On Thursday, June 20, twenty third graders from Minato City’s Aoyama Elementary School took part in an out-of-classroom learning experience at our Tokyo Head Office. From the top floor, the students viewed their Minato City home from all directions and heard an explanation of the company by an ITOCHU employee. The students listened intently to stories about overseas assignments and engaged in a lively question and answer session. They also learned about the work of the staff who support ITOCHU in areas such as reception, security, the Palace Hotel, and cleaning, and observed them at work.

On Wednesday, June 5, a total of 16 employees from Chugoku and Shikoku Branch participated in "Zero Trash Clean Campaign" conducted by Hiroshima City. Participants could decide the date, time, and location of the cleanup, and we used our lunch break to collect trash around Peace Boulevard near the branch. Most of the trash collected was cigarette butts, reminding us once again of the importance of good manners.

On Tuesday, May 7, PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia ("BPI"), an operating company in which ITOCHU Corporation has a joint investment with Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-POWER) and PT Adaro Power to construct and operate a 2,000 MW power plant in Indonesia, received the CSR and Sustainable Village Development Award from Indonesia’s Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration for its CSR programs.

In a major accomplishment, BPI received multiple awards: its Community Literacy Access Improvement Program (school education support, etc.) and Women’s Entrepreneurship Empowerment Program (side job technical support, etc.) received Gold Awards, and its Marine Environment Conservation Program (artificial fish reef installation, etc.) received a Silver Award.

Since 2012, BPI has been implementing CSR programs in the areas of economic development and education; health; society, culture, and environment; and infrastructure, benefiting more than 150,000 local residents in total. BPI will continue these efforts to improve even more people’s lives going forward. Please visit BPI’s website for detailed information on its business and CSR programs.

On Sunday, May 12, WFP Walk the World 2024 was held in Yokohama Minatoｍirai. The event is a charity walk in which part of the participation fee is donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) school lunch program in developing countries. ITOCHU Corporation employees and their families, including CAO Kobayashi who serves as a board member of Japan Association for the WFP, and Food Company President Miyamoto who serves as an adviser, participated in the walk. We all walked famous places in Yokohama, hoping to eradicate hunger among children in developing countries. In addition to Yokohama, the charity walk was held in Osaka and Nagoya, with a total of 276 participants from ITOCHU Corporation.

In March 2024, ITOCHU Corporation received a letter of appreciation from Shiga Prefecture for its donation to "Picture the Future! Shiga's Overseas Study Scholarship Program". This program supports high school students in Shiga Prefecture who want to study abroad and aims to develop human resources that can contribute to social issues with a global and local perspective. ITOCHU Corporation supports this program based on the social contribution partnership agreement with Shiga Prefecture and will continue to contribute to the development of children who will lead the next generation.

In this one year, Doha Liaison Office has collected around total of 500 water bottles used in the office. We have sent all these bottles to a recycle unit. We also encourage staff and their family members to recycle and reduce the usage of water bottles and cans in office and their home.

Based on our basic activity guidelines on social contribution, "Environmental Conservation" and " Growth of Future Generations," we have been supporting mangrove planting in Uken Village. In September 2023, we concluded an industry-academia-government collaboration agreement with Uken Village, Sophia University, and Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. regarding environmental conservation and regional development in Uken Village, and ITOCHU is contributing through cooperation in tree planting and environmental education. As the first step of this collaboration, an eco-study tour including mangrove planting was conducted from March 14 (Thu) through 17 (Sun). Organized by Japan Airlines, a total of 20 ITOCHU employees and their families and Sophia University students participated in the tour. Participants experienced the nature and culture of Uken Village through the transmission of the history of Amami Oshima Island and island songs, mangrove planting, an SDGs workshop by Sophia University professor (Dr. Akemi Ori, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies), and sightseeing in the village. We will continue to improve this tour and contribute to the promotion of afforestation and other activities.

Tuesday, March 5, 9 of ITOCHU Corporation Saudi Arabia Branch staff visit "Children's Specialized Hospital at King Fahad Medical City" in Riyadh and pass drawing tablets as gifts to encourage hospitalized children. We prepared more than 90 of gifts. Some of them, we enter each room and pass the gift one by one directly. As for the balance, hospital staff delivered all to children. All children were surprised but it looked quite happy. The parents also appreciated our activity.

On Tuesday, March 5, we participated in a vocational lecture for first-year students at Osaka City Temma Junior High School. At the request of Kita Ward, Osaka City, 12 companies from various industries gathered to explain to approximately 25 students per class what kind of work each company does. In ITOCHU's class, we used FamilyMart and other companies as examples to give the students an image of what we do as much as possible. Mr. Maeda, the mayor of Kita Ward, also came to the event and spoke about the importance of this for children to have dreams for the future and to challenge themselves to achieve their goals.

On Saturday, February 17, ITOCHU Baseball Class was held at Meiji Jingu Stadium. This class has been held since 2007 to encourage children with disabilities to enjoy playing baseball. 53 children were paired with volunteer employees from 18 ITOCHU Group companies. While interacting with the employees, children experienced throwing, hitting, and running with coaches from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows Baseball Academy. A total of 231 people, including the children's families, had a great time.

ITOCHU Corporation received a request from Suzu City to provide aerial drone photography in the areas affected by 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and dispatched personnel together with ANA HOLDINGS INC. to provide support. The drone used this time was manufactured by Wingcopter GmbH of Germany. Due to traffic restrictions, it took about 5 hours to travel from Toyama City to the heavily damaged Suzu City, but we set up an operation room in a truck and had the aircraft in operation as soon as it arrived. With the understanding and cooperation of local residents, we were able to take a total of more than 2,000 photos that contributed to the understanding of the road conditions at the disaster site and provided them to the relevant authorities, including ISUT (“Information Support Team” for disaster).

ITOCHU Corporation donated 10 million yen to support the victims of 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake and their reconstruction. ITOCHU also set up a dedicated website to accept donations from individual employees. 5,379,000 yen was collected between January 9 and January 31, 2024. Both donations and employee contributions will be donated to Japan Platform (JPF), a non-profit organization, and will be used to support NGO activities in the affected areas through JPF.

On January 21, 45 volunteers from 13 group companies donned ITOCHU blue caps and cleaned up the area around Peace Memorial Park, near the branch. While cleaning up, we cheered for Ishikawa Prefecture Team, who was hit by 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

Once a year, Chubu Branch staff clean up around our branch building as part of our beautification activities. On January 11, a total of 22 people were divided into 2 groups and collected garbage around the building. Thanks to the daily beautification activities by local residents, the amount of garbage around the building seems to be decreasing year by year.