ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that the Takata no Yume Project, part of the company’s efforts to support the areas affected by the earthquake disaster through its main business activities, has received the “Tabete oen shiyo(Let’s eat and cheer)! Prize” in the Food Action Nippon Award 2015 (sponsor: Food Action Nippon Award 2015 Executive Committee; co-sponsor: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan). The award recognizes business and group initiatives that contribute to expanding consumption of Japanese agricultural produce.

The Takata no Yume Project is an ITOCHU Group project that is providing support, from production to sales, of the new brand of rice Takata no Yume. The brand originated in Rikuzen-Takata City, and carries the dreams of locals there for the recovery of their agriculture, which was devastated in the Great East Japan Earthquake. The project is part of the company’s efforts to support the areas affected by the earthquake disaster through its main business activities. The idea for the brand began when ITOCHU volunteer staff members taking part in farming activities asked producers what they desired. Now marketed as an added-value regional rice brand through Group company ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd., the project plans and implements PR activities to raise the recognition of the brand. Examples of PR activities carried out to date include producing a PR video of interviews with local residents carried out by volunteer staff members in FY 2014, and a campaign on March 11 to encourage eating establishments from Omotesando to Aoyama to incorporate Takata no Yume into their menus by providing the brand free of charge. This string of initiatives has helped to boost consumption of Japanese agricultural produce and contributed to supporting the areas affected by the earthquake disaster, and it is in recognition of this that the award has been made.

Going forward, through initiatives such as the Takata no Yume Project, ITOCHU will work towards the restoration of industry and regional revival in the areas incapacitated by the disaster, implementing various initiatives by harnessing the collective strengths of the ITOCHU Group to the utmost taking a long-term perspective.

• The Food Action Nippon Award is an award scheme established as part of Food Action Japan activities that aim to improve Japan’s food self-sufficiency ratio. By recognizing outstanding initiatives by business and groups that contribute to expanding the consumption of Japanese agricultural produce, and promoting activities for the expansion of consumption of Japanese agricultural produce, the award aims to help create a society where we and the children of the future can eat food that is both safe and delicious.