Mizuho was presented the letter of appreciation by Japan Traffic Safety Association on Jan 19, 2010, for the long time contribution to the enlightenment of traffic safety and the prevention of traffic accidents for new first-graders through "Delivering Yellow Badges project".
Mr. Tsukamoto, President & CEO of Mizuho Financial Group received the letter of appreciation at the 50th National Traffic Safety Convention Main Meeting held in Hibiya Public Hall, honored by the pleasure of Emperor and Empress' company.
Presentation of letter of appreciation
With the intent of ensuring daily safe commutes for schoolchildren, we provide Yellow Badges to first-graders nationwide in cooperation with Sompo Japan Insurance Inc., Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company and The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company.
This project began in 1965 motivated by a letter in a newspaper. The letter, which was written by a mother whose child was killed in a traffic accident, was addressed to Eisaku Sato, who was Prime Minister at that time, hoping for the eradication of traffic accidents.
Yellow armbands were used initially and later badges. Since 1968, the badges have been linked to traffic accident insurance. Each year, the badges have a different safety slogan-the slogan that won the Traffic Safety Slogan Prime Minister's Award in the children's division by the Japan Traffic Safety Association.
By the 45th campaign in 2009, accumulative total of 55.46 million badges had been distributed and a growing number of families now have two generations of badge wearers.
As part of its social contribution activities, the Mizuho Financial Group issued Mizuho's World/Little Japanese Encyclopedia for Children and donated copies to 24,000 elementary schools nationwide (Sep 2002).
Mizuho holds a concert on Coming-of-Age Day every year. This started in 1990 to support young artists and expose classical music to young people as part of our efforts to nurture a good next generation. Young artists are invited to perform, and 100 people who have just come of age are invited to attend.
The theme of the 21th concert in 2010 was "Dance".
In Part 1, violin performance by Emiri Miyamoto, and Taiko performance "Mio no hasu" by Eitetsu Hayashi and members of Fuun-no-kai were performed.
In Part 2, Highlights of Tchaikovsky's Ballet music "The Nutcracker" was performed by the dancers of VAGANOVA BALLET ACADEMY, TOKYO FM boy chorus, Kyozo Wada and New Japan Philharmonic led by conductor Toshiaki Umeda.
Taiko
Photo: K. Miura
Ballet
Photo: K. Miura
Since 2004, the Mizuho Financial Group has been a cosponsor of the World Police Band Concert, for which police officers from various countries interact through musical performances. Seven police bands from five countries participated in the 13th World Police Band Concert held in Tokyo in 2008.
Since 2007, the Mizuho Financial Group has been a cosponsor of the "Daijobu" Campaign, which promotes the regional environment for exchanging words "Daijobu" ('Are you OK?') casually in order to protect children and seniors from crime, accidents and natural disasters.
Since 2005, the Mizuho Financial Group has been a cosponsor of the LA FOLLE JOURNÉE au JAPON music festival, which is held at Yurakucho, Marunouchi, Tokyo. The theme for 2009 was "Bach and Europe." Professionals and amateurs from throughout the world participated in 419 performances, and the number of visitors was approximately 711 thousand.
The Ginza Chuo Branch of Mizuho Bank displays artwork in its windows in what has become known as the MIZUHO STREET GALLERY.
Mizuho cosponsors the All-Japan Elementary and Junior High School Students' Environmental Art Contest. This contest is held annually to provide elementary and junior high school students with the opportunity to address the importance of nature and the development of towns where we can live comfortably. A total of 2,434 pieces of art by elementary and junior high school students were submitted to the 13th contest in 2009, of which 40 were selected as winners of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, the Minister of the Environment Award and other prizes. Winners received a testimonial and an art book collection of the winning works.
Yuika Koga won the Mizuho Special Award for the elementary school section
Kousei Okada won the Mizuho Special Award for the junior high school section
In 2007, Mizuho and Tokyo Gakugei University engaged in joint research on environmental education using a school biotope. As part of this research, in Apr 2008 we installed a rooftop biotope at the Takehaya Elementary School Attached to Tokyo Gakugei University, to help students observe nature. The school will use the biotope for environmental education such as animal and plant observation and floriculture.
