OREANDA-NEWS.  February 15, 2012. The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced today that it will carry out another series of restoration activities by volunteer employees on Oshima Island in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, during February and March, 2012. A first round of activities took place last year. Four sessions - each spanning five days and four nights - are planned. About ten employees are expected to participate in each session.

 Activities will be carried out as part of volunteer tours planned by the Global Compact Japan Network, which consists of companies that have signed the United Nations Global Compact.* Last year, a total of nine tours - each for six days and five nights – was staged from September to November. A total of 284 employees from nine companies, including Yokohama Rubber, took part.

 Those Yokohama employees, 48 in all, participated in six of the nine tours last year, during the months of October and November. At Oshima, Kesennuma, they removed debris, built oyster culture rafts, and did other things at the request of the youth association in Oshima. The volunteers also encouraged and established ties with residents affected by the disaster on the island, listening to their experiences, cleaning the beach with junior-high-school students, etc.

 Yokohama Rubber’s activities in support of restoration of the affected area, including the volunteer activities at Oshima in Kesennuma, have been reported since last October on Yokohama’s website. To the end of January 2012, ten reports and related stories have been posted, including "Activity Report" - memoranda and photos by employees taking part in those tours. The website is "Yokohama Rubber’s Activities Concerning the Great East Japan Earthquake" (http://www.yrc-pressroom.jp/disaster/index.html) (in Japanese).


 * The United Nations Global Compact is an initiative advocated by the United Nations to encourage companies to conduct their business activities with sustainability and responsibility. It calls on the chief executive officer of a company to embrace, support and observe ten principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.