Social Contribution Activities

Basic approach

We contribute to the development of society through sound business activities. With respect for human rights as a core principle, we also pursue product safety and work to conserve the environment, while establishing a presence as a trusted group of companies that thoroughly complies with social norms. Furthermore, we aim to coexist in harmony with society by actively engaging in social contribution activities. As we continue to globalize, we are working to expand this sense of harmony beyond Japan by working to fulfill the mission and role described above in a way that fits each country we do business in.

We recognize our responsibilities as a good corporate citizen and help to realize a prosperous society by actively advancing activities that not only contribute to local communities, but that also benefit society at large. This includes creating friendship and goodwill by strengthening engagement with local communities through activities such as employee participation in local events. To determine which areas and issues to focus on, the Social Committee carries out discussion based on our Corporate Code of Conduct and the Normative Ethics Committee screens monetary donations in terms of appropriateness and legal compliance. Accordingly, we are focusing on contributing to activities that provide humanitarian support, academic support, or that help to create more prosperous lives.

Spending on social contribution

• * Calculated using the method employed in the Social Contribution Activities Results Survey carried out by the Japan Business Federation’s 1% Club.

Contributing to the eradication of poverty and hunger

Food support through the World Food Programme

As a group that handles wheat, an important staple food, we support the World Food Programme in its mission to eradicate poverty and hunger and in September 2005, we joined the NPO Japan Association for the World Food Programme. Since then, we have continuously provided active support, including carrying out fund raising activities, as well as implementing World Food Day initiatives each October.

Contributing through support for young people and people with disabilities

Disability employment support project

In June 2008, the Kobe Sweets Consortium launched the Kobe Sweets Consortium Challenged Program, a project to help people with disabilities participate actively in society. As part of this project, Nisshin Flour Milling Inc. has been working with the nonprofit social welfare organization Prop Station since its very first round of activities, with the shared aim of helping disabled people find employment, as well as creating such employment opportunities. Our goal is to recruit a wide range of supporters, including government agencies, manufacturers, and retailers, in order to make wheat flour, an essential ingredient in sweets, into something that helps people with disabilities to flourish in society.
This initiative was recognized with the Award for Consumer-oriented Activities by the Association of Consumer Affairs Professionals in 2020.

Kobe Sweets Consortium

Sole Sponsor of the National High School Cook-Off

Since 1976, the Nisshin Seifun Group has sponsored the National High School Cook-Off, which has been hosted by the Future Homemakers of Japan every year since 1970. These competitions provide opportunities to learn about local ingredients and seasonal flavors while using wheat flour and wheat flour products. Each year, around 7,000 original recipes are submitted by high school students across Japan.

National High School Cook-Off (Japanese only)

Supporting researchers and exchange students through the Foundation for Dietary Scientific Research

Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. supports the Foundation for Dietary Scientific Research, which was originally established in 1941 as the Nosankagaku Kenkyukai (Agricultural Production Research Association) by the Nisshin Seifun Group’s founder Teiichiro Shoda. Since then, it has consistently provided financial support for researchers and research institutions focusing on food. The Foundation also provides support for foreign students studying at Japanese universities and research institutions and Japanese students studying at overseas universities, research institutes, and other facilities, in the hope these people can become bridges between Japan and other countries through food culture.

Career education at Kudan Secondary School

As a good corporate citizen, we want to help children learn about careers at an early stage, so since 2009, we have been supporting an initiative by Kudan Secondary School in Chiyoda Ward that provides children with practical career experiences in cooperation with local companies and organizations by taking on work experience students.
In fiscal 2023, we carried out a program focusing on nutritional problem-solving methods for junior high school students. The program provided participating students with an opportunity to cultivate their independence and social skills by thinking deeply about issues and then giving presentations.

Raising food and nutritional literacy

Support for the Foundation for the Promotion of Nutritional Improvement

We agree with the mission of the Foundation for the Promotion of Nutritional Improvement and we have been working together since its establishment.
One of its activities is to provide travelling classes on food and nutrition. The time available for food preparation in households is shrinking due to changes in the social environment. The purpose of these dietary education classes is to ensure that this will not impact food quality at home by providing participants with knowledge related to food and nutrition through recipes that are simple, delicious, fun, and make clever use of processed foods. We share the goal of this initiative and are supporting cooking classes being held across Japan.

• * Foundation for the Promotion of Nutritional Improvement: Established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 1953 with Takeo Kurokawa, its leader at the time, as chairman. It was founded as a cooperative initiative between the government, consumers, and food manufacturers to promote dietary improvements for citizens who were malnourished due to food shortages experienced in Japan following the Second World War. Since then, it has expanded the scope and scale of its activities.

Support for Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Parent and child nature schools in Tadami

Since 2013, we have been sponsoring the parent and child nature school initiative, which aims to support parents and children living in areas affected by the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant by providing children with opportunities to play outside and grow in their own way.
It works to give the children who will be responsible for the future of Fukushima a renewed awareness about the magnificence of the nature that surrounds them and teach them about the environment, particularly the abundant natural environment of the Tadami Biosphere Reserve (a UNESCO Eco Park), as well as to provide programs such as stargazing events and cooking classes that use wheat flour (Nisshin Camellia) alongside local ingredients.

Supporting an organic cotton project in Fukushima

The area around Iwaki in Fukushima was heavily impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami that followed it, which caused saltwater damage to the land. It also suffered reputational damage due to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and as a result, many farmers were forced to give up production. Iwaki OtentoSUN Enterprise Cooperative is a cooperative comprising local farmers and volunteers from the Greater Tokyo Area. Since 2012, it has been advancing the Fukushima Organic Cotton Project in which it grows Bicchu Brown cotton without using pesticides and then turns the harvested cotton into products, such as T-shirts, washcloths, and towels.
We have been supporting the project’s activities since 2014 by sending volunteers to participate in farming activities. We hope that it will help develop a sustainable economy for the region, conserve local biodiversity, promote sustainable lifestyles, and lead to the active social participation of women and disabled people through handicrafts.

Co-sponsorship of communities rebuilding support programs

The Nisshin Seifun Group co-sponsors products used in programs to rebuild local communities shattered by earthquakes and restore the mental well-being of affected people. The tactile sensation kneading dough and the aroma of fermentation are believed to stimulate brain functions. The aim of this program is to restore mental well-being through mental health courses and bread-making, and to rebuild communities through conversations among participants.

Supporting skill-building by welfare centers

Magical Sweets Polvorón is a brand established in fiscal 2015 as a collaboration between 13 facilities (representing about 200 users), including welfare centers that were displaced for a long time due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and NPO Shinsei. The goal of the brand is to create safe places and stable employment for people who were disabled during the disaster.
These organizations are utilizing their respective strengths, with five centers baking the sweets and the other centers carrying out packaging and sales operations.
The Group has been supporting this initiative since 2014, including by providing skills training for center staff and users, donating kitchen equipment, and making in-house sales and group purchases of Magical Sweets Polvorón, as well as hand-made masks during the pandemic.
NPO Shinsei won the Chief Cabinet Secretary’s Award at the 1st Japan SDGs Awards hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

In-house sales of goods produced in affected areas

As part of our efforts to help areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, since 2017 we have been continuously carrying out in-house sales and group purchasing events within the Group with the goal of providing continuous support for the revival of local production and tourism in these areas. We have been focusing on products by businesses and producers in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures, areas where our other recovery aid efforts are being carried out.

Environmental initiatives

Donating seedlings to Present Tree in Tokyo

We agree with the goals of the Present Tree initiative, which aims to rejuvenate forests while also revitalizing surrounding regions, so in fiscal 2022, we donated 100 seedlings to the Present Tree in Tokyo drive held in Hinohara, Tokyo, and each of these was planted by volunteers from the Group.

Support for culture and sports

Holding a touring exhibition of the Tokyo International Screen Print Biennial (NBC Meshtec Inc.)

Every two years since 2007, NBC Meshtec Inc. has held an exhibition of silkscreen prints submitted by the public in order to publicize screen printing and to enhance screen printing skills and expression by providing artists with opportunities to display their works. In an average year, the company will gather over 300 highly original works made by artists from over 30 different countries in a contest full of international flavor.

Summer concert by the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra

Every year since 1978, Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. has been the sole sponsor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra’s Summer Concert. The event has become well known as a long-standing entry point for enjoying classical music.

Co-sponsorship of Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

In 2008, the Nisshin Seifun Group became a co-sponsor of the library project at the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka. We have co-sponsored special exhibits in the library since 2011, and Ghibli Museum activities in general since 2014.

* All admission to the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka is by advance reservation only.

Sports sponsorship

Our sports sponsorship activities aim to help not only athletes, but everyone involved in sport, including support personnel and fans, to do their best and achieve their dreams.

Coexisting with local communities overseas

We recognize that there is a risk that our business will affect local communities in ways such as insufficient consideration of the human rights of local people, atmospheric pollution, and noise. Therefore, we are working to prevent incidents and reduce risk through coexistence with these communities. We make sure to respect the culture, traditions, and customs of the places in which we do business. For example, when building a plant overseas, we invited a representative of the local indigenous people to the groundbreaking ceremony to perform a ceremony to bring peace to the souls of ancestors associated with the land. In countries with strict religious observances, we provide prayer rooms at workplaces and allow religious rites to be practiced during work hours.

Social contribution activities at overseas plants

As a group that is developing its business globally, our basic approach is that each Group company should become integrated with its surrounding region and work together with local people to raise corporate value by becoming a foundation for the building of a better society. Based on this approach, we are advancing various activities with the aim of contributing to local communities through sound business activities.

Rogers Foods Ltd. (Canada)

Rogers Foods Ltd. regularly holds workshops for people in the local area in which employees teach them how to make sweets using wheat flour.
They also support non-profit organizations by donating gift baskets filled with the company’s products that can be sold to raise funds at events such as bazaars. The money raised is then used to fund activities that support a wide range of people, including cancer research, help for refugees to become independent, and scholarships.

Miller Milling Company, LLC (USA)

The company participates in volunteer activities by groups aiming to eliminate child abuse and neglect and to build strong, healthy households. Specifically, it is creating opportunities to support children, such as preparing and serving meals and snacks. In addition to this, employees participate in volunteer activities by food bank organizations, including sorting and boxing the food products to be distributed.

Medallion Foods, Inc. (USA)

The company has been donating pasta to food banks for over 10 years. In fiscal 2020, it donated around 14 tons of pasta (worth around $8,000).

Nisshin Seifun Turkey Makarna Ve Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S (Turkey)

Since its founding, the company has sponsored the Ankara Japanese Speech Contest held annually by the Embassy of Japan in Turkey with the aim of supporting students learning Japanese in Turkey.

Thai Nisshin Seifun Co., Ltd. (Thailand)

Each year, environmental conservation events led by local companies and schools are held in the coastal area of Samut Prakan Province, where Thai Nisshin Seifun Co., Ltd. is based. As part of this, the company participates in mangrove tree planting activities. It also dispatches staff to teach classes to children in the area to raise their awareness of environmental conservation by watching videos and taking part in fun games and quizzes about the environment.

Nisshin-STC Flour Milling Co., Ltd. (Thailand), Vietnam Nisshin Seifun Co., Ltd. (Vietnam)

The companies are helping children in their regions to grow healthily through donations to local schools and by supporting improvements to learning environments.