ITOCHU Announces Its Support for a Panel Exhibition to Be Held at the United Nations Headquarters for Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance Activities

July 1, 2014

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it will donate 1,173,486 yen, including 586,743 yen collected from its employees in March during in-house fundraising activities to commemorate the third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The company matched the amount from employees and donated a total of 1,173,486 yen to Aid TAKATA, an NPO that serves as a liaison council for supporting the City of Rikuzentakata. Through this organization ITOCHU will provide partial support for a panel exhibition hosted by the government of Japan and held at the United Nations Headquarters.


The exhibition will be held on the first floor of the Conference Building of the United Nations Headquarters in New York from July 8 to 11 at the same as the High-level Segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Panels of photographs provided by Sendai City, the City of Rikuzentakata, and Tohoku University will be shown in order to publicize the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) to be held in Sendai City in 2015. As support for the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas, the money donated by ITOCHU will be used to convey to the world what is happening now in the City of Rikuzentakata and Tohoku University.

Donations are based on the Action on Global Humanitarian Issues, which is one of the areas of focus ITOCHU stipulates in its Basic Activity Guidelines on Social Contribution. ITOCHU has already collaborated with Aid TAKATA on “Takata no Yume,” a new brand of rice launched by Rikuzen-Takata City, and supported by ITOCHU group to help in the city’s reconstruction.

We are extremely pleased that donations from the goodwill of our employees will have contributed to an activity aimed for reconstruction of the City of Rikuzentakata. ITOCHU will remain committed to supporting disaster-hit areas.

Outline of the exhibition

Title Resilience for Tomorrow -- Invitation to WCDRR in Sendai --
Period Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11, 2014
Venue First floor, Conference Building, United Nations Headquarters in New York
Hosted by The government of Japan

*About Aid TAKATA

Location 66-1 Arasawa, Takata Town, Rikuzantakata City, Iwate Prefecture (Tokyo Office: 3-34-3-101, Otsuka, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo)
Administrative Director Sadao Iwabuchi
Administration Officer in Charge Kiyoshi Murakami
Description of activities This organization was founded by people from the City of Rikuzentakata who live in the Kanto Area. Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the group started to cooperate with Mayor Futoshi Toba of the City of Rikuzentakata and people representing local communities to promote activities in support of reconstruction of disaster-hit areas. Aid Takata plans and manages “Takata no Yume Chan,” the mascot of the city as well as Rikuzentakata Saigai FM, a disaster-related FM broadcasting program and organizes events held in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area including photo exhibitions and local product exhibitions featuring the City of Rikuzentakata.