Communication with StakeholdersLocal / Society
1. Dialogues with Local Communities
JSR Group is aware of the impact of the activities, products and services of factories and research laboratories on local communities, and promotes symbiosis with local communities. To build favorable relationships with local communities, we are continuing approaches by taking in opinions.
Responsible Care Participation in Regional Dialogue Meetings
The Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) RC committee holds regional dialogue meetings all over Japan as part of its RC initiatives. Participants include local residents, educators, civil servants, and members from various other organizations. They provide an opportunity to introduce participating companies, to explain their everyday safety and environmental measures to local residents to bolster their understanding and peace of mind, and to respond to residents' concerns and questions. Ube plant of Techno-UMG Co., Ltd. participated in a regional dialogue meeting held in the Yamaguchi-Nishi district in FY2019.
2. Social Contributions
(1) Philosophy
JSR Group established its "Philosophy to Social Contribution" in January 2009. We are currently implementing the initiatives outlined in this philosophy.
Philosophy to Social Contribution
- 1) Our Corporate Mission dictates that we contribute to society through our business activities. Further, we are actively engaged in providing solutions to social requirements and issues as a responsible member of society.
- 2) We are continuously engaged in positive social contribution activities, capitalizing on the chemical and technical knowledge and skills that form the core of JSR business.
- 3) Every employee is a point of contact between the Company and society, and we actively support our employees in their voluntary participation in social contribution activities.
Additionally, in 2010 we established "standards for making donations to disasters" in order to stipulate evaluation criteria when making donations to natural disasters. This brought greater clarity to standards and allows contributions to be made promptly and fairly.
(2) Advancement Structure
JSR Social Contribution Committee plans and executes activities that promote JSR Group's standing as a good corporate citizen.
(3) Initiatives Concerning the COVID-19 Pandemic
JSR Group will work as a one to address challenges associated with the COVID-19 threat. Visit the following links for information on specific initiatives.
- JSR's Responses to COVID-19
- JSR donated medical masks to medical institutions to support countermeasures against new coronavirus infection (Japanese only)
(4) Approaches in FY2019
The following section describes some of our main social and community activities for FY2019.
1) Academics, Education, Culture
JJSR Group provides support for young-generation development and education opportunities through our continued efforts to provide education and internship opportunities to students both in Japan and abroad. We also provide career experience opportunities.
Science education for elementary school students
On August 8, 2019, JSR presented an exhibit in the “8th Yokkaichi Children's Science Seminar” organized by the Yokkaichi Board of Education. The objective was to raise children's interest in science through experiments. At JSR's booth, approximately 120 children participated in a synthetic rubber coagulation experiment and heard an explanation of environment-friendly wastewater treatment methods at JSR plants.
In October 2019, JSR held a visiting lecture for 93 students at Utsubehigashi Elementary School that taught about global warming through the Yokkaichi Kids' CO2 Diet Challenge.
Classes for local junior high school students
In September 2019, employees from JSR Kashima Plant visited Hasaki Second Junior High School and held a class for 50 second-year students.The class consisted of three experiments: "Latex Coagulation Experiment," "Bouncing and Unbouncing Balls," and "Unbreakable Plastic." Using Molecule, the JSR's image character, "Bunshi-kun", he explained the relationship between the characteristics of materials and molecules in an easy-to-understand manner.
A scene from the lecture
A scene from the lecture
Participation in a program for training skilled workers to lead local industry
The Yokkaichi Plant accepted 12 students from a nearby high school for an in-company training program. The participants learned about work and safety in the plant through a plant tour and practical activities in a miniature plant.
Practical training
Practical training
Employee presentations at Nihon University
As part of our efforts to promote collaboration between industry and academia*1, every year, the Chiba Plant holds presentations at the Nihon University College of Industrial Technology. On October 15, 2019, it presented a course titled "The Properties and Manufacturing Processes of Rubber and Quality Assurance" that attracted approximately 120 students.
*1 Ichihara City's program to strengthen collaboration between industry and academia
A scene from the lecture
A scene from the lecture
Acceptance of trainees from China
On November 18, 2019, we held an environmental workshop through ICETT*2 for four trainees from Tianjin, China (employees administrators, and engineers of the Tianjin ecology and environment bureau). The trainees attended a lecture on environmental conservation activities and wastewater treatment technologies at the Yokkaichi Plant and toured the plant's facilities. The training turned out to be highly productive, as it was alive with questions from the trainees and featured spirited exchanges of opinions.
JSR has presented its environmental activities and technologies ever since ICETT's establishment, having accepted a total of 594 trainees (from 54 countries) over the years. We will continue to actively participate in ICETT's programs to help resolve global environmental problems.
*2 ICETT: International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer. ICETT was established in March 1990 by Mie Prefecture, Yokkaichi City, and contributing companies with support from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and major companies and academic institutions in Japan. Its purpose is to transfer Japan's know-how in the pollution-prevention technologies and environmental management technologies to developing countries.
Support of “Summer School for Junior High and High School Girls: Encounters with Science, Technology and People”
JSR supports “Summer School for Junior High and High School Girls” run by the non-profit organization GSTEM-CPP.
Summer School for Junior High and High School Girls: A program in which junior high and high school girls are exposed to science and technology, which is connects them to women who are active in the world of science and technology, and also encourages them to think about the future with friends and seniors who are also interested in science and technology. The objective is for these girls, through exchanges with scientific researchers and engineers, university and graduate school students, etc., to learn about the merits of choosing a path in science, or to re-realize these merits and strengthen their determination in moving forward along the science path. After the program, participating junior high and high school girls will be given support in selecting their future path and in deepening their ideas on career development.
Creation of educational opportunities Participation in book bag donations in Yokkaichi
Creation of educational opportunities Participation in book bag donations in YokkaichiSince 2014, the Yokkaichi Plant, with cooperation from JSR Group and JSR Labor Union, has participated in the "Memory Book Bag (Randoseru) for Children in Afghanistan" event held by JOICFP, an NGO engaged in international cooperation. Through the event, we donate unused school bags to underprivileged children in Afghanistan to assist their education. The event's aim is to help give children the knowledge and information they need to keep themselves and their families healthy by attending school and learning to read and write. In FY2018, we again donated book bags as well as pencils, notebooks, and other stationery. We will remain involved with the event, viewing it as a social contribution activity in which individual employees can participate.In May 2020, we again donated book bags as well as pencils, notebooks, and other stationery.
Support for the non-profit organization Supporting Organization for Artists of Tohoku (SOAT)
JSR supports the activities of the non-profit organization SOAT.
SOAT carries out support activities for victims in the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 by creating motivation in life through an art workshop. As part of these activities, SOAT and women who suffered damages create wine bags, and sell them at JSR Trading’s Wine Sale event. The wine bags are made out of leftover curtain cloth provided by Actus Co., Ltd., an interior goods store, and bottom liners provided by Techno-UMG Co., Ltd., and are sustainable. All profits go back to the victims.
A fabricated wine bags
Support for the Boso Satoyama Art Festival Ichihara Art X Mix 2020
Ichihara Art x Mix is an event led by Ichihara City and held jointly with Chiba Prefecture and neighboring municipalities. As a local art festival held in a village forest (satoyama) of southern Ichihara City, it serves to draw attention to local resources through modern art. JSR assists in Ichihara Art x Mix's public relations and contributes to the promotion of local arts. The event was postponed from March 2020 until March 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Donations to the Otsukado Performing Arts Preservation Society
The Otsukado Performing Arts Preservation Society in Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture is committed to preserving the old tradition of Tsunabi, which dates back to the Edo Period. Tsunabi is a traditional play that combines puppets and fireworks. The play is enacted with wooden dolls wrapped in fireworks that hang from a string. This play is performed for the public every year at the Grand Festival at Hitokotonushi Shrine in Otsukado. Elastimix donates to this preservation society to help keep this tradition alive.
2) Community activities, environment
JSR Harmony Festa
JSR Harmony Festa is held in the Yokkaichi District every year to bring JSR Group and their families together with residents in the local area. Having become a local custom, the FY2019 Harmony Festa (the 20th held thus far) was attended by some 1,700 people. Many fun and interesting activities were featured, including various sports and games, soccer lessons, an etegami (picture letter) workshop, and a drawing. On the stage were presented dance and musical performances by local schools. Again this year, a non-profit organization called COM-FRIENDS, whose objective is to support the independence of disabled persons by providing them with places to work, joined in the JSR Harmony Festa by setting up a booth selling food and drinks. This Festa is a great opportunity for neighbors and JSR groups to build good relationships.
20th Anniversary Reception Gate
Sales booth of COM-FRIENDS’ kitchen car
Participation in international beach clean-up activities
- Following last year, JSR BST Elastomer (Thailand) again participated in the International Coastal Cleanup event organized by the Ocean Conservancy NPO based in the US. In 2019, 60 employees and their families helped clean Mae Ram Phueng Beach in cooperation with other companies located in the same industrial park, local businesses, educational institutions, and community volunteers.
This event is held on the third Saturday in September all around the world to clean beaches, lakes, seas, and rivers in various countries. The participation of nearly 500,000 people in 91 different countries makes this one of the largest marine conservation projects in the world.
- Participation in a beach cleanup on a remote island
JSR's Yokkaichi Plant participates in coastal cleanup activities on Toshijima, an island in Toba City, Mie Prefecture. Companies and organizations that are members of the Mie Prefecture Industrial Waste Solutions Promotion Committee and environmental administration of Mie Prefecture participate. JSR's Yokkaichi Plant serves as an executive member company of the committee.
Participation in hands-on forestation development activities to protect water resources
Techno-UMG Co., Ltd. participates in hands-on forest development that protects water resources.
Techno-UMG participates in these activities each year as a member company of the Kotogawa Industrial Water Users' Association. Their aim is to cultivate and maintain the water sources of the Kotogawa Dam watershed while also encouraging a better understanding of the roles that forests have and the necessity of forest development through hands-on thinning of trees and bamboo.
Each year, Techno-UMG also participates in efforts to protect and nurture grasslands on the Akiyoshidai Plateau, located in Mine City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
These efforts are undertaken with the participation of concerned organizations and local residents as well as companies that do business in the prefecture and their employees' families.
Techno-UMG's Ube Plant makes a local contribution by assisting with water conservation activities and traditional events.
Forestation development activities to protect water resources
Forestation development activities to protect water resources
3) Social welfare and health
Cooperation with blood donation activities
Blood cannot be stored for a long time, nor can artificial blood be created.
To supply blood to medical institutions in a stable manner and save the lives of as many people as possible, the JSR Group has been actively cooperating with blood donation activities for a long time with both Japanese and overseas bases.
Mutual aid fundraising
JSR Micro Korea handed out donations collected at an internal bazaar auction to underprivileged families in the region through the Cheongwon District Office. The donations were distributed to families selected by the district office, including single-parent families with no income and low-income elderly people with disabilities who live alone.
Donation of foreign coins
The JSR Group has been conducting a foreign coin collection campaign since 2009 to assist a program that supports children around the world through the Japan Committee for UNICEF. Collection boxes for this purpose have been set up on the Tokyo, Yokkaichi, and Tsukuba Districts.
These coins are effectively utilized to protect the life, health, and rights of children in developing countries.
A collection box (Tokyo)
Donations to food banks
Whenever JSR Group updates the emergency supplies and food stocks stored at its business bases, it donates those items that are still within their “best-by” period to nearby food banks.
The donated food items are delivered from the food banks to facilities and people in need, and thereby help people in difficult circumstances get by.
Participation in aluminum can collection activities
Since October 2010, the JSR Yokkaichi Plant has been participating in aluminum can collection activities for “i-project”, an independence support organization for children with disabilities in Yokkaichi City. Aluminum cans are useful in “can crushing,” which is a form of multi-functional work activity. We therefore plan to continue participating in this activity.
Plastic bottle cap collection
In the Tokyo and Yokkaichi Districts and at JM Energy, JSR Group collects plastic bottle caps that would ordinarily be incinerated as waste and sells them to recycling companies. The funds earned through this activity are then used to provide vaccinations to children around the world.
Plastic bottle cap and aluminum can collection boxes (JSR Yokkaichi Plant)
The Table for Two Program
The Table for Two ProgramThe JSR Group's Tokyo and Yokkaichi Districts have participated in the TFT program run by the non-profit organization TABLE FOR TWO since February 2010. We have donated approximately 160,000 meals as of the end of March 2020.
TFT is an approach to share meals with children in developing countries. When an employee purchases a healthy meal designated by TFT, 20 yen per meal is donated to buy a school meal for a child in a developing country. School meals not only satisfy children’s hunger; they also improve school attendance rates and academic records, improve children’s physical fitness and strengthen disease prevention. Results such as formation of a community of schools and parents are expected, and school meals play an important role in solving poverty.
In Yokkaichi City, activities (CUP FOR TWO) that utilize beverage vending machines are ongoing.
JSR donations to help resolve global health issues
We make donations to medical care support programs such as the Japan branch of the Médecins Sans Frontières NGO to provide treatment for HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases such as cholera and malaria.
Participation in the Human Resources Fostering Program in Chemistry
The Human Resources Fostering Program in Chemistry was created by the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) in October 2010. It is based on a proposal made in a report prepared in April of the same year by the "Kagaku Bijon Kenkyukai" (chemistry vision study group) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The program informs universities of the chemical industry's human resources needs. Then industry supports the university courses that can meet these needs and their students. Its purpose is to develop the young people who will serve as the foundation for stronger international competitiveness and industrial promotion in Japan's chemical industry. We use the program to support courses engaged in outstanding initiatives and their students.
4) Assistance to disaster-stricken areas
Support for those affected by Typhoon Faxai and Typhoon Hagibis
JSR provided donations to help provide victims' relief and restore damaged areas following Typhoon Faxai and Typhoon Hagibis in 2019. We offer our sincerest wishes for a quick return to normalcy for everyone who was affected.
Holding of a “Tohoku reconstruction support market”
On February 6, 2020, we held the fourth “Tohoku reconstruction support market” at JSR's Head Office. The market is a sustainability program selling specialty products from three Tohoku prefectures that were stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 (Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima). Eight businesses from the three Tohoku prefectures set up sales stands. Many people from both inside and outside the company visited and enjoyed purchasing products while conversing with the stands' operators. Approximately nine years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the affected areas continue to transition from reconstruction to business promotion. Nonetheless, around 47,000 people* continue to live as evacuees.
In addition to making a contribution to society through our business activities, we will continue to actively meet society's requirements and resolve social issues as a responsible member of society.
* Number of evacuees: Announced by the Reconstruction Agency on March 11, 2020).
Cooperation: Office for disaster victim support coordination, Reconstruction Agency, FY2019, and Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
5) Employee volunteer activity support
JSR actively supports employees voluntarily participating in social contribution activities. Employees can take up to five days of paid leave per year as a part of our paid volunteer leave system. This allows employees to participate in social contribution activities that occur during working hours.
