Starting in 2006, Mitsubishi Chemical joined the five-year-old Junior Designer Award as a sponsor. Under the renamed, “Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award,” graduation projects of students who may shape the world of the next generation are singled out for special recognition and encouragement.Top prize in 2006 went to Naoki Isogai (a graduate of the University of Shiga Prefecture) for his project “A Proposal for an Intuitive Interface for Public Spaces.”
This is a proposal for instantly comprehensible signage in underground railway stations. One feature of this signage is that it clearly identifies the time of the next train by having the current time blink to differentiate it from the scheduled train time. This also reveals the anticipated waiting time at a glance. This project was chosen both for its high level of social awareness and for being complete enough to be implemented immediately.
The winning young designers with the judges at the award ceremony	By recognizing the merits of student graduation projects, which are both the culmination of university studies and the first step on the way to becoming a professional, Mitsubishi Chemical is helping to discover the gems of the next generation and motivate emerging designers to show their potential and fresh perceptions to the world.
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While, around the world, persons with disabilities are less likely to be employed, one Mitsubishi Electric subsidiary in the U.S., MEAA-Mason, is ahead of the curve. They employ a group of people with significant cognitive disabilities and find the work they do can be superior to that of non-disabled employees. MEAA-Mason Employee Representa-tive Billie Schatzle comments, “The quality of the aluminum brackets being sent to our Alternator Assembly Line has improved greatly since this group joined our team!		Keeping up the good work with spirit and smiles
They have the ability to inspect brackets everyday without losing the concentration it takes to find defects in the material. “Three members of the enclave have worked at MEAA for seven years now— Roger, Rick and Heather. Roger says Mitsubishi is a fun place to work and he has made many friends here! Rick boasts that he has perfect attendance, and he does his job very well. Heather enjoys working at MEAA, but most of all enjoys the Unified Softball team.” If an associate is feeling bad when arriving at work, all they have to do is talk for a few minutes to a member of the enclave and their spirits are lifted. As Roger often says, “You can always find something to smile about if you just think for a few minutes!”
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A comic book entitled The Grand Voyage of the Sea Camel was recently published by NYK Line to provide readers with information about operations on liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. This comic book focuses on a new sailor assigned to work aboard an LNG carrier and allows readers to become more familiar with a variety of LNG-related matters, such as loading and unloading procedures. NYK Line expects the illustrated feature to convey a basic understanding of technical knowledge to the LNG crewmen the company recruits and educates all over the world.
The new comic book makes the complexities of LNG transportation easy to grasp		The publication provides clear explanation about the importance of LNG to society and further facilitates the education of seafarers who support the safety operations of LNG carriers. In March 2006, NYK Line published a compilation of operating and management procedures about LNG carriers. However, The Grand Voyage of the Sea Camel uses the easy-to-understand, approachable medium of comics to help make LNG transportation and the company’s safety operations more understandable to a non-technical audience. This comic book has been published in English and Japanese as well as Arabic, which is spoken in most of the LNG-producing countries in the Middle East.
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Nippon Oil and its oil development department, Nippon Oil Exploration, Ltd., set up a booth at the “Vietnam Oil & Gas Expo 2006” in Ho Chi Minh City, organized by Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce. Nippon Oil Corporation Group is very active in Vietnam, both as a vendor of lubricating oil, including ENEOS-brand oil, and as an operator of the offshore Rang Dong oilfield in the south of the country.		Keeping up the good work with spirit and smiles
Previous Green Diamond stories have highlighted Nippon Oil’s active assistance in an environment-friendly development agenda at Rang Dong. Established in 1992 and held biannually ever since, Vietnam Oil & Gas Expo is Vietnam’s largest international exhibition showcasing the activities, products and services of oil and natural gas- related companies. Participation in the exhibition enables Nippon Oil to investigate business opportunities with local Vietnamese companies, and to establish networks with exhibitors from Europe and the U.S. The company hopes that its participation will make a considerable contribution to its overseas business and influence the course of responsible resource development
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