ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it would support the “Oideyo Tokyo (Come visit Tokyo)!” project undertaken by the NPO corporation BLUE FOR TOHOKU (representative: Mari Kogiso) as part of the assistance it provides to the affected areas. In addition to supporting the project for two consecutive years since 2014, the funds collected through employee fund-raising in the fourth year after the Great East Japan Earthquake at the headquarters of ITOCHU in Tokyo in March 2015, together with the amount contributed by the company to match the amount raised (\1,125,128 in total), will be contributed to the organization to support the further enhancement of activities.

The “Come visit Tokyo!” project invites children of orphanages in Fukushima, to Tokyo to spend time creating summer memories with a smile. It was launched in 2012, and this is the fourth time it has taken place. As the last year, they are invited to the facility for work experience at KidZania Tokyo in the morning, and to a mini sports event at Toyosu Park in the afternoon. The purpose of the event is to enable the children to think about their future careers while enjoying themselves and being active outside. Foreign volunteers will participate on the day, so the upcoming generation of children will be provided with an opportunity to come into contact with a different culture. This year, around 40 people will participate from four institutions.

ITOCHU supported these plans and decided to donate the funds from its internal fund-raising on March 11, 2015, four years after the Earthquake, and match them (\1,125,128 in total). The donation will be used for part of the travel expenses for the children and the ticket costs for KidZania Tokyo, along with prizes for the mini sports event in the afternoon, 100 picture books chosen by ITOCHU Foundation.
In addition, part of the donation will be used for the event “Ikuyo Fukushima (We’ll go to Fukushima)!” * that BLUE FOR TOHOKU will hold in the fall.
ITOCHU will continue to provide assistance to the affected areas and contribute to the development of the future generation.

* “Ikuyo Fukushima (We’ll go to Fukushima)!”: An event to introduce a variety of careers that are available in society that children are unaware of, and opportunities based on work undertaken during visits to orphanages in Fukushima

Outline of hosting

NPO corporation BLUE FOR TOHOKU

KidZania Tokyo

KidZania is a work experience theme park for children that originated in Mexico. In Japan, KidZania Tokyo was opened in 2006 and KidZania Koshien was opened in 2009. They are very popular facilities for gaining experience while having fun and learning about the systems of society. Currently, around 60 companies provide pavilions and about 1,600,000 people visit the facilities annually. ITOCHU has been an official sponsor since 2012, and provides the eco shop pavilion at KidZania Tokyo.

ITOCHU Foundation

This year ITOCHU Foundation sees the 40th anniversary of its foundation in 1974 for the healthy development of youth. The current pillar of activities is assistance with children’s libraries and the spread of electronic books. As part of the assistance with children’s libraries, a set of 100 children’s books chosen by ITOCHU Foundation is provided to libraries and elementary schools. ITOCHU undertakes social contribution activities with ITOCHU Foundation including the assistance provided through the 100 children’s books program conducted together with shareholders in 2012.