Basic Approach
Our business has the potential to affect the local community from an economic, social and environmental standpoint in places where the Maruha Nichiro Group has business locations. We engage in appropriate communication and various activities that contribute to society in order to build good relationships toward the goal of co-existence and co-prosperity.
Main Initiatives
Food Education Activities
Case Study: Corporate Fish-Eating Promotion Event “Parent-Child Cooking Class—For the ocean, for life”
Since 2015, Maruha Nichiro has been holding chef-directed cooking classes for parents and children with the aim of introducing parents and children across Japan to the fun and delicious taste of fish, and to help them develop healthy eating habits. In June, Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and Hiroshima Gas jointly held the class three times in July and August, respectively. At the beginning of the event, a “Fish Seminar” was held, where participants enjoyed learning about miscellaneous fish.
For a detailed report on the corporate events, please see our seafood promotion website.
Sakana Tabetara Fukukitaru (Japanese)
Case Study: Broadcasting of the "Fish Kitchen," Cooking Class for Parents and Children
As a new project in FY2021, we collaborated with Tokyo Bay Network to record the "Fish Kitchen," a cooking class for parents and children.
It was broadcast in Koto-ku and Chuo-ku for two weeks from March 27, 2022, and was further broadcast on cable TV throughout Japan, reaching 1.05 million households by July.
While it was difficult to hold cooking classes throughout Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company's cooking advisors introduced easy yet authentic recipes using Maruha Nichiro's canned foods to inform a larger number of people about the joy and deliciousness of fish cuisine. This program can also be viewed at "Sakana Tabetara Fukukitaru" which is seafood promotion website.
Sharing Information about Food Education
The Maruha Nichiro Group will disseminate a variety of information related to food education to our stakeholders. We disseminate information on our website for everyone to learn, enjoy and acquire knowledge our seafood promotion websites, Salmon Museum and Fish Gallery.
Environmental Activities
Case Study: Ongoing Cooperation with Tokyo Bay Restoration Eelgrass Project
Since 2014, the Maruha Nichiro Group has been cooperating in activities to restore eelgrass beds in Tokyo Bay, which improve the water quality of the bay and help to create a coastal environment where marine life can feed and breed. The company has also been selected as a cooperating company in the “Tokyo Bay UMI Project (Tokyo Bay Ocean Project)” by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Eelgrass is a type of seaweed that grows wild in coastal sandy mud at depths of one to several meters and is called the “cradle of the sea” because it serves as a nursery and spawning ground for sea creatures. In addition to its water purification effects through the absorption of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in recent years, eelgrass and other seaweed and seagrass beds have been attracting attention for the CO2 “blue carbon” that they absorb and fix. Not only do they absorb CO2 through photosynthesis and supply oxygen to the sea, but the carbon incorporated into the sediments on the seafloor of algal beds is stored for thousands of years, and thus there are growing expectations that they will become a new sink for global warming countermeasures.
The Maruha Nichiro Group has been collecting eelgrass sprigs as an internal Group event under the guidance of the NPO Seashore Creation Study Group, and held the event on Saturday, May 25, 2024 at Kanada Beach (Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture). However, the eelgrass seemed to have recovered and we were able to conduct the event without incident. However, the number of flowering branches collected was smaller than in previous years.
We will continue and expand our activities in cooperation with other groups and the government, aiming to quantify the results of our activities, such as biodiversity conservation and carbon dioxide absorption through eelgrass bed restoration activities.
Case Study: Participation in Yume Wakame Workshop and Planting Eelgrass (PDF: 407 KB/1 page)
Case Study: Participated in Mangrove Reforestation in Amami Oshima
On Friday, January 13 and 14, 2022 seven employees of Maruha Nichiro AQUA Amami Office and two employees of Maruha Nichiro participated in mangrove planting in Setouchi Town on Amami Oshima, where Maruha Nichiro AQUA Amami Office conducts aquaculture operations. Mangroves are a collective term for plants that grow in tropical and subtropical wetlands, tidal flats, and estuaries where seawater flows in during high tide. They are distributed along coastlines in Oceania, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the southern parts of North America, and in Japan, they can be found on the islands of Okinawa, Amami Oshima in Kagoshima, Tanegashima, Yakushima, and others.
Background to Mangrove Reforestation:
Setouchi Town has been working towards becoming a Zero Carbon City, and they have been studying the creation of mangroves and seaweed beds through the Aquaculture Department since last year. The employees of Maruha Nichiro AQUA Amami Office have been actively cooperating from the stage of raising seedlings last summer, which led to our participation in this reforestation event.
Mangroves store carbon as trees as they grow, and organic matter including dead branches and roots accumulates in the mud on the sea bottom and continues to store carbon, so they have higher carbon storage efficiency than forests, seaweed, and seagrasses. In Japan, this activity is only possible in subtropical regions south of the remote islands of Kagoshima Prefecture.
Case Study: “Make Sea Happy!” Coastal Cleanup Activity
“Make Sea Happy!” is the Group's cleanup activity taking into account the problem of marine plastics.
In these activities, in addition to simply picking up waste, the waste picked up is tabulated, recorded by the secretariat, and then provided to the Japan Environmental Action Network (JEAN Corporation) as part of its cooperation in surveys to provide information on waste.
Click here for information on "Make Sea Happy!" Cleanup Activities
Regional Contribution Activities
Case Study: Aomori Nebuta Festival
Maruha Nichiro has participated in the Aomori Nebuta Festival* every year for half a century (except some years) for the purpose of regional promotion since 1953, when it launched a large Nebuta.
This year will be the 56th time the company has put on the festival. This year's theme, “extermination of mythical creatures,” is based on the hope that the world will be at peace with the appearance of Minamoto no Yorimasa and Inosota, two warlords from the late Heian period (794-1185) who bravely confronted the mythical creatures.
* Aomori Nebuta is one of the three major festivals in Tohoku, designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset by the national government.
Case Study: Participation in the Toyosu Mirai Project Event
As part of the “Toyosu Mirai Project,” Maruha Nichiro conducted a “Canning Memories” event at the Shibaura Institute of Technology on February 24, 2024, where participants canned letters, messages, photos, and small items to create a time capsule.
IHI Corporation, SCSK Corporation, Shibaura Institute of Technology, and Maruha Nichiro Corporation, all of which are located in the Toyosu area, have been implementing the “Toyosu Mirai Project” since 2019 in cooperation with companies and universities that place importance on science and technology. IHI, SCSK, Shibaura Institute of Technology, and Maruha Nichiro Corporation, in cooperation with science and technology-oriented companies and universities.
*Japanese Only
Case Study: The Swan-Canning Estuary Restoration Campaign in Perth, Australia
Austral Fisheries Pty Limited supports the Swan-Canning Estuary restoration campaign which aims to restore the once abundant shellfish reefs in the mouth of the estuary that runs through the center of Perth and improve the river environment.
This project is being conducted by the international NGO, The Nature Conservancy, and aims to restore the ecology of the river.
Case Study: 29th Toyosu Festa (PDF: 312 KB/1 page)
Cultural and Educational Activities
Case Study: Activities to Support Education and Learning for Junior High School Students through Study Visits
Maruha Nichiro regularly accepts visiting students from junior high and high schools as part of its education and learning support program to provide opportunities for students to learn about and deepen their understanding of the company's business and SDG initiatives, In FY2023, we accepted visiting students (some of them online) from Sendai Municipal Koyodai Junior High School, Kawaguchi Municipal Junior High School, Aichi Prefectural Chikusa Senior High School, and others, and introduced our business activities and our efforts to achieve the SDGs through our business activities. As society as a whole is becoming increasingly interested in the SDGs, there are more and more opportunities to learn about the SDGs as part of the school curriculum, and inquiries from junior high and high school students and university students about the company's initiatives are increasing.
Case Study: Yayoi Sunfoods Co., Ltd. Activities to Support Cambodia Yayoi School
The Yayoi School of Cambodia is a school building donated by the former Yayoi Foods in 2008 to Kontarnang Elementary School in Cambodia in cooperation with JHP and the Association for Building Schools as part of the 60th anniversary project of the company.
In fiscal year 2023, we donated desks and chairs, books, and stationery for all 1,515 students. Some of the desks and chairs were severely damaged, so we donated them to ensure the safety of the children and to contribute to their learning, as there were not enough books for the number of students.
Cambodia's Yayoi School Support Activities in FY2023 (only in Japanese)
Activities Related to Donations
Case Study: Support for Food Banks / Children's Cafeterias
Since 2009, the Maruha Nichiro Group has been donating products that can no longer be sold even though they are still edible to NPOs engaged in food bank activities*. In fiscal 2023, Maruhanichiro Group donated frozen foods and other items to organizations such as Second Harvest Japan, Food Bank Kanagawa, and Food Bank OSAKA, which are engaged in food bank activities.
* Food bank activities: Activities to provide free of charge to the needy products that have become difficult to distribute for various reasons, even though they are still edible enough.
