ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it will support a program being run by the Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO) (headquartered in Kyoto; Satoyo Ono, Chairman; hereinafter “NICCO”), called the “The Tohoku Supporting Children’s Dreams Project”, as part of its reconsruction support activities to help those areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Through the program, we will provide support for school club activities and youth baseball teams in Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture.

The school buildings of three junior high schools in Rikuzentakata City, namely Otomo Junior High School, Hirota Junior High School, and Yonesaki Junior High School, were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, forcing the schools to make temporary use of the elementary school’s buildings. In April 2013, three schools will be integrated into a new school named Takata Higashi Junior High School. Many families were severely affected by the earthquake and parents lost their jobs in the school district of Takata Higashi Junior High School. It is difficult to cover the costs of new uniforms for the sports clubs from the PTA fees and school budgets. Therefore, ITOCHU donated 800,000 yen to cover the expenses for 114 uniforms with a new school name printed on it.

ITOCHU has also decided to establish the “ITOCHU Children’s Dreams Fund” in order to help all youth baseball teams in Rikuzentakata City (seven teams, about 160 people) participate in the prefectural tournament and make an expedition. It donated 1,150,000 yen this fiscal year to cover the expenses, and will continue to support “Children’s Dreams” through the Fund in the next fiscal year and thereafter.

ITOCHU has dispatched its employees to participate in volunteer activities in Rikuzentakata City through NICCO every month since December 2011, for a total of 14 times to date. On this, the second anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, today we will raise funds at Tokyo and Osaka headquarters and five branches in Japan. We will also provide meals using food from the devastated areas, and sell eco scrubbing brushes that were made by the housewives’ club in Rikuzentakata City at the cafeteria of the Tokyo headquarters. ITOCHU will continue to support the recovery and reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake going forward.