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 Kobayashi, of the HR & Administration Department.

On Wednesday, June 20, and Thursday, 21, a fair of products from the Tohoku region was held at the Tokyo head office to support areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. This was the first time that we have had such a fair.

On the days of the event, confectionery, noodles, juice and many other products from Iwate, Fukushima, and Miyagi—which were the prefectures most seriously damaged by the disaster—were sold to employees of our company and our group companies. The fair was joined also by Suehiro Shuzo, a Japanese sake manufacturer in Fukushima, selling their excellent sake, which they are really proud of.

Since this was the first time that we had a fair of products from the Tohoku region at the Tokyo head office, we were first not sure how many people the event could attract. However, partly because we had distributed flyers one week before, and also one day before the fair, the event was able to successfully draw many employees of the Sumitomo Electric group (:-).

Many of the products were sold out even on the first day of the event. On the second day, all the products other than sake were sold out before the scheduled closing time, and the event came to a successful end!

We hope that this will not be a one-off event, and that we will continue to hold the event for at least five years. We would like to ask for your continuous support.

I would like to conclude by expressing my appreciation to Fukushima Prefecture Tokyo Office, Miyagi Hometown Plaza, and Iwate Ginga Plaza, which provided generous cooperation for the event.

I'm Komoto and I am in charge of operational management of Osaka Works' volleyball club.

Osaka Works' volleyball club participated in the 12th Zao Cup, held on October 9 and 10 at Tohoku Ricoh Tohoku Kaikan Arena in Shibata-machi, Miyagi Prefecture, an area devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which is still fresh in our memory.

Tohoku Ricoh, from the Tohoku region, were our opponents in the final at the National Sports Festival of Japan held in Chiba Prefecture last year, and they have always been close competitors. Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, on the request of other volleyball teams across Japan, our club took a leadership role in collecting and sending donations to Tohoku Ricoh team members who were affected by the disaster. At the All-Japan Corporate Team Championships held in Yamagata Prefecture last July, we also led a project that produced "recovery support" T-shirts and donated a part of the sales proceeds to affected areas through a tie-up with sports-goods manufacturers and other teams. Although the amount of donations was small, I hope it was of some help.

Until last year, the Zao Cup has been held every year in early spring with the participation of volleyball teams from the Kanto and Tohoku regions. However, the event was postponed until autumn this year because of the impact of the disaster. This year's Zao Cup was made possible through the enthusiasm of Tohoku Ricoh's volleyball team, which hoped that a nine-man volleyball event would be held to help pray for the recovery of the disaster-stricken areas. The 12th Zao Cup was thus held with the participation of the previous year's top-ranked teams — Tohoku Ricoh (Miyagi), Yokogawa Electric (Tokyo), Sanden (Gunma) and Sumitomo Electric (Osaka).

The officials who devoted themselves to organizing this year's event included those who lost their parents and parents' homes to the tsunami. All the players and team staff were impressed to see all the officials and indeed the entire local community working together to make the event a success.

The local Tohoku Ricoh volleyball team won the Zao Cup this year. I believe this victory can be attributed to the combination of their determination to win and the enthusiasm of the local volleyball association and residents who committed themselves to organizing the event.

Our team, consisting primarily of young members, finished in third place, because their performance level was not quite good enough. But the club members were able to visit the affected areas themselves, gain first hand information that would otherwise have only been available through news reports, and realize the scale of the damage and what they should do as members of society.

We hoped that we would be able to encourage, cheer up and bring a smile to the local people by playing full out. Instead, the spectators encouraged us with their warm applause and cheers while we were playing. We are truly grateful to have had such a happy experience.

We will grow from this experience and work hard to meet your expectations at the next competition. We feel honored if we were able to cheer up and offer hope to people in the affected areas by playing our hearts out.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the local residents and many other people who cheered us on. I am also grateful to Miyagi Volleyball Association, Tohoku Ricoh and many other people who helped organize this event. Osaka Works' volleyball club will keep participating in activities to support the reconstruction of the disaster stricken areas and contribute to the local communities.

Finally, we will participate in two major competitions soon — Sakurada Memorial Corporate Team Tournament (Sakurada Cup) to be held in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture on December 3 and 4 this year, and the All-Japan General Championships to be held in Osaka City from January 27 to 29 next year. We will all do our best in the competitions and would appreciate your support and cheers.

Hang in there, Japan!! Hang in there, Tohoku!! We will do our best!!

　♪ Related link： Sumitomo Electric's volleyball club's website (Japanese)　　http://www.sei.co.jp/osaka_vb/
　♪ Related link： Tohoku Ricoh's volleyball team supporters' website (Japanese) 　　http://www.zephyr.dti.ne.jp/~lesath/

Hello, I am Nakano from the NEXT Center.

I would like to express my sincere condolences and deep sympathy to those who lost their lives in or have suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

I recently participated in a volunteer bus tour to one of the afflicted areas, organized by the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren).

From July 8 to 11, participants from companies based in the Kansai region undertook volunteer activities to support recovery efforts in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.

Over the two days of July 9 and 10, participants cleaned the gutters in a residential area in Ishinomaki. Residents complained that they suffered from sludge that had risen up from the tsunami along with water, and then accumulated in gutters. This has been one of the problems facing afflicted areas, which we could not notice back here in Osaka. Even four months after the earthquake, nearly 90% of all the gutters in the flooded areas were still uncleaned.

On both the two days, the temperature rose above 30℃. Participants had a hard time doing unfamiliar work in the gutters. We often hardly notice how heavy the gutter covers and wet sludge really are...

During this hard work, we were refreshed with the kind hearts of the residents. When we were exhausted and taking a break in some shade, a couple brought us some cool water and fresh vegetables. Children called out to us, “Hello!”, in a cheerful voice. This may sound trite, but we felt like the afflicted residents were helping us more than we were helping them.

We finally managed to complete the work, with much support from the residents. Covers were put over the gutters after the work, so we could no longer see how clean the gutters had become. However, we had a fresh sense of achievement after finishing. The head of the neighborhood association expressed his gratitude to us, and we felt that we were able to provide some assistance to the residents.

Through this visit to an afflicted area, I once again recognized what devastating damage the earthquake had caused, and how terrible tsunami could be. It was a valuable experience to know the actual status of the afflicted areas, which is difficult to see back here in Osaka, and to recognize problems facing residents of those areas. I hope to continue helping people who live in the affected areas in some way.

♪ Related link： Kansai Economic Federation　http://www.kankeiren.or.jp/English/

I’m Saiki from the Administrative Dept. of Sumitomo Electric Fine Polymer, Inc., located in Kumatori-cho, Sennan-gun, Osaka Prefecture, near Kansai International Airport.
I would like to express my sincere condolences and deep sympathy to those who lost their lives in or have suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11.

From March 21 to 25, Sumitomo Electric Fine Polymer placed a donation box in our in-house shop in a bid to raise a relief fund for victims of the disaster, resulting in the collection of a total of 175,499 yen. The money was sent to the affected areas through the Sumitomo Electric Group.
At the same time, we discussed support measures other than such donations. Considering that it was important to restore the economy of the affected areas to that existing before the disaster, we decided to organize an open-air market featuring rice, vegetables, fruits, drinks, processed products, etc. made in Fukushima. With the cooperation of Nuclear Fuel Industries., Ltd., located next to our property, we held the event for the employees of both companies.
We bore the cost of the transportation of sales items from Fukushima Prefecture to Kumatori and the brokerage charge for the open-air market. We will continue to hold such an event three to four times a year for the next three years.
Nothing pleases us more than to see the smiles of many people eating food from Fukushima.
The photographs show part of the first open-air market held on June 10.

Although it was sometimes drizzling, the weather was pleasant enough to continue holding an open-air market, and the event ended successfully.
Mr. Kikkawa of the Osaka Office of Fukushima Prefecture participated in the market, and Derector Mouri of Wago Co., Ltd., the broker for the event, came all the way from Tokyo.
Incidentally, the orange aprons and the adorable flags were provided by courtesy of Fukushima Prefecture. Although the open-air market was planned to be held during the lunch break and also after office hours on the event day, all items were sold out during the lunch break, with sales totaling approximately 300,000 yen.

Some of the employees said, “I’ll buy more sake at the next market,” or “I wanted much more fruit.” In response to these comments, the next market will be organized in autumn, the harvesting season.