Hello! I am Matsumura from the Public Relations Dept. of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Japan.

On Sunday, April 21, the award ceremony of the 10th New “A Brief Message from the Heart” Letter Contest was held at the Maruoka Gymnasium in Maruoka-cho, Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture. A total of 63,745 entries were received for this year’s contest, whose theme was “Arigato (Thank You).” The ceremony was attended by contestants who won Honorable Mention or higher award. Since 1994, the Sumitomo Group has supported this contest and its former “A Brief Message from the Heart” Letter Contest, hosted by the Maruoka Cultural Foundation, due to its connection with Maruoka-cho. Masatomo Sumitomo, the founding father of the Sumitomo family, was born in Maruoka, in Echizen Province (now Maruoka-cho, Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture). I attended the award ceremony on behalf of Sumitomo Electric, a member of the Sumitomo Group.

Prizes were awarded to a total of 218 entries. At the ceremony, some prize-winning works, including five works that won a Grand Prize, were read aloud by students from Maruoka Junior High School in Sakai City. When each work was read aloud, I was moved by its own unique message of thanks. The ceremony was very impressive.

At the end of the ceremony, all attendees enjoyed singing together the song Arigato (Thank You), written by poet Mikiro Sasaki and composed by singer-songwriter Hitoshi Komuro, who were on the award selection committee.

This contest has now reached a 20-year milestone since the former “A Brief Message from the Heart” Letter Contest has begun. The theme for next year’s contest is “Wasurenai (Never Forget).” Entries are being received now. Why not enter the contest! For entry information, please visit: http://maruoka-fumi.jp/ippitsu.html (in Japanese)

Hello, I am Alyssa Holster, an intern with the General Affairs Department at Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems, Inc. (SEWS), located in United States. I’d like to tell you about the Earth Day events my company has been participating in!

Three SEWS’ facilities teamed up with local schools to teach children about the importance of Earth Day. We maintain an environmental policy to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste and to improve the efficiency of energy usage, and believe that is very important to pass down these values to future generations.

We asked local schools in Edmonton, Scottsville, and Bowling Green, Kentucky to show off their creative skills while raising awareness about the importance of protecting our environment. Over 2,500 children participated from North Metcalfe Elementary School, Edmonton Elementary School, Summer Shade Elementary School, Allen County Primary School, and Jody Richards Elementary School. The students were asked to either create a poster or write an essay about “What Earth Day Means to Me”. First place winners received a $100 savings bond and tree seedling. Students demonstrated their knowledge and maintained that not littering, picking up trash, and recycling are some of the best ways to help protect our environment.

Our facilities have continued to implement environmental efforts in a myriad of other ways as well. Our Edmonton facility has managed to recycle isopropyl alcohol in a way that allows them to reuse 80% of it instead of sending it out as waste. Our facility in Bowling Green has been working with another school, Warren Elementary, to recycle our used toners and inkjet cartridges. The school is able to recycle our used products and receive money to support their Student Technology Leadership Program.

SEWS is proud to share the knowledge about recycling, sustainability and supporting our local schools!

Hello, I’m Kobayashi, of the HR & Administration Dept.

Nine staff members from the Tokyo head office took part in the Akasaka-Aoyama Cleanup Campaign organized by the Akasaka Regional City Office on Thursday, April 18, and helped clean up the area around Tokyo Metro Akasaka Station in Minato City. This was the first time for us to participate in Minato City’s local cleanup campaign since our head office was relocated to Motoakasaka from Shibaura.

Under a clear blue sky, a total of 78 people from local residents’ associations and local companies, including us, worked hard to clean up streets and called for no littering and no smoking while walking on sidewalks.

In cooperation with local residents and the Akasaka Regional City Office, we will continue helping to keep our local streets safe and clean. In May, we will work hard to clean up the area around Aoyama 1-Chome Station.

Hello! I’m Matsumura, of Public Relations Department.

On April 22nd and 23rd, a market was held at Sumitomo Building, where the Head Office (Osaka) is situated, in order to support reconstruction of areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. I participated in the event as a sales staff member. Held jointly by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., this was the third anniversary of the introduction of this market. On the day of the event, various items from Aomori Prefecture, Iwate Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, and Miyagi Prefecture, such as snacks, noodles, juice, and sake, were sold to members of the Sumitomo Group.

Since this was the third time that this event had been held, there were many repeat customers saying, “I’ll take this one; I bought it last time and it was very delicious.” In addition, some others bought items after hearing good stories about them, though I’m not sure where such rumors were generated. :-) The event was very successful.

Unfortunately, some people were not able to obtain items they had wanted to buy, because the items were sold out. As a sales staff member, I felt sorry for such people, although at the same time I was very happy that the items were so popular! :-))

I hope that I can be of some help at the market again next time. I also hope that you will continue to support this event.

Hello!
I’m Watanabe of the HR & Administration Group, Yokohama Works.

On Sunday, April 7, the Inari Festival was held at Yokohama Works to commemorate the company’s establishment. Although the wind was strong, the rain, which had been falling that morning, stopped before the event started. The festival drew about 1,200 people, including staff members, their families, and local residents.

At the event venue secured on the premises of Yokohama Works, various items from the Tohoku region were sold to support the reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Also, Home Shimogo, an activity facility for disabled people, set up a booth at the venue and sold their goods.

We have been developing a close association with Home Shimogo for more than ten years now. The association began when they provided us with cookies they had made for our staff members participating in our campaign of cleaning the area around the company. Presently, they have their direct sales booth at our in-house store, and sell their items at the booth.

On the day of the Inari Festival, many people bought a wide variety of items made by Home Shimogo, such as bead straps and Japanese-style postcards hand made from milk cartons.

One of our staff training programs is conducted at Home Shimogo. The scope of our interaction with the facility is enhanced year by year. We hope that we will continue the good relationship through various forms of interaction.

Hello! I’m Ikeda of the secretariat of the SEI Group CSR Foundation(*).

The SEI Group CSR Foundation provides scholarships for international students studying in Japan. In FY 2012, we granted scholarships to 16 students. The other day, inviting four such scholarship students who recently completed their masters programs at the end of March, we held a party to celebrate their two years of hard work and asked them about their research results and future aspirations.

All four are students in science-related majors. What impressed us most was that, although they came from China or Taiwan, they spoke Japanese fluently and explained their research activities passionately. Prior to the party, we showed them around Sumitomo Yuho-en garden in Kyoto, although it was a little bit early to enjoy cherry blossoms. At the party, they also said that they were moved by the beauty of the garden.

Although the four students all had made different career choices, we would be very happy if they utilize what they have learned in Japan and contribute to society.

(*) SEI Group CSR Foundation
The foundation was established in April 2009 for the purposes of contributing to developing human resources and promoting academic activities in various fields both in Japan and overseas. The foundation was certified as a public service corporation in February 2010.
Website：SEI Group CSR Foundation Website

Hello! I’m Fukuda of SEI Business Creates, Inc.

The Osaka International Women’s Marathon, which is loved as a herald of spring in Naniwa (Osaka), was held on January 27, 2013, Sunday. I participated in the event again this year as a volunteer roadside attendant. I began to join this activity with employees from Sumitomo Electric, and this year marked our 32nd participation.

This year’s race doubled as a trial for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics to be held in Moscow in August. In addition to a full marathon, in which 500 athletes competed, the 2013 Osaka Half Marathon was held, in which 5,000 runners participated.

I worked as a roadside attendant at the areas around the 12 km and 33 km marks, which both half and full marathon runners passed through. With approximately 30 volunteers, I spent about six hours in chilly weather conditions at a temperature of 4C˚, taking care of bicycle parking, guiding spectators, installing traffic signs, and doing other activities to ensure a smooth race operation.

While engaged in the volunteer activities, we, of course, never forgot to cheer on the runners! Seeing Noritaka Fujiyama, a member of Sumitomo Electric’s athletics club, running, we called out to him “Keep it up!” Obliging us, he performed well enough to come second place in the men’s division of the registration of the Japan Association of Athletics Federation.

I hear that approximately 3,000 persons participated in this year’s event as volunteers. As one of them, I believe that I was able to contribute in some small way to making the event even more exciting.

▲With other volunteer staff members