On February 24, as part of the ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund created to support children in the affected areas, Fukushima's strongest little league baseball team was invited to Jingu Stadium, which is their dreams to play a friendly game against a team from Tokyo. The children were excited from start to finish to be playing and as a result, Haramachi Junior Metes (Minamisoma City, Fukushima) and Fudo Pirates (Meguro-ku, Tokyo)'s match was 4-3. Following the closely contested game, members of the ITOCHU Sogokai Baseball Club warmed up the social event, the children bonded over a quiz about baseball and question time.

On February 25, as part of the ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund created to support children in the affected areas, Fukushima's strongest little league baseball team was invited to Jingu Stadium to play a friendly game against a team from Tokyo. The children were excited from start to finish to be playing at the Jingu Stadium of their dreams. Onahama Youth Baseball Team and Nine Stars (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo)'s match was 0-3. Following the closely contested game, members of the Sogokai Baseball Club warmed up the social event, the children bonded over a quiz about baseball and question time.

On September 23 and 24, the 9th ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup baseball tournament was held at Otomo ground in Rikuzentakata. This time again, five youth baseball teams from the city took part. The children played hard, cheered on enthusiastically by their families and people from the local community, and the Yonesaki Youth Baseball Team won the championship once again.
Seven volunteers from the ITOCHU Group participated in practice matches and deepened their interactions with the children, managers and coaches at social events. ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup not only helps in the recovery of the city's vitality, but also supports children growing and working hard together with their peers to pursue their dreams and can be expected to flourish and become a symbol of reconstruction.

ITOCHU Corporation supported a boys' and girls' Judo class in Miyagi, which was held on Sunday, July 9, hosted by the All Japan Judo Federation. It was a major event, with the participation of 200 elementary school children, including ten children with no judo experience at all, and 240 people including their guardians and instructors.
Mr. Shigeru Okaizumi and Ms. Yoshie Kiya, who are judokas, were invited to the class as instructors. The little judokas enjoyed themselves to the full, learning the importance of ukemi (falling techniques), with each of them showing off the technique at which they excel.

The ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup youth baseball tournament has been held since the autumn of 2013 for the children of Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture. On May 21 and 28, the tournament's eighth incarnation was held at Otomo ground in Rikuzentakata. Five youth baseball teams from the city took part and the Yonesaki Youth Baseball Team won its third consecutive title while being cheered on by many people.
Every game was incandescent with the children's dedicated play, cheered on enthusiastically by not only their parents but also the passers-by, bringing the city together.
Six years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Commercial facilities in the Rikuzentakata central business district opened in May, and further recovery can be expected from now on. ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup not only helps in the recovery of the city's vitality, but also supports children growing and working hard together with their peers to pursue their dreams and can be expected to flourish and become a symbol of reconstruction.

On Saturday, March 18, a total of 21 employees of ITOCHU, consisting of those of ITOCHU Corporation Tohoku Branch and Sentokai (ITOCHU Group companies and their business partners in Tohoku area), participated in a charity walk event, which donates proceeds from participation fees to areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Starting from a place near the Sendai Airport, the participants walked an approximately 20-kilometer course around Yuriage District of Natori City. On the course, they joined hands in prayer in front of a board showing the names of 944 victims and a monument to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, whose height is 8.4 meters, the same as the height of the tsunami that hit the area. They also listened to a storyteller at Yuriage no Kioku (Memory of Yuriage), a facility which serves concurrently as a tsunami memorial museum. They thus walked in Yuriage District, which was greatly damaged by the tsunami, on their own feet commemorating the large number of tsunami victims. Through this event, the participants felt that reconstruction is far from being completed.

ITOCHU Corporation invited children of competitive youth baseball teams in Fukushima, who even now are still living with deep anxieties that are not immediately visible, to Jingu Stadium to give them the experience of being a professional baseball player for one day. This was based on children's needs, identified by local NGOs, arising from children in Fukushima having restrictions on their outdoor activities, and not being able to practice sports as much as they would like. These children enjoyed friendly games with Tokyo little league baseball teams held with the full cooperation of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, used the same locker rooms and practice areas as the professional baseball players, and entered the stadium through the players-only passageway. These arrangements made them excited and resulted in smiling faces throughout the day. The Onahama Youth Baseball Team draws at the end of a pitching duel with Red Sands, and Fukushima Little and Kodaira Little's match was 4-5, the Kodaira Little's walked–off victory. After the baseball games, ITOCHU Group employees and volunteers from the ITOCHU's Baseball Club deepened exchanges with the children.

In addition to TMSO×ITOCHU Class Concert 2017 held in January, ITOCHU also collaborated in holding the orchestra performance “You, I and the Orchestra: Let's Unite Together by the Rings of Music♪” sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with the participation of around 3,600 elementary and junior high school students in Iwaki City. All nine students from Katsurao Elementary School, which was visited for the Class Concert 2017, were invited to the performance. In addition to the emotional experience of singing together with their friends and fellow elementary school students in a joint session with the orchestra, the children also enjoyed an exchange with the conductor after the performance, a quiz, a tour of the concert hall and a surprise performance by the visiting orchestra.

On February 4, the second ITOCHU Children's Dream Snowboard School was held at the Urabandai Ski Resort in Fukushima Prefecture. This school is intended to support children living in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake who are working hard on their snowboarding skills. In order to expand the possibilities of children beyond the boundaries of conventional events, former Japan national team members and Olympic team members such as alpine and halfpipe snowboarders were invited as instructors. In the morning, lessons to cultivate general snowboarding skills were given, and in the afternoon the children did a timed race to show the results of what they had learned. The children with top placings received AIRWALK snowboards, a brand for which ITOCHU owns the master licensing rights, or official uniforms worn by the Japan Snowboard Team. The prizes were awarded by Executive Officer Takada, and the sight of the children's smiling faces was truly memorable. It was a day in which the children learned the importance of living with a dream in mind and never giving up.

From Monday, January 16 to Tuesday, January 17, 2017, ITOCHU Corporation supported the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in holding the TMSO×ITOCHU Class Concert 2017. For this third event, concerts were performed at four elementary and junior high schools in Fukushima Prefecture. The aim of the concerts is to encourage students living in various conditions through music. The schools visited include Tomioka Daiichi and Daini Elementary Schools, Namie Junior High School and Katsurao Elementary School, where some students need to travel extended periods from various locations because temporary school buildings have been erected on the grounds of old factory sites or condemned schools, as well as Kawauchi Elementary School, which despite being re-opened, has only a third of its original student population. In the classroom-style string quartet concerts, the students were taught how to play the violin by the performers. Then, while giving explanations in a quiz format, the musicians played famous pieces such as “The Nutcracker” from Tchaikovsky. Finally, there was a joint session with the chorus “Believe” and “Mirai no Hikari he” (“To the Light of the Future”), an original song written by Namie Junior High School students. Amid deep snow, the concerts delivered music to children in the disaster-affected areas. The school principals offered words of thanks, and feedback from students included comments that “It was fun to touch the strings of a violin for the first time and feel what it's like to play music.”

On November 19–20, the ITOCHU Children's Dreams Rugby Scrum was held. The city of Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture, known as a “rugby town,” has been selected as one of the host cities for the ninth Rugby World Cup, which will be held in Japan in 2019. Rugby has the power to help the region in its recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. To support the dreams of many Kamaishi children who aim to become rugby players, ITOCHU Corporation invited 16 elementary school students who belong to the Kamaishi Seawaves Junior team to Tokyo.
On their first day, the children served as child player escorts for the official professional rugby game at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. Their faces were happily animated as they found themselves within reach of active professional players. The next day, the children deepened their bonds through rugby by meeting Mr. Hidehito Izumi, a player who helped the Nippon Steel Corporation Kamaishi Rugby Club win the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship seven times, practicing with 10 ITOCHU employee volunteers with rugby experience, and playing a friendly rugby match with children from the Nerima Rugby School team.
A few days later, the children sent ITOCHU a letter expressing, “We've had tough days because of the earthquake, but we are grateful for giving us such a wonderful opportunity. We have been longing for the Rugby World Cup to be held in Kamaishi in 2019. We want to do our best to use this experience to make our team even just a little stronger by the time of the Rugby World Cup.”

On October 2, a rice harvesting ceremony was held in Rikuzentakata to celebrate the arrival of the harvest season for Takata no Yume, Rikuzentakata's brand of rice that the ITOCHU Group supports through its main business activities. Approximately 120 participants gathered including Mayor Toba of Rikuzentakata City, people from the city's office, farmers, and related and local companies. Representing the ITOCHU Group, three participants from ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd., which sells Takata no Yume rice, attended. The rice seedlings that were planted in May had grown strongly to become golden rice plants. This year, Takata no Yume has once again delivered a bumper crop!

On October 1 and 2, the 7th ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup baseball tournament was held at Akiramenai Kokoro (“Indomitable Spirit”) Stadium in Otomo district of Rikuzentakata City. This time, five youth baseball teams from the city took part. The children played hard, cheered on enthusiastically by their families, and the Yonesaki Youth Baseball Team won the championship once again. The baseball team of the city's only high school, Rikuzentakata Prefectural Takata Senior High School, made it into the top eight in the Iwate Tournament of Japanese High School Baseball Championship held this summer for the first time since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Baseball brought the city together. The ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup helps to revitalize Rikuzentakata, which is still recovering five years after the earthquake. It brings dreams and encouragement to youth baseball players with the potential to become future players in Japan's Koshien High School Baseball Tournament and to local people.

This fiscal year a total of 4,958 shareholders have agreed to receive shareholder information electronically, the amount of money equivalent to the cost saved is combined with the same amount of money donated by ITOCHU Corporation and sent to ITOCHU Foundation's "100 Children's Books Aid" project. Cooperation from the shareholders allowed us to donate new sets of books to the following 10 schools, which were severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Recipient schools were to choose from the 3 kinds of books sets depending on the grades of elementary school, lower, middle or upper grades, and we placed orders to bookstores in the affected areas. We hereby express our sincere gratitude to our stakeholders for their cooperation.

[Fiscal 2016 recipients]
● Iwate Prefecture
Touni Elementary School (Kamaishi City), Johoku Elementary School (Morioka City), Funakoshi Elementary School (Yamada Town)
● Miyagi Prefecture
Onagawa Elementary School (Onagawa Town), Yuriage Elementary School (Natori City), Sakamoto Elementary School (Yamamoto Town), Arahama Elementary School (Watari Town)
● Fukushima Prefecture
Soma Municipal Iitoyo Elementary School (Soma City), Ono Municipal Iitoyo Elementary School (Ono Town), Yumoto Third Elementary School (Iwaki City)

For details, visit:

http://www.itc-zaidan.or.jp/topic.php

A summer camp in English was held in Rikuzentakata, and 26 elementary and junior high school students took part.
Along with 10 ITOCHU employee volunteers, 20 university students, comprising those from US universities such as the University of Alaska and international students studying at Japanese universities such as Rikkyo University and Iwate University, which have signed collaborative agreements with Rikuzentakata City on regional revitalization and other matters, enjoyed time with the children, playing games and sports in English, barbecuing and making a campfire.
Moreover, ITOCHU volunteers performed a skit entitled "How Dole Bananas Get to Your Home" to introduce the work of a sogo shosha as an example of a practical use of English in future career, prompting the children to ask how to join ITOCHU and showing their significant growth over the two days.

The ITOCHU Children's Dream Cup Youth Baseball Tournament was held on June 11 and 12 at Akiramenai Kokoro (“Indomitable Spirit”) Stadium in the Otomo district of Rikuzentakata City. The tournament was organized to support children in Rikuzentakata and has been held six times since its start in autumn 2013. Because there were less children in the community than before as a result of their parents moving away and suchlike, the number of youth baseball teams had to be reduced from six to five. Nevertheless, the teams waged games that were even more exciting than usual. The Yonesaki Youth Baseball Team was blocked from winning their fifth consecutive title in the previous tournament, but this time around they played magnificently and got revenge by regaining the victory cup.
Three volunteers from the ITOCHU Group also participated in practice matches and deepened their interactions with the children, managers and coaches at social events. In addition, the non-profit organization Rikuzentagada Hakki Project, launched after Rikuzentakata was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake, will run the tournament from this time onwards. Therefore, it is expected that the tournament will become even more rooted in the local community in the future.

On May 29, a ceremony for planting “Takata no Yume”, a brand rice from Rikuzentakata City, was held by inviting about 120 people including employees of ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd. that distributes the rice.
This year, 51 farmers are going to crop Takata no Yume, and the plating area will be 55 hectares. The ITOCHU Group will continue to support Takata no Yume in its efforts to support the affected areas through its main business activities.

At the five years' commemoration of the Great East Japan Earthquake, a total of 619,036 yen was raised from employees in the in-house fundraising activities that took place during March 1 to 18. The company matched the same amount from employees and donated the total of 1,238,072 yen to the Bright Green Ribbon 311, a specified nonprofit corporation that helps high school students in the area affected by the earthquake attend college. The donated money will be used to make 12 grants of 100,000 yen each to first-year university students from the coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture, who entered Iwate University, Iwate Prefectural University, and Morioka University.

On March 11, 2016, the “3.11 TabeteOenShiyo! Takata no Yume Project in Aoyama“ campaign to support Tohoku's reconstruction took place throughout the Aoyama district. Takata no Yume rice was provided to 20 participating restaurants in the Aoyama area that supported the cause and each restaurant added menu items using Takata no Yume rice in their lunchtime dishes. By allowing more customers to enjoy Takata no Yume rice, the event supported the disaster affected region and gave the participating stores and customers a way to come together to support Rikuzentakata.

For details, visit(Japanese only):

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/index.html

The ITOCHU 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, which recognizes business and group initiatives that contribute to expanding consumption of Japanese agricultural produce. The awards ceremony was held in Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo Ikebukuro.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/en/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/151119.html

The Autumn Youth Baseball Tournament of the 5th ITOCHU Children’s Dream Cup, organized to support Rikuzentakata’s children, was held on the grounds of Otomo Elementary School in Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture on September 26 and 27. Takata Youth Baseball Team thwarted the fifth straight victory of Yonezaki Youth Baseball Team, and eared the first tournament title. At the event, a total of 17 people from the ITOCHU Group participated, comprising employee volunteers from the ITOCHU Group and players and managers from the Sogokai Baseball Club. They deepened their interactions with the children, managers and coaches. After the tournament’s first day of play, the children and ITOCHU employees played a friendly match, with the employees suffering a regrettable 7–12 defeat.
As all six little league baseball teams from Rikuzentakata competed to win the pennant, the children’s activities have also uplifted the spirits of their parents and grandparents—in fact, the whole town has been heartened through baseball.

This fiscal year a total of 4,961 shareholders have agreed to receive shareholder information electronically, the amount of money equivalent to the cost saved is combined with the same amount of money donated by ITOCHU Corporation and sent to ITOCHU Foundation’s “100 Children's Books Aid” project. Cooperation from the shareholders allowed us to donate new sets of books to the following 11 schools, which were severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Recipient schools were to choose from the 3 kinds of books sets depending on the grades of elementary school, lower, middle or upper grades, and we placed orders to bookstores in the affected areas.
We hereby express our sincere gratitude to our stakeholders for their cooperation.
[Fiscal 2015 recipients]
● Iwate Prefecture
Takonoura Elementary School (Ofunato City), Kujiminato Elementary School (Kuji City), Sentoku Elementary School (Miyako City), Tsugaruishi Elementary School (Miyako City)
● Miyagi Prefecture Omagari Elementary School (Higashimatsushima City), Shizugawa Elementary School (Minami Sanriku Town), Okuma Elementary School (Watari Town)
● Fukushima Prefecture
Takaku Elementary School (Iwaki City), Shinchi Elementary School (Shinchi Town), Harase Elementary School (Nihonmatsu City), Mikawadai Elementary School (Fukushima City)

The Second ITOCHU Children’s Dream Summer Camp in Rikuzentakata was held for two days, from July 31 to August 1. Seventeen American university students with top-class sporting abilities were selected by the Sports Camp of America (SCOA) organization to travel from the US to Japan. The American university students enjoyed doing a variety of activities with the 26 Japanese children that participated, who ranged from fourth grade elementary to first grade junior high school students, living in Rikuzentakata City. Activities included sports-related activities such as cheerleading, soccer and playing Frisbee, and also dancing and holding a campfire. This was the second time that the ITOCHU Children’s Dream Summer Camp in Rikuzentakata was held, and this time, 10 ITOCHU employees participated as volunteers. Many of these Japanese children are still living in post-earthquake temporary housing, and the ITOCHU volunteers worked up a sweat with the children as shosha persons, helping them feel closer to and become familiar with non-Japanese culture and the English language, thereby widening their perspectives to embrace the world beyond Japan.

The ITOCHU Children’s Dream Cup Youth Baseball Tournament was held on the weekend of May 30–31 at Akiramenai Kokoro (“Indomitable Spirit”) Stadium in the Otomo district of Rikuzentakata City. The city’s youth baseball teams fought out the tournament held as one aspect of ITOCHU’s support for recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
In a rarity, close games continued, particularly in the final, where Yonezaki Youth Baseball Team was steaming on from its third consecutive title. At the top of the 7th inning with two outs and no runners on base, the team was under pressure, but showed its “indomitable spirit” in the clutch to even the score. The result after extra innings was that the team dramatically won its fourth consecutive title. “I thought we were done,” one player said, brought back by mothers in the supporter’s group frantically cheering to never give up.
Players gathered near the dugout at the end of the game and tears of joy were spilled. On the other hand, the unfortunate defeat suffered by Takada Youth Baseball Team saw tears of anguish and a pledge for a rematch. The wonderful skills exhibited by the children ensured the adults supporting them were also bestowed with courage.

On May 24, a ceremony for planting “Takata no Yume”, a brand rice from Rikuzentakata City, was held by inviting about 100 people including employees of ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd. that distributes the rice.
This year, 34 farmers are going to crop Takata no Yume, and the plating area will be 52 hectares. The ITOCHU Group will continue to support Takata no Yume in its efforts to support the affected areas through its main business activities.

On March 11, 2015, the “3.11 TabeteOenShiyo! Takata no Yume Project in Aoyama” campaign to support Takata no Yume took place throughout the Aoyama district. Takata no Yume rice was provided to 21 participating restaurants in the Aoyama area that supported the cause and each restaurant added menu items using Takata no Yume rice in their lunchtime rice and bread dishes. By allowing more customers to enjoy Takata no Yume rice, the event supported the disaster affected region and gave the participating stores and customers a way to come together to support Rikuzentakata.

On November 1 and 2, a total of 14 employee volunteers from the ITOCHU Group gathered in an industrial festival and a cycling event “Tour de Sanriku,” which were held in Rikuzen-Takata City. In these events, the volunteers engaged in PR activities for Takata no Yume to make it known to more local people in Rikuzen-Takata City. In the venues, the volunteers carried out PR activities including distribution of samples, shooting of PR video, and distribution of small rice balls made of freshly steamed Takata no Yume to those who participated in the bicycle race. These activities also allowed them to deepen exchanges with local people.

On October 31, Mayor Futoshi Toba of Rikuzen-Takata City and employee volunteers of ITOCHU Corporation had a session for exchanging opinions about reconstruction measures of the city, which ITOCHU has been supporting. Mayor Toba explained about the status of reconstruction of the city, sightseeing tours around the city combined with educational tours on disaster prevention, and new town planning measures. This was followed by discussions on reconstruction measures from the viewpoint of the participating employees as business people.

On September 15, a harvesting ceremony of Takata no Yume, a new brand of rice from Rikuzen-Takata City, was held by inviting about 60 people including employees of ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd. that distributes the rice.
The amount of crop this year is expected to reach 150 tons, a significant increase from 33 tons last year. ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd. will expand the sales of this rice by offering it for business use, for example, in addition to selling it at department stores in Tokyo as the existing sales channel. We will thus continue to support the affected areas through our main business activities.

Where shareholders have agreed to receive shareholder information electronically, the amount of money equivalent to the cost saved through the electronic distribution of the information is combined with the same amount of money donated by ITOCHU Corporation and sent to ITOCHU Foundation’s “100 Children's Books Aid” project.
This fiscal year, a total of 5,184 shareholders have agreed to the initiative, which allowed us to donate new sets of books via local book stores to the following 10 schools, which were severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
We hereby express our sincere gratitude to our stakeholders for their cooperation.

[Fiscal 2014 recipients]
●　Iwate Prefecture
Ikawa Elementary School (Ofunato City), Akasaki Elementary School (Ofunato City), Takekoma Elementary School (Rikuzen-Takata City)
●　Miyagi Prefecture
Urato Second Elementary School (Shiogama City), Shogen Nishi Elementary School (Sendai City), Nachigaoka Elementary School (Natori City)
●　Fukushima Prefecture
Ueda Elementary School (Iwaki City), Katurao Elementary School (Katsurao Village), Daiichi Elementary School (Sukagawa City), Noda Elementary School (Fukushima City)

For details, visit:

http://www.itc-zaidan.or.jp/topic.php#120

On Friday, August 1 and Saturday, August 2, the "ITOCHU Kodomo no Yume English Summer Camp in Rikuzen-Takata" was held as the Fourth Phase of ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund. Thirteen university students from the United States, who are top-class athletes of track and field, swimming, soccer, cheer dance, and other sports, came to Rikuzen-Takata City as the Counselors (instructors) for the English camp. They played soccer, baseball, Frisbee, basketball, and other sports with 21 children in grades 5-9 residing in the city, who were invited from the public. The event allowed the children to come into contact with a different culture through these and various other activities that were carried out only in English, including a camp fire.

During Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11, a panel exhibition entitled “Resilience for Tomorrow -- Invitation to WCDRR in Sendai –,“ which was hosted by the government of Japan, was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The panels were exhibited by Rikuzen-Takata City, Sendai City, the International Research Institute of Disaster Science of Tohoku University, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for the purpose of showing the international society damages from the Great East Japan Earthquake and reconstruction efforts that have been made since the disaster. To this event, ITOCHU donated 1,173,486 yen via Aid TAKATA, an NPO that serves as a liaison council for supporting the Rikuzen-Takata City. The amount includes 586,743 yen collected from 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 the total of 1,173,486 yen.

On Thursday, May 22, ITOCHU donated uniforms and sports bags to "Nakano Splash," a volleyball team of Nakano Elementary School of Sendai City and a tent and baseball gear to "Nakano Sparrows," a baseball team of the elementary school. They said that when the disaster took place, the first and second floors of the school were inundated and children spent an uneasy night on the roof floor. We hope that the children, who lost equipment and instruments of the teams but have been trying hard to continue their activities, will continue to enjoy playing sports and grow up healthy.

*The photo shows appreciative words, which were given by the children in the presentation ceremony.

A ceremony for planting "Takata no Yume" was held on Sunday, May 18. A total of eleven employees from ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd., which sells Takata no Yume, participated in the ceremony as rice-planting volunteers.
The ITOCHU Group will continue to support Takata no Yume in its efforts to support the affected areas through its main business activities.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/140518.html

On April 26, ITOCHU sent a lifeboat and floating pier to Rowing Club of Iwate Prefectural Yamada High School and held an event named "Prayer for Safety Festival," which included the presentation ceremony and a prayer for victory. The Rowing Club lost most of its equipment in the Great East Japan Earthquake but tried hard to continue its activities. As a result, the club achieved brilliant results in national tournaments.

We heartily hope that further activities of the club will give power and hopes to students of Yamada High School and to the people of Yamada Town. This support was provided as a part of the Third Phase of ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund, which is aimed at supporting young people struggling in disaster-affected areas.

ITOCHU held "Rikuzen-Takata Photo Exhibition ~ An Expression of Emotional Support ~," a project for supporting recovery of Rikuzen-Takata City, and an exhibition featuring Takata no Yume, the brand of rice which has been entrusted with the hopes and dreams for the city’s agricultural restoration. These exhibitions were held at the Takashiyama Department Store in Shinjuku from Wednesday, February 26 until Tuesday, March 11.

The exhibited photographs are works of photojournalist Natsuki Yasuda, who has kept a photographic record of the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, especially Rikuzen-Takata City. Customers who bought Takata no Yume at "Komekura Yamadaya" rice store on the 1st basement floor of Takashiyama Department Store in Shinjuku were given special packs of Takata no Yume.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/140226.html

Sales of Takata no Yume, a brand of rice from Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate Prefecture, have been started finally. On the first day of the sales, Takata no Yume-chan, the mascot of Rikuzen-Takata City, was present at Ginza Mitsukoshi, where the rice is sold.
Please try Takata no Yume, rice filled with dreams of people of Rikuzen-Takata City!

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/131110.html

On November 1, brioche made by using Takata no Yume, a new brand of rice from Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate Prefecture, will start to be available for a limited time only at Le Pain Quotidien Shibakoen. Le Pain Quotidien is a restaurant chain operated by ITOCHU Corporation. The company supports the production of the rice in its efforts to support the affected areas through its main business activities. Don’t miss it!

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/131101.html

On October 27, ITOCHU Corporation co-sponsored "A Creative Jazz Concert for Kids " held at Roppongi Hills Arena. At the venue, ITOCHU ran a booth selling Harakomeshi rice balls (balls of rice mixed with salmon and salmon caviar) made of Takata no Yume, a new brand of rice from Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate Prefecture. Takata no Yume-chan, the mascot of Rikuzen-Takata City, was also present at the booth.
Six staff members including volunteers from ITOCHU Corporation sold the rice balls with the aim of having Takata no Yume known to more people. They sold all of the 200 rice balls prepared for the event.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/131027.html

On October 18, a press event of harvesting Takata no Yume, a brand of rice from Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate Prefecture, was held at Moritora Farm, a rental farm in Toranomon, Tokyo.
The event was attended by Mrs. Akie Abe, who is the wife of the Prime Minister and also produces rice, Mayor Futoshi Toba of Rikuzen-Takata City, President Takashi Koyama of ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd. that distributes the rice, General Manager Takada of Corporate Communications Division, ITOCHU Corporation, and children residing in Tokyo. On the day of the event, ITOCHU Corporation received a letter of appreciation from Rikuzen-Takata City for its seamless support from production to sales of Takata no Yume, including provision of volunteer staff members for supporting the production process from rice planting to harvesting and sales of the rice through ITOCHU Food Sales and Marketing Co., Ltd.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/131018.html

From Friday, October 4 to Sunday, October 6, our voluntary colleagues gathered to harvest Takata no Yume for the first shipping in this year. The volunteers visited the municipal office of Rikuzen-Takata City, engaged in the entire process from harvesting to hazekake (drying) and helped distribute samples of rice that were right after being harvested at Tour de Sanriku.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/131005.html

A tasting event for Takata no Yume took place in front of the Tokyo Head Office’s cafeteria in the lunchtime on Monday, September 9 and Tuesday, September 10.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/earthquake/takatanoyume/activity/130909.html

This fiscal year, a total of 6,216 shareholders have agreed to receive shareholder information electronically. Amount of money equivalent to that saved through the electronic distribution of the information was donated by ITOCHU Corporation to ITOCHU Foundation’s “100 Children's Books Aid” project. Under this project, new sets of books were donated this year again via local book stores to the following 11 facilities. The books will be enjoyed by children including those from Otsuchi Elementary School of Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, which has integrated three other elementary schools damaged severely by the tsunami, and those from “Kodomo Hon-no Ie Soramame (Soramame the children’s book house),” a facility in Fukushima City that was forced to be relocated due to the nuclear accident.
We hereby express our sincere gratitude to our stakeholders for their cooperation.

[Fiscal 2013 recipients]
●　Iwate Prefecture
Otsuchi Elementary School of Otsuchi Town, Kamaishi City Library, Ofunato City Library, Takkon District Community Center of Ofunato City, Sano District Community Center of Ofunato City, Fureai Kyoshitsu (Rikuzen-Takata City)
●　Miyagi Prefecture
Shishiori Elementary School of Kesennuma City, Kids’ Room Ohisama (Kesennuma City), Masuda Children’s Center, Shimo-Masuda Hokago Jido Club ( Natori City)
●　Fukushima Prefecture
Kodomo Hon-no Ie Soramame (Fukushima City)

For details, visit:

http://www.itc-zaidan.or.jp/topic.php#71

ITOCHU supported the Joint Concert hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra as the second initiative under the ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund. The concert was held at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on July 27. In this Joint Concert, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra collaborated with a business company for the first time. At the suggestion of ITOCHU, 14 junior high school and high school students from disaster-affected areas in Fukushima Prefecture were selected from applicants and invited to join the orchestra. The students received lessons for two months together with children from Tokyo, who were also invited to join the orchestra. On the day of the Joint Concert, the students performed with the professional orchestra on a dream stage and deeply moved the entire audience.

For three days from July 16 to 18, an art exhibition and “Ko(think)fuku(happiness)Talk Show” by Hiroki Maeno, a flower arranger and a master of Sogetsu school, was held at ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE. Through the exhibited art works (arranged flowers), Mr. Maeno expressed his wish for reconstruction of Fukushima and his hope that flowers will blossom in the future of all the people. Each day the event attracted many visitors, who were also interested in the talk shows held by inviting guests and exhibition of “debris” art works.

Shanti Volunteer Association engages in activities of sending Japanese picture books to children in Southeast Asia, by affixing labels showing text translated into local languages on the picture books. Every week, employee volunteers of ITOCHU affix the labels on the picture books together with the ITOCHU Foundation by using a dedicated kit purchased from Shanti Volunteer Association. This time, an initiative was taken to expand these activities to children in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Employee volunteers of ITOCHU visited Sendai City of Miyagi Prefecture on July 6 and Shirakawa City of Fukushima Prefecture on July 13. The volunteers gave instructions on how to affix the labels to local children with groups engaged in book aid in the local areas and other organizations.

On June 30, a rice-planting event for children was held at “mori tora farm,” a rental garden in Toranomon, Tokyo. This event was aimed at spreading “Takata no Yume", the local brand rice of Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate Prefecture. Two children of ITOCHU Corporation employees participated in this event. The Mayor of Rikuzen-Takata City and “Takata-no-Yume-chan,” the mascot character of the city, also took part in rice-planting and gave a boost to the event.

Under the ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund, ITOCHU donated uniforms to sports clubs of Takata Higashi Junior High School of Rikuzen-Takata City. On June 24, 24 employee volunteers of the ITOCHU Group visited the school and interacted with members of basketball club, volleyball club, and track and field club. The students were wearing the new uniforms with the name “TAKATA EAST” of the new school, which was established by integrating three junior high schools. Their faces were shining brightly with the uniforms.

On June 13, a motivational rally was held at Takata Higashi Junior High School of Rikuzen-Takata City for members of the school’s sports clubs, who were participating in the regional Inter-Junior High School Athletic Competition. At the rally, members of the school’s basketball club, volleyball club, and track and field club wore blue uniforms sent by ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund and the Tohoku Supporting Children’s Dreams Project. They expressed enthusiasm for the competition and the principal and all the students of the school sent cheers to the members.

On June 8, a ceremony for presenting a monetary donation to local youth baseball teams was held at the school ground of Otomo Elementary School in Rikuzen-Takata City. It was the first project under the ITOCHU Children’s Dreams Fund, under which money was donated to help the teams make an expedition. The district of Otomo was heavily damaged by tsunami, which hit the area from both the Ofunato side and Kesennuma side. The new school ground with a five-meter embankment was completed, and the day of the ceremony finally came. After the first pitch ceremony, the teams competed fiercely for a place in the prefectural tournament.

On June 7, five employees of ITOCHU Corporation planted rice as volunteers in Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate, to provide support for local people's efforts to ship "Takata no Yume", the local brand rice of Rikuzen-Takata City, for the first time in this autumn. It was unfortunately raining on the day but the volunteers planted rice with local people including the Mayor of Rikuzen-Takata City. They also interacted with local people by visiting Takata Higashi Junior High School, to which ITOCHU donated uniforms under the ITOCHU Children’s Dreams Fund, and seeing and listening to people who engage in storytelling activities.

ITOCHU Corporation will make donations to the Joint Concert hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. It will be the second initiative under the ITOCHU Children’s Dreams Fund, a support program for children in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The Joint Concert is an annual event in which approx.100 children and teenagers are selected from among applicants, receive five programmed lessons, and perform with the professional orchestra on a dream stage. Applicants must be children or teenagers from fourth graders to high school seniors who reside in Tokyo or attend schools in Tokyo. For the 15th Joint Concert to be held this year, however, 14 junior high school and high school students from Fukushima Prefecture, who were selected from applicants, will join the children and teenagers in Tokyo and deepen exchanges with them. This special arrangement was proposed by ITOCHU Corporation. The event will be held at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on Saturday, July 27.
(Photo provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra)

ITOCHU has established ITOCHU Children’s Dreams Fund to provide support for children in Rikuzentakata CIty jointly with "The Tohoku Supporting Children’s Dreams Project" run by the Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO). Three junior high schools in the city damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake -- namely, Otomo Junior High School, Hirota Junior High School, and Yonesaki Junior High School -- integrated into a new school named Takata Higashi Junior High School. On April 6, the first semester started at this new school.

Two years have passed. Our activities to collect donations have continued with our unchanging wishes for the reconstruction of affected areas. With cooperation gained from our domestic and overseas branches and labor unions, the donations have amounted to 904,867 yen.
We also collected donations on Monday, March 11. Furthermore, ingredients purchased from the affected areas were used to cook meals served at the company cafeteria on that day. A shop selling local specialties of the affected areas was also opened. A movie titled “3.11 ITOCHU Corporation's Support for Reconstruction from the Disaster” was shown on the same day. In this way ITOCHU Corporation will continue to support reconstruction efforts.

The Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development runs the Tohoku Supporting Children's Dreams Project. Sympathizing with the aim of the project, ITOCHU Corporation supports extracurricular activities and youth baseball teams of junior high schools in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate through ITOCHU Children's Dreams Fund, a fund that has recently been established.

For details, visit:

http://www.itochu.co.jp/en/csr/news/2013/130311.html

We organized the Art Exhibition PEACE ART for the Future (March 5 to 11) at ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE. The whole venue including the support message board was given over to the “Great Earthquake, Tsunami and Heart Memories Spoken by Children's Arts” organized by East Japan Support Crayon Net. The exhibition of works by Takuya Gamo, who has overcome a disability to play an active role as an artist in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, will be held at the same time.

On September 11, ITOCHU Corporation started in-house fund-raising activities at its offices to provide support for areas devastated by the giant earthquake and tsunami. The campaign lasted until September 21, and money was donated by many people, including expatriate employees and ITOCHU Group employees, not to mention directors, executive officers, and employees of ITOCHU Corporation. ITOCHU added the same amount to the final campaign result and donated their sum, which was 607,230 yen, to the Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO). NICCO will use the money to support children in the devastated area under the 'Supporting Children's Dreams' project in Tohoku.

For details, visit:

http://www.kyoto-nicco.org/project/support/presentation/itc-coope.html

The 100 Children's Books aid that we conduct together with our shareholders has starting arriving at a volunteer organization in Tohoku. This activity transfers paper and postage costs saved from shareholders approving electronic registration of their information to the Itochu Foundation that runs novel book aid. With our company donating the same amount, we have delivered 15 sets (1 set = 100 books) of children's books in fiscal 2012 to an organization operating at areas suffering the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake to be used effectively for reading aloud to children.

On March 12 and 13, ITOCHU Corporation organized an in-house fund-raising campaign based on its policy of sustaining support for areas devastated by the giant earthquake and tsunami. The campaign raised 638,171 yen (including donations made at ITOCHU's Tokyo Head Office and Osaka Head Office), thanks to a high level of interest employees expressed.
One ITOCHU employee who cooperated in this campaign said, “One year has passed since the earthquake, but news programs I saw gave me the feeling that we must support affected areas much longer. I'll keep doing what I can.”
ITOCHU plans to add the same amount to the final campaign result and donate their sum to programs for supporting the affected areas.

A fund-raising campaign titled “Let's Send Love to Devastated Parts of the Tohoku Region by Donating Our Money” took place at ITOCHU Corporation's Tokyo Head Office and Osaka Head Office on February 14, which was St. Valentine's Day. This campaign started with the idea of “sending money kept for buying gifts for St. Valentine's Day and the so-called White Day (a Japanese invention for returning St. Valentine's gifts) to people in affected areas,” conceived by volunteers among ITOCHU employees, and spread from them to people in the entire company.
ITOCHU will donate 378,817 yen raised through this campaign to a public service corporation called Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO), which has been undertaking reconstruction support activities in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures since the period immediately after the earthquake and tsunami, requesting the aid-supplying corporation to apply the donations to programs for supporting schools in devastated areas.

On February 21, Vice Governor Masahiro Wako of Miyagi Prefecture visited ITOCHU Corporation's Tokyo Head Office to hand a letter of appreciation for support ITOCHU had provided to the prefecture since the period immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Representatives from Yayoi Foods Co., Ltd., an ITOCHU Group company continuing to support manufacturing activities in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, also came to the Tokyo Head Office on this day. Concerned ITOCHU officials and the Yayoi Foods representatives listened to various topics Vice Governor Wako covered in his speech, including on-site progress toward reconstruction and the need for sustained assistance. On the occasion, Vice Governor Wako also thanked the ITOCHU Group for its continuing practice of sending volunteer employees to a support location within Miyagi Prefecture on a regular basis.

Soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred last March, Eastern Microelectric Lab Inc., an ITOCHU business partner in Taiwan, donated about 1,500 blankets to ITOCHU as emergency relief supplies. Although this was a warmhearted act of support, at the time it wasn't possible for us to deliver this donation immediately to the stricken area. However, the first winter since the earthquake came round. On January 21 and 28, we delivered these warm blankets directly into the hands of local people with the help of an NPO active in the area called Sweet Treat 311. The blankets were given to people living as evacuees in their homes and the residents of temporary housing complexes at nine locations centered on the district of Ogatsu-cho in Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture.