to view Japan's first ever exhibition of exquisite ukiyoe prints from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. MC and its partners plan to continue this program in the future.

The Autumn Camp at Lake Yamanaka was held for children with learning disabilities on October 11-13 in Yamanashi Prefecture. The camp, which Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) helps to fund, has been organized every autumn since 2003. The program gives the children the freedom to choose from a variety of activities in order to accommodate their individual interests and abilities. Four staff from MC, who volunteered to serve as camp leaders, joined the children as they enjoyed boating, hiking and other activities, against the beautiful backdrop of Lake Yamanaka in autumn.

This year, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is a main sponsor of charity runs being organized by Japan's National Council of YMCAs in 13 locations across Japan. The event features a nine-kilometer course that is run by teams of six as a long-distance relay. The charity run has been held every year since 1987 and this year marks its 22nd year. The run in Tokyo was held on September 23 at Yoyogi Park and seven teams from MC's head office participated. Each team ran hard and successfully completed the race.

All proceeds from the event will go to fund outdoor activities for children with disabilities. After the Tokyo event, additional charity runs were also held in Osaka, Nagoya and Hiroshima.

The Friendship Camp for Mothers has now been held for more than three decades. It was held again this year, from July 26 to July 29, in Niigata Prefecture. A total of 175 people were on hand at the camp, including 129 mothers and children from 56 single-parent households in the Tokyo area and 26 employee volunteers from the MC Group. It was an unforgettable four days for camp participants and volunteers alike, as they went on nature hikes, frolicked in the river and sung songs around the campfire. We asked some volunteers and participants to share their experiences with us.

A charity book sale was held on April 16 -17 in the Nakadori Building, next to the Marunouchi Office, marking the first joint proje ct bet we en MC's Employees Union in Japan and the CSR and Environmental Affairs Office. The book sale featured 1,800 used books donated by MC employees, including novels and books on business, hobbies and art. The books were sold internally to MC staff, at a standard price of 100 yen.

Nine staff volunteered to help run the book sale and more than 300 staff visited the sale over two days. Approximately 80,000 yen was raised on sales of roughly 800 books. The proceeds will be donated to the Foundation for International Development/Relief^*1 and are to be used to cover expenses for meal services at the Cambodia National Pediatric Hospital. Unsold books will be donated to Dream-V^*2, a social welfare corporation.

*1 The Foundation for International Development/Relief (FIDR) is a private organization engaged in international cooperation. It was established in 1990 with a donation from Tojuro Iijima, the founder of Yamazaki Baking Co. FIDR's mission is to provide "care for children" and to promote "international cooperation by Japanese companies and Japanese people." Its activities encompass Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Japan.

*2 Dream-V is a vocational facility supporting people with physical or mental disabilities. It has formed a business tie-up with a major Japanese usedbook store chain and now collects used-books from the public.