As measures to develop the next generation, the Group provides support for Japanese and international students studying at medical and pharmaceutical schools, offers visiting lectures, and uses its domestic and overseas offices for company visits and as venues for pharmaceutical-related lectures. Furthermore, we provide comprehensive learning initiatives that leverage the unique knowledge of a pharmaceutical company to benefit students.

To support the development of medical care, welfare, and scientific technology, and to contribute to the development of human resources in the medical and pharmaceuticals for the next generation, in March 2023, the Company established the JEES/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Medical and Pharmaceutical Scholarship by making a donation to the Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (“JEES”) scholarship program in support of students studying at medical and pharmaceutical faculties, as well as international students. For details on applying for scholarships, refer to the JEES website.
https://www.jees.or.jp/sc-scholarship/jees_mtpc.htm

*JEES (Japan Educational Exchange and Services)
A public interest incorporated foundation that offers support to Japanese and international students. As part of its activities, JEES operates a program of named scholarships, under which scholarships are named for the person or company funding them.

The Company provides visiting lectures, with employees traveling to schools to act as lecturers. Since fiscal 2021, we have participated in the “Saturday Learning Support Group,”* promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Support, Science and Technology, offering programs with themes such as “Jobs in the pharmaceutical industry” (research and development of new drugs, etc.), and “Manufacturing.”
In fiscal 2023, we visited eight schools to give lectures with the support of the Saturday Study Support Group website.

*The Saturday Study Support Group is an educational program promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology that supports children in their efforts directed at comprehensive learning.

Student feedback

• This was the first time I had heard that it takes so much time and testing to create medicines.
• I had been thinking about studying pharmacy, so I’m glad that I was able to attend the lecture, as it was very helpful to me.
• I learned that there are many different types of work in any one society, and that there are many choices I can make about my future.
• I felt that I was able to realize my goals. I will be sure to remember the words I heard today and work hard to make my dreams come true.

Feedback from employee instructors

Speaking about my own work was an excellent opportunity to look at and think about my job objectively. Before starting, I was nervous about how the students would react, but their enthusiastic expressions as they listened, and the fact that I was able to answer their questions made me think that the lecture was worthwhile. I’m delighted that the students took an interest in pharmaceutical companies and that the lecture gave them an opportunity to learn about our work.

Each of the Company’s offices is taking steps to promote harmonious coexistence with local communities, such as offering tours for regional organizations and comprehensive learning initiatives for nearby schools and school excursions. The goal is to introduce our business, the services of our pharmaceutical company, and employees’ careers, and to help students develop careers through dialogue. We accepted a total of twelve schools in fiscal 2023 for company visits at each of our business locations.

Student feedback

• People think of pharmaceuticals as being extraordinarily complex, but after visiting today and hearing the explanations I came to realize how deeply they are associated with my daily life. It was fun to think about how these new discoveries are linked with my life.
• I enjoyed learning about pharmaceuticals, which led me to make some new discoveries inside myself. I have found a new interest in them.
• I thought a lot about how much time and money it takes to get medicines to me, and I am now aware I receive a great deal of support in areas that are not always obvious to me.
• This visit showed me that working is not just doing something you want to do, but also doing things for others.

Feedback from employee instructors

We finished three days of lectures, practical training, and factory tours without any problems. I am glad that this proved to be a good opportunity for students to learn a great many things, such as how the medications that they take without thinking about it go through many more processes than people realize during their manufacture, and that hygiene and quality control are particularly important.

Participation in the Saturday Study Support Group

In 2021, we endorsed the Saturday Study Support Group promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and started offering educational programs through visiting lectures and tours of our historical museum. Please use it as an aid to enrich the learning of children.

[Programs provided] (Japanese language only)

• [Visiting lecture] Career education by a pharmaceutical company (online access is also available)
• [Visiting lecture] Learn about medicine (online access is also available)
• [Visit the historical museum] Learn about the history and culture of Doshomachi, the “pharmaceutical district” of Osaka!
• [Visiting lecture] Hands-on production training

The Group closely monitors disaster-stricken areas and provides emergency and reconstruction support in the event of a disaster in Japan or abroad.

Previously, each business office held product sales events to get to know and provide support to disaster-stricken areas by selling the regional specialties of these areas, but in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic saw these events suspended. In fiscal 2023, the Yokohama office held an event selling specialty products sourced from Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture as part of efforts to support reconstruction in the Tohoku region, and in May 2023, worked with our labor union to hold a bar serving local sake in Ishikawa Prefecture’s Noto region to support disaster recovery in the areas affected by the 2023 Okunoto earthquake.

In November 2023, for the first time in four years, staff from the non-profit organization Tonarino transported a large number of delicious products from Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture, allowing our Yokohama office to hold an event selling regional specialties. In addition to a variety of other items, the large Yonesaki apples, which were filled with honey, soon sold out.
Tonarino, which also offers activities such as letting people stay overnight in evacuation facilities in Rikuzentakata City, spoke about disaster preparation. The day proved to be one that made us realize the importance of acting to protect ourselves by immediately moving to high ground on feeling a large tremor if you are close to a river or the sea, taking into account the time required for a tsunami to arrive. It also helped us to become aware of the issue of crime when living in evacuation facilities.

Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, and the Great East Japan Earthquake

Thirteen years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011. At the time, Rikuzentakata City was home to approximately 24,000 people, but the destruction brought by the tsunami claimed the lives of almost 1,800. The disaster further aggravated problems the region was facing, which included an aging population, an outflow of young people, and a decline in primary industry, and it is said that it accelerated depopulation by twenty years. Even so, the farmers have maintained and protected the legacy of Yonesaki apples in the land of Rikuzentaka.

In September 2023, we collaborated with our labor union to hold a bar featuring local sake in support of disaster recovery.
At the sake bar we offered sake from breweries located near the epicenter of the earthquake (Suzu City and the town of Noto), and the proceeds were donated through the Japanese Red Cross Society. Unfortunately, however, these breweries suffered major damage in the earthquake that occurred in the Noto peninsula in January 2024. We would like to offer our deepest sympathies and best wishes for a swift recovery.