We started the healthier body project (We call “Sukoyakarada project”) as a reconstruction assistance activity from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2015.
This project is aimed at reducing childhood obesity, one of social issues in three prefectures of the Tohoku region (Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate) as well as promoting health and supporting healthy mental and physical development among the children that will lead the next generation.
In FY2018, the fifth year of the project, this project was held in Higashi Matsushima City, Miyagi prefecture. At the Kick-off event on March 30, 2019 the children experienced three types of sports with top athletes, and the heath seminar was held by a medical specialist on lifestyle-related illnesses for their parents, and a nutrition education session was given soup kitchen using local ingredients. In four Follow-up sessions from April to June, the children experienced a variety of sports and help them establish healthy exercise habits.
Through this project, implemented in partnership with the Specified Nonprofit Corporation Sports We have implemented this project with SCIX, a non-profit organization called Sports Community and Intelligence.
The next project in Miyako City, Iwate prefecture, which was postponed from FY2019 due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), also could not be held in FY2021. Unfortunately, we have since decided to discontinue this project in Miyako City.

FY2018 Kick-off Event (Conducted in March 2019)

FY2018 Follow-up Programs  (Conducted from April to June 2019)

With the aim of increasing children’s interest in science, experiments, and pharmaceuticals, as well as career education, our researchers have conducted outreach classes on pharmaceuticals for 6th grade students, serving as instructors. We have carried out this program continuously since FY2015 at Shimamoto Municipal Third Elementary School, which is near Minase Research Institute, and since FY2019 at Hoei Elementary School, which is near Joto Pharmaceutical Product Development Center. In FY2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to strong requests by the elementary schools, various departments gathered to devise pandemic countermeasures to meet the special needs of the schools. We conducted this project while taking careful measures (wearing masks and face shields, ensuring social distancing, health check before and after classes, ventilation check by CO₂ measurement device, disinfection of hands and fingers, and equipment for each class, limitation on numbers of staff members, etc.) on the day. According to questionnaires answered by the children after the classes, their interest in pharmaceuticals and research seems to have grown and this project seems to have triggered them to consider their careers. It has also been a valuable opportunity for our staff members to get a sense of the reactions of children directly, and to realize their connection with local communities.

After conducting on-site lessons, we provide questionnaires to children, teachers, and our staff, and use them to review the program to provide insight for improvement the next fiscal year onward.

The "Osaka Cancer Education Summit" was held with the aim of identifying issues to promote cancer education, and was attended by cancer specialists, government officials, and educators, at the time of the full-scale start of cancer education in high schools from April 2022.
To promote "cancer education" in which children acquire correct knowledge of cancer and learn the importance of health and life, we will continue to address identified issues in cooperation with relevant parties.

Since FY2014, we have been donating toothbrush/toothpaste sets and toothbrushes to children in elementary schools, kindergartens, and day care centers (a total of 17 sites) in Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka Prefecture, where Minase Research Institute is located. We have also donated toothbrush/toothpaste sets and toothbrushes to the elementary school next to the Joto Pharmaceutical Product Development Center, since FY2018. The toothbrush/toothpaste sets and toothbrushes are manufactured by our company affiliate, BeBrand Medical Dental Co., Ltd. This activity is implemented in line with the June 4th to 10th "Dental and Oral Health Week," with the aim of contributing to the maintenance and promotion of health by extending the life of teeth. In FY2021, we donated 3,874 sets of toothbrush/toothpaste and 380 toothbrushes. We cherish the fact that local communities and companies coexist and develop together, and we continue to engage in this activity as a good corporate citizen.

We have donated to "Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest” since 2018. "Children's Book Forest Nakanoshima" was designed by architect Tadao Ando and built in Nakanoshima Park to encourage children to investigate various books and foster infinite creativity and curiosity.