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 Tsuchida, and I work for the General Affairs Group of A.L.M.T. TECH Inc.

Sakata Industry Fair is a business exhibition held by Sakata City Government, Yamagata Prefecture　every autumn to promote local businesses and revitalize local industries. A.L.M.T. TECH Inc. has participated in this exhibition from its inception.

Although our company is in its 11th year since its establishment, considering the history of our forerunner, which established its plant in Sakata City, our ties with the city date back 65 years. Such being the case, as part of our contribution to the local community, and with the hope of blending more into the community by letting the local people know more about us, we have exhibited our products and organized an event for children at this industry fair.

Specifically, we organized a metal weight comparison quiz event for the fair this year, which was held on October 1 and 2. At this event we let visitors experience the difference in specific gravities between tungsten/molybdenum (basic materials for our products) and general-purpose metals. The event succeeded in attracting many visitors, ranging from children to the elderly. We are planning to organize a new event that will be enjoyed by many visitors to the fair next year.

As part of our community contribution initiatives, we have also donated black pine seedlings and arranged volunteer tree planting.

In Sakata City, trees have been planted to protect houses and fields from wind and sand. Although a great black pine windbreak forest stretches along the coastline, inside Hikarigaoka Park in Sakata City there was an area where no black pine trees grew. Upon a request from the city government in 2008, we donated 400 black pine seedlings to be planted in the area. The seedlings were planted by a total of 150 people, including local elementary school children, NPO organization members and our company staff. Initially those seedlings were 30 cm high, but now, three years later, they have grown to be one meter high and are gradually beginning to play a role in preventing wind and sand. We have renewed our determination to grow neck and neck with these thriving black pine trees.

Hello, readers! I am Wenxin Liu, from the HR & General Affairs Department, Zhongshan Sumiden Hybrid Products Co., Ltd. (ZSH).

ZSH is located in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China, to the southwest of the Pearl River Delta, and approximately 85 kilometers southwest of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. Zhongshan is known for Quanyan hot springs and the Guzhen lighting fair, among others. It is also not far from Hong Kong and Macau, and is a beautiful city surrounded by green.

Although “Zhongshan” is used for road names around China, Zhongshan City here is the very hometown of Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan), the “Father of the Revolution,” who is also known as Sun When. Did you know that?

About twenty years ago, Zhongshan was mainly an agricultural city, producing commercial crops that were shipped to Hong Kong. Based on its geographical location with the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) flowing along the east side of the city, and with a boost from reform and liberalization policies, the Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone was established as a first-phase national high-tech industry development zone by the State Council in March 1991. It has now become a large industrial area housing business sites of high-tech industries, bio-tech industries, and others. ZSH was established in this development zone in August 1995.

In this report, I would like to introduce some of our philanthropic activities. ZSH has been engaged in various philanthropic activities every year, as a part of the trade union’s initiatives. Our trade union was evaluated highly by the Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone in 2009 and 2010.

Last year, we paid a courtesy visit to the old people’s home in Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone on Respect-for-the-Aged Day. This year, 14 union members visited the Zhongshan Home for Orphans on Children’s Day, and held an exchange with the children.

At present, more than 400 children from infants to high school students live in the Zhongshan Home for Orphans. Because we visited the Home in the afternoon on a weekday, older children were away at school, but 45 kindergarteners and infants were there to welcome us.

They were very happy for the clothes, milk, stationery, comic books, toys, and more that we purchased in advance and brought as souvenirs for them. In return, the children danced and sang for us.

Just like we felt at our courtesy visit to the nursing home last year, we felt like we were given more cheers than we presented. We can’t post photos with the children here, but they all showed us cute and cheerful smiles, which were the most wonderful gift for us☆

We would like to continue delivering smiles to as many people as possible through such activities.

Hello, I’m Nose, from Osaka Works HR & Administration Group :-)

Today, I’d like to write about the rose garden open day at the Osaka Works on Sunday June 12, 2011. We have already mentioned in this blog the rose garden’s open day that took place last November. To let more members of the public enjoy the roses, this time we also advertised the event to residents of Konohana Ward.

Initially, we thought we’d be lucky if more than 300 visitors showed up. However, 685 visitors arrived that day, far exceeding our expectations. Thank you all for coming! :-)) Although it was in the middle of the rainy season, the weather was pleasant, with very little rain.

Presently, some 1,000 roses from 133 species are cultivated at the garden. Visitors enjoyed discovering their favorites among the myriads of shapes and colors. Among the large number of visitors were keen photographers intent on shooting flowers, couples, families with children, and groups of friends. We were very happy to receive positive comments from visitors as they left, such as, “The roses were beautiful, thank you for showing them” and “I look forward to coming back next year.” The occasion seemed particularly memorable for former Sumitomo Electric employees, who marveled at the beautifully transformed grounds, now much more lush. Visitors also enjoyed hydrangea and other flowers in the garden, and many also visited our showrooms.

We heard visitors say that growing roses must be hard work: it is, actually. They require almost year-round attention: weeding the roughly 2,000 m² grounds, pruning, and spraying to prevent diseases are all very labor-intensive. However, thanks to the sweat （and sometimes tears？） of members of our staff, we were able to present our roses in their prime, and it is our utmost joy to have been able to provide visitors with a pleasant time.

Please look for next year’s open day, when we intend to welcome visitors with even better roses!
+':*:。p(*^-^*)q.・+*:・+

This is a report from the north island of Hokkaido. Nice to meet you all!! I’m Saito, of the General Affairs Department at Hokkaido Sumiden Precision Co., Ltd. (^o^)

We are well into spring, and summer is just around the corner, but it still gets chilly here every once in a while.

But today I bring you some “hot” news.

On May 22 (Sun), we held an annual Moss Phlox Festival, jointly with our neighboring company, Hokkaido Electric Co., Ltd. This event was started in 1990 to celebrate our 10th anniversary and express our gratitude to the local communities. This year marked the festival’s 21st anniversary. !(^^)!

About 50,000 moss phlox plants are planted on the premises. This year blossoming was delayed due to the long cold spell, and on the day of the festival, the moss phlox was 70% in bloom. It was a little chilly at the beginning, but (thanks to my magical power to bring good weather!?) around 11 o’clock the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and the temperature warmed up, bringing perfect weather for the festival.

The festival attracted over 1,500 visitors, and the parking lot was overflowing—a so-called full house. A number of food stalls were set up, offering yakitori (skewed grilled chicken), jingiskan (Mongolian mutton barbecue, one of Hokkaido’s local specialties), takoyaki (octopus dumplings) and fried potatoes, satisfying visitors’ palates. I myself enjoyed beer. (^^)

The festival opened with a taiko drum performance by kids from Hokkai Warabe Taiko. The dynamic and exciting sounds of taiko drums resounded throughout the venue.

Yosakoi Dance Team fascinated the audience with their energetic yet graceful dance performances. Clouds of dust kicked up by the stomping feet of the dancers were impressive.

The dance was followed by a brass band performance by junior high school students from Naie Town. The brass band played seven pieces of music, mainly traditional Japanese music. Some of the music was accompanied by dancing by new students. When I heard enthusiastic chants for an encore, I felt the warmth of the local residents, and I was very happy to see junior high students playing happily in response to the audience’s request.

In addition to dance and musical performances, various fun events were held where visitors could participate. One such event was a customary rice cake throwing. Raffle tickets were put in each rice cake sack for some special prizes, including luxury items and moss phlox seedlings.
So men and women were all desperate to catch rice cakes thrown down from the stage.

Special events for children were held as well, including a Janken tournament and a treasure-hunting game. The prize for the winner of the treasure-hunting was, believe it or not, a mobile game console.

Hearing that the prize would be a popular game console, children got excited. Their exuberant shouts of “Wow!!!” and “That’s cool!” echoed around the venue.

Trying to get a prize, children were frantically running around the venue in search of hidden treasures. A desperate look on their faces scared me. (^ ^ ;

After the treasure-hunting game, the winning child was awarded a mobile game console. He was jubilant!!! All other children were presented with a bag of snacks for their participation.

When they received the present and said thank you, they had big, innocent smiles on their faces. (#^.^#)

The festival culminated with an exciting lottery. This year, the first prize was a 32-inch liquid crystal television and a Blu-ray player. In all, over 100 wonderful prizes were given away, including a mobile game console, a cyclone vacuum cleaner and a folding bicycle.

Mr. Ushijima, Executive Officer (and Hardmetal Division General Manager) of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., came a long way to participate in our festival, and presented a travel voucher as the Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Prize. m(_ _)m

The festival closed at 2:00 pm. This year’s festival was also a great success, attended by many local residents. People who drew a prize in the lottery, people enjoying with their families, guys who got drunk with beer... everyone looked happy and were having fun. It was such a joy to interact with local residents and see their bright smiles. By seeing many happy smiles, I felt that we could contribute to the local community, even if just a little.
We look forward to seeing the same smiling faces again next spring.

The Great Tohoku Earthquake, which struck on March 11, has caused unprecedented damage to Japan; it will take a long time for Japan to get back on its feet. Immediately after the earthquake, our company conducted a donation campaign, raising a total of 330,655 yen from employees. A matching amount was donated by the company. These donations were sent in early April for relief and recovery efforts in the affected regions.

In the planning meeting for this year’s moss phlox festival, the Executive Committee members discussed “what we can do now” and decided to donate all receipts from food and drink sales during the festival. We at Hokkaido Sumiden Precision extend our heartfelt sympathies to all those affected by the earthquake and tsunami, and pray for quick recovery of all the affected areas and people.

Hi! This is Sakai of the PR Dept.

Commemorating the 110th anniversary of the company, WinD Lab, a new laboratory building, was constructed at Osaka Works (located close to Universal Studios Japan). Last November, approximately 100 people from local neighborhood societies and related persons were invited to an excursion of the Rose Garden located next to the WinD Lab.

Can you believe that more than 100 species of roses grow in this Rose Garden!? Many of the species seem to be perpetual, blooming repeatedly throughout the year, so we were able to enjoy many rose in bloom even during the cold of November.

Though this looks like a different flower, it’s a rose called Nostalgia. The unique color scheme is so cute!

Since the Rose Garden is in its first year and still in the process of raising seedlings, the number of participants for this excursion was limited. But the plan is to open the garden to the wider public starting next year. So exciting!! :-)

Osaka Works is planning its Inari (Anniversary) Festival in April, and also will continue its greening activities and cleaning activities of the company’s vicinity to achieve a harmony with the local community, and will strive for social contribution activities that are rooted to the region.

Hi! This is Sakai, in charge of the Smile Relay of the PR Dept.

Upon starting this blog, I’d like to introduce you to some of the activities conducted by Group employees. I had a great time participating in these!

The first one took place here!

This is an activity by Sumitomo Electric’s Itami Works, which aims to increase greening of their premises to create a "workplace with lush greenery" that’s friendly to the environment.

On October 24, 2010, employees and their families as well as members of neighborhood associations were invited to the 4th annual Greenery-Floral Festival. (It’s called this because it celebrates greenery and flowers.)

The festival was visited by more than 1,300 people!!! It's great to know that this festival is taking root as one of the region’s festivals :-)

On the day of the festival, there were greenery- and floral-related events such as potting lessons and sweet potato digging, as well as other attractions such as a mobile zoo, paper airplane contest, and a performance by the brass band of the neighborhood junior high school. Many people enjoyed each of the events. The sweet potato digging, in its second year, was especially popular!
The big sweet potatoes looked very tasty :-)

A great festival to visit, especially with little kids! We hope to see residents in the neighborhood of the Itami Works there again next year.