Each of the Sumitomo Metals steel works conducts plant tours for large numbers of elementary and junior high school students, as well as local residents. In fiscal 2010 approximately 43,000 persons toured our company's plants. We also are continuing with a broad range of activities including participating in volunteer activities in each community, such as organizing clean-up activities, coaching sports and holding athletic competitions, participating in local festivals, and opening the plant grounds and gymnasium to the public.
| Held a special exhibition at the Osaka Science & Technology Center Held the special exhibition "Making Steel, Making the Future" at the Osaka Science & Technology Center in Nishi Ward, Osaka from August 4 to September 30, 2010. Exhibits of actual and model steel products were used to explain the many steel products and technologies that support our society, and also provided information related to the relationship between steel and the human body, the Earth, and our daily lives. |
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| Holding sports competitions and sports workshops Aiming to contribute to the promotion of local sports and the sound development of our youth, the Kashima Steel Works holds a variety of sports competitions for local elementary and junior high school students under the name "Sumitomo Metals Cup." Junior high school students: Table tennis, soft baseball, girls' volleyball Elementary school students: Mini basketball In addition, the Kashima Steel Works also holds baseball classes conducted by members of its baseball team, and children's swimming classes conducted in cooperation with Kashima City, local NPOs, and other organizations. |
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| Participation in beach clean-up activities in Kashima City Together with Kashima City and other organizations, we participate in a clean-up of the entire Kashima City beach area before the start of the summer beach season. This activity was started in 1984, and more than 2,000 residents of the city participate each year. Approximately 900 members of the Kashima Steel Works join in, helping to beautify the local environment. |
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| Sumitomo Metals Cherry Blossom Festival The Sumitomo Metals Cherry Blossom Festival is held in early April each year to coincide with the blossoming of the more than 2,000 cherry trees planted at the works. The festival features a broad range of events for visitors of all ages, including refreshment booths, plant tours, and performances on a special stage. The works bustles with activity on the day of the festival, where in addition to employees, approximately 10,000 people from the local community also attend. |
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| Participation in and sponsorship of the Kashima Festival The Kashima Festival is held in mid-October each year and is the largest event in Kashima City. Over two days, the festival is attended by a total of 150,000 persons. Since the event was started in 1991, Sumitomo Metals has participated in and sponsored the festival as a member of the festival's organizing committee. |
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| Holding learning tours (Invitation of fifth-year elementary school students to tour the plant) Beginning in 1978, the Kashima Steel Works has invited fifth-year elementary school students (from 45 schools) from neighboring Kashima City to tour the plant as part of their social studies course and to help them learn about the production of steel. |
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| Opening the company park to the public The Cherry Tree Park and Ouka Park at the Kashima Steel Works are open to the public. The Cherry Tree Park also contains an herb garden where visitors can enjoy the scent of herbs and which is a popular relaxation spot for city residents. As a symbol of our wishes for peace, the park features a restored aircraft shelter and replica of an Ouka kamikaze rocket bomb. |
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| Other activities at the Kashima Steel Works include the following. ・Plant tours during summer and winter holidays ・Participation in the "Kashima Light Art Gallery" wintertime public illumination event ・Providing complimentary tickets to Kashima Antlers games to welfare facilities ・Clean-up activities around the works |
| Drawing contest for elementary school students Aiming to be a steel works that is in harmony with and a familiar presence to the local community, artistic elementary school students are invited to sketch scenes inside the bright and active plant where all major equipment has been recently renovated. The resulting drawings are then displayed in places where they can be enjoyed by the local community. |
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| Summer holiday plant tours The summer holiday plant tours were started in 1982, and are an annual summertime event enjoyed by parents and children from the local community. |
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| Participation in the Company Forest program The Wakayama Steel Works is participating in the Company Forest program for preservation of forest environments in Wakayama Prefecture. This program involves tree-planting and other volunteer activities carried out by companies, aiming to preserve Wakayama's natural environment by maintaining local forests. The steel works has leased six acres of privately owned forest in Nakahechi-cho, Tanabe City, where it is planting mainly broadleaf trees. This project, called Sumitomo Metals Wakayama Forest, calls for planting and cultivating approximately 5,000 trees over a 10-year period. Daily management is entrusted to the Nakahechi Forestry Association, and Sumitomo Metals employees also participate in the removal of undergrowth and other support activities. |
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| Isonoura Beach clean-up With the involvement of affiliated and cooperating companies located at the works, a clean-up of the Isonoura beach area adjacent to the plant is carried out each year before the start of the summer beach season. As one part of employee training related to public service and the environment, members of the steel works also participate with local residents in other clean-up activities conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Wakayama City, and other organizations, helping to beautify the area and expressing our appreciation for the local environment. |
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| Other activities at the Wakayama Steel Works include the following. ・Participation in the Kishu Dance |
| Participation in the Forest of the 21st Century in Amagasaki Project This works participates in an environmental harmonization urban development project by Amagasaki City in Hyogo Prefecture that aims to create a natural environment lush with the water that brings such benefit to people's lives, and is engaged in greening of the grounds inside the works. In recognition of our greening activities and other contributions to this urban development project, in July 2009 we were named the first recipient of the Amagasaki Forest of the 21st Century Greening Prize. |
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| Exhibition of panels on walls to improve plant appearance The south wall of the steel works (430 meters in length) is used to exhibit giant photographs. The wall displays 140 images of representative Osaka facilities and scenes, as well as historical, industrial, and other sites from the local area of Konohana Ward. |
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| Other activities at the Osaka Steel Works include the following. ・Clean-up activity on the road from the nearest station (JR Ajikawaguchi Station) and the roads around the plant |
| Participation in the Kokura Gion Drum Festival The Kokura Gion Drum Festival is thought to have been started in 1617, modeled after the Gion Festival in Kyoto. The festival is said to have originated with Lord Tadaoki Hosokawa, who constructed Kokura Castle, as a prayer that the castle town would prosper and remain free of disease and disaster. Kokura Steel Works has been participating in the festival since the formation of a company drum group in 1975. In 2007, Sumitomo Metals group won the Public Drumming Award for the first time. |
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| Other activities at Kokura Steel Works include the following. ・Clean-up activities on commuter roads around the company ・Participation in clean-up programs organized by Kita Kyushu City |
| Youth baseball competition Naoetsu Steel Works has been holding a youth baseball competition for the past 18 years for the purpose of aiding the healthy development of the members of local youth baseball teams. The competition is a very exciting event, with approximately 400 young players competing for their team's victory, with enthusiastic cheering from the stands. |
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| Other activities at Naoetsu Steel Works include the following. ・Participation in Joetsu Festival |
| Hometown activities The Kashima Antlers FC has since 1994 been engaged in a variety of sports promotion activities aiming to achieve the "J-League 100-year vision" for the promotion of local sports. In addition to soccer, since 1999 it has held competitions for tennis, kendo, rugby, and mini basketball, all of which continue to the present. Members of the team have also visited all 73 elementary schools in the team's five hometown cities (2007 – 2008). The coaches have provided instruction at kindergartens, preschools, and elementary schools (beginning in 2002); free children's passes have been distributed to the hometown elementary schools (beginning in 2006); and special services including free home-game tickets are offered for residents of the five hometowns (Kashima City, Itako City, Kamisu City, Namegata City, Hokota City) and nine "friendly towns" (Hitachi City, Tsukuba City, Inashiki City, Kasumigaura City, Miho Village, as well as the following cities in Chiba Prefecture: Choshi City, Tohnosho Town, Katori City, Narita City). In areas beyond sports as well, the team has marketed an original cocktail called "Red-ai," which is made from sponsor Suntory’s "The Premium Malt's" beer and "Chutaro" premium tomato juice from the hometown of Hokota City. By providing information about local special products and a variety of other means, it is working to deepen our relationship with local communities. |
 Traveling Instruction Provided by Coaches |
| Tree-planting activities A typical example of reforesting activities is the Kamoshika Forest Tree-planting Festival conducted at the Sumimetal Mining Hachinohe limestone quarry (locally referred to as "Hachinohe Canyon"). Under the motto "Plant two trees for every one cut down," this tree-planting festival has been held every year since 2005. In another 20 or 30 years we will have recreated a disaster-preventing environmental protection forest that is as close to nature as possible. The objective is to create a forest that can be home to kamoshika (wild goats) and other wildlife. The plan calls for planting approximately 310,000 broadleaf trees that are native to the area on a cut slope approximately 100,000 square meters in size over a period of 20 years. This year's tree-planting festival was held in June 2011, and, although smaller than usual due to the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, approximately 300 persons participated, including employees, elementary school students, and area residents. The day was blessed with fine weather and the participants planted 6,000 trees of 17 different varieties. |
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| Unabara Volunteer Group Aiming to contribute to local communities, the Wakayama Division of Sumitomo Metal Logistics Service began environmental activities in 1975 based on the ideal and objective of "beautifying the environment and constructing a bright society." Over the following more than 30 years, it has conducted monthly clean-up activities in Wakayama City, and has been highly praised for its activities from many directions, including receiving the Wakayama Prefecture Environmental Award in 2002. |
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