Our Hanoi Office in Vietnam has supported Japanese language classes at Tohoan Junior High School in Hanoi every year since 2015 as a social contribution activity.
Every year, the completion ceremony for the school’s Japanese classes is attended by a number of Hanoi Office employees, both Japanese and Vietnamese, to congratulate students alongside the principal and teachers. In 2020, a total of around 450 people attended the event.
As it has been doing annually, the Hanoi Office also gave a commemorative gift to the top students with excellent grades and, after the ceremony, invited all the students to tour the Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum Service Station.
They witnessed a demonstration of the staff’s Japanese-style customer service, and some students remarked: “I learned a lot about the service at Idemitsu’s service stations” and “I saw how deeply committed the staff is to customer service.”
In addition, we have been co-sponsoring a Japanese culture festival since 2018 as a similar social contribution activity, with the 2020 round of the festival held on November 15. It is an event for exchanging Japanese and Vietnamese culture that is geared toward junior high school students, bringing together many students and school staffs from 10 schools in Hanoi as well as representatives from Hanoi Department of Education and Training and the districts’ Japanese language training sections. Each school held an audition, and the groups who had the best performances (speeches, dances, songs, plays, etc.) participated in a contest at the festival. From the 2020 round, the festival began operating booths where each school offered food and cultural experiences of both countries to introduce and exchange the cultures of Japan and Vietnam. We will continue to co-sponsor this festival as a place where we can once again introduce and endear people to Japanese culture.
Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Ltd. (based in Brisbane), which is one of the coal business bases, is working to promote initiatives that could contribute to solving social problems in the community from a long-term perspective under the following four policies by the management level.
To lower the high unemployment rate among Aboriginal women and help realize quality of life improvements for the community over the long-term, IAR sponsors a youth training program that offers guidance to local female students through the cultural exchange.
Over the long-term going forward, IAR will continue to support initiatives that could contribute to maintaining local population levels and creating richer communities.
In Norway, which is one base for our petroleum upstream business, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (based in Oslo) has been a sponsor of the Munch Museum, which is owned by the municipality of Oslo.
The support efforts began in 1991 with a donation to help fund the expansion of the museum. In the 2000s, the company supported restoration work being carried out on the famous artworks, "The Scream" and "Madonna," which were stolen and then recovered with damage.
The works of Edvard Munch are among Norway’s national treasures, and Idemitsu's support for the Munch Museum is well-known as being among the longest-standing corporate sponsorship of the arts in the country. The Munch Museum is scheduled to move from Toyen, Oslo to the waterfront area of the city in 2020 to be open as a new museum while we have decided to continue its sponsorship.
In addition, as part of the activities of the Japan-Norway Society (Oslo), a private friendship organization between the peoples of Japan and Norway, Idemitsu actively contributes to the friendship and goodwill of the peoples of both countries. For example, Idemitsu regularly guides tours of the Munch Museum.
Central Vietnam suffered from record heavy rain from mid-October 2020. During that time, Idemitsu Gas Production (Vietnam) collected donations. Having purchased food and other necessities with the money collected (around 400,000 yen), volunteers visited the affected province of Thừa Thiên Huế in October 24 and 25 to help provide aid.
Our Hanoi Office supports Japanese language classes at Tohoan Junior High School in Hanoi. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, the school sponsored its first Japan-Vietnam Event on November 2, 2020, inviting a number of Hanoi Office employees to participate. Students performed traditional Vietnamese dances and games as well as Japanese songs. The office employees demonstrated kendo and karate. Afterward, they played tug-of-war and held foot races, which are common in Japan. In addition to supporting this school, the office co-sponsors a Japanese culture festival every year in January in which 10 schools in Hanoi participate, supporting students in their study of Japanese language and promoting cultural exchange.
