Mitsubishi Monitor 0610 COMMUNITY

	Mitsubishi Estate: Marunouchi: A Promising Stage for Young Musicians
	Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance: Seeing Children Safely to and from School
	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries: Shape-memory Utensils Prove Handy for Elderly and Disabled

In Tokyo's Marunouchi district, live music is here to stay

Aiming to create "the world's most interactive urban area," Mitsubishi Estate is working to transform the Marunouchi business and financial district in Tokyo into an open and diverse urban community. To achieve its goal, it is helping to reconstruct the Marunouchi area both in terms of creating new spaces for work, shopping, dining and relaxation, and in terms of cultural activities that enrich life and foster the spirit of community.
One such cultural project is the recent agreement between Music Securities, Inc. and Mitsubishi Estate.
In this project, Music Securities set up the "Good Music Marunouchi Fund," which produces and sells CDs by aspiring artists under the label "Good Music Marunouchi." For its part, Mitsubishi Estate makes available concert venues to these artists, such as the "Maru Cube" in the Marunouchi Building, thereby helping a local musical culture to emerge. This practice serves as a model for future art and culture activities in the Marunouchi area.

Tools for action; Meiji Yasuda will raise awareness of child safety in the local community

As part of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance's corporate community-based initiative, the company launched a nationwide Child Safety Campaign in June 2006 in partnership with the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Workers' Union.
The goal of this collaboration between company workers and management is to contribute to the creation of a healthy social environment for children. To achieve this, and help reverse the recent increase in incidents involving primary school children on their way to and from school, the company has enlisted, with the full cooperation of law enforcement authorities, a network of 1,500 company branches and 33,000 company members. As part of these crime prevention activities, all staff members will carry a security badge and a whistle at all times during business hours to encourage child safety awareness and discourage behavior that may harm children.

The special utensils can be shaped to suit the user perfectly

As part of its social contribution activities, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has donated shape-memory utensils, developed to make eating easier for the elderly and handicapped who find it difficult to eat by themselves, to 39 welfare institutions in the Kanto region.
  The grips are made from a special shape-memory polymer, developed by MHI, that takes on the shape of the hand of the user to make holding and handling them easier.
  The utensils can also be bent and twisted into shapes that match the users' often restricted movements.
  This year's donation was achieved through the company's matching grant program that doubles contributions made by company staff. A total of 113 institutions have received the shape-memory utensils since the annual campaign started in 2003.