CSR Activity Reports: FY2009

An important partner for MC in international contribution activities in India is the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation that was founded by Dr. MS Swaminathan who is a notable leader of agricultural advancement, and MC provides support for activities relating to agriculture, the environment and education promoted by the foundation.
As part of this support, MC donated solar-powered street lighting to villages off the electricity grid in the state of Odisha, in the eastern part of India. Additionally, on this occasion, MC supported the construction and funding of a human resource development center for ethnic minority people in the same area. The opening ceremony was held at the center on March 13.
The center, which is closely located to the research facility of the research foundation, also serves as a place for lodging for local ethnic minority people and researchers from abroad such as Europe. The center conducts education and training for local agricultural development and research into cultivation methods of many locally produced medicinal plants.

MC held the seventh charity auction for the Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program on March 6 and 13, 2010 and as many as 170 people attended the event. The theme of the event was "kizuna" which means "cherished connections between people," and amidst a lively atmosphere, all 47 artworks selected for auction from those submitted were sold (17 works at GYRE in Omotesando, and 31 at the Mitsubishi Shoji Building in Marunouchi).
Those who attended were able to mingle with the artists. The artists participating for the first time could be seen working hard to improve their career prospects of becoming a professional artist, proactively enjoying conversation with guests with their own portfolio in hand.
The auction this time ended as a success thanks to the support of the many people who attended.

For a while now, MC has been providing support to the Shafallah Center in Qatar, which was established to support the autonomy and participation in daily social life of children with special needs such as infants with impaired vision and children with autism.
In fiscal 2008, MC provided support to the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs to support the communication of children with various communication-related handicaps.
In fiscal 2009, MC decided to support the "Shafallah Medical Genetics Center (SMGC)" an organization that promotes research into genes and chromosomes that are the cause of handicaps, particularly research into total blindness and vision impairment, and on March 8, a donation ceremony has held at the Shafallah Center.

In January 2010, through our involvement in the Foundation for International Development and Relief (FIDR), MC donated two "chigiri-e" (paper collage) pictures to the surgery unit of a national public pediatric hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
After their work in November, 40 employee volunteers meticulously tore Japanese paper into little pieces and pasted them on paper to create two chigiri-e pictures, "Children Brushing Teeth" and "Children Eating a Hospital Meal" for the children of Cambodia.
This donation inspired the establishment of a "tooth-brushing class" run by the nurses each day on a continuing basis to provide tooth-brushing guidance to children.
Onsite, everyone was overjoyed with some patients' family members commenting that "because the pictures show actual daily life in the hospital, they capture the interest of the children," and nurses saying that "the pictures have inspired children to participate in the tooth-brushing class."
This occasion was the third time "chigiri-e" pictures have been donated.
MC employee volunteers will continue into the future to provide support for children in Asia.

MC held the sixth charity auction for the Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program on December 5 and 12, 2009, and 120 people attended the event.
The theme of the event was "kizuna" which means "cherished connections between people," and the objective was to nurture young artists and support their careers. The 50 works that were selected from those who applied were exhibited at two places: 29 works at the Mitsubishi Shoji Building in Marunouchi and 21 works at GYRE in Omotesando. Amidst a friendly atmosphere in which visitors mingled with the artists, all works were sold.
The objectives of this program are steadily being realized such as by providing the participating artists with the opportunity for them to publicize their private exhibitions.

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.

Since 1990, MC has been operating the "Experimental Project in Tropical Forest Regeneration." As part of this project, MC held a tree-planting ecotour in Malaysia on November 19-23, 2009.
This time, 33 people participated including MC staff and their families from Japan, and employees of MC Group companies. During the tour, tree planting was conducted at two locations: inside the Gunung Apeng Forest Reserve on the island of Borneo and at the campus of the national agriculture university Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) near Kuala Lumpur.
The tree planting held in the Gunung Apeng Forest Reserve was conducted together with about 50 others made up of people connected with the Forest Department Sarawak and local Bidayuh indigenous people. Guided by the local people, everyone grouped up into pairs to plant the trees. The tree-planting method conducted here followed a line-up system whereby rain-forest trees (dipterocarpaceae) were planted in rows to form the primary trees amongst second-growth forest. Each person planted 10 to 20 trees. At the UPM campus, about 600 people participated in the tree planting, including employees and their families of Mitsubishi Corporation Kuala Lumpur Branch and students of UPM. A mixed-species dense-planting method called the Miyawaki Method was followed whereby 5,800 trees of 128 different species were planted.
Despite the difficult ground conditions at both locations due to it being the rainy season in Malaysia, the entire program was completed according to schedule and many participants came away with a wish to partake in future events and to come back and see how the trees they planted have grown.

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.

Launched in 2005, MC's Global Coral Reef Conservation Project supports a wide variety of coral research through the joint efforts of industry, academia and public volunteers. The project is centered at three global locations: Okinawa, Midway Atoll, and the Seychelles.
The Okinawa research and volunteer program for 2009 was held this September at the Sesoko Station Tropical Biosphere Research Center of the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa. Eleven volunteers, including seven MC staff, supported research activities that included collecting information on not only coral reefs, but also on various plants and other marine life. The data collected from the field was then recorded and analyzed back at the research station. Researchers also gave the volunteers lectures on various topics related to corals and as well as their individual research efforts.
The Midway Atoll program for 2009 was held from July 17th to the 31st. This year's participants consisted of five volunteers from MC subsidiaries and group companies in North America along with Dr. Potts of the University of California Santa Cruz and three of his graduate students. Volunteers were busy throughout the program helping the researchers with taking samples and surveying reef organisms, as well as setting up data collection equipment underwater.
The Seychelles program for 2009 is scheduled to take place from September 11 until the 25th.

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.

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has been implementing the "Global Coral Reef Conservation Project" since fiscal 2005.
MC contributes to the activities to conserve the coral reefs of the world for the future at three global locations, Okinawa, Midway Atoll, and Seychelles. The research and activities that have been carried out thus far at Okinawa have been compiled in an interim report. The report presents an analysis into the causes of coral bleaching based on data obtained by the project and provides concrete targets for future initiatives.
MC, as part of an industry, academia and general public partnership, which includes universities and environmental NGOs, is energetically continuing to promote the Global Coral Reef Conservation Project.

October last year, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) donated two ambulances to the Mohammed V Solidarity Foundation, which is involved in developing the social infrastructure in the Kingdom of Morocco. The vehicles were temporarily put under the care of a training center for the disabled in the city of Salé belonging to the foundation. They now have been handed over eventually to two villages, Bouarfa and Figuig for use in medical activities. On April 7, a ceremony marking MC's donation was held at the aforesaid center.
At the ceremony, first there was a tour of the training center and then there were speeches by both the foundation and MC. This was followed by a photo session and an informal chat. From the two representatives from the villages who attended, representatives from MC received handshakes of gratitude and explanation on how the ambulances were going to be used in each village.