News
On January 16, 2008, Kuraray held a kick-off event for its Fifth Sending Randoseru (School Bags) Across the Sea Campaign 2008 at the Galleria Atrium located on the basement floor of Tokyo Midtown.
School bags usually come to the end of their useful lives-and tend to be consigned to closets, though still in good condition-after six years of "scholarly" endeavors during children's elementary school days. Thus, Kuraray started the Sending School Bags Across the Sea Campaign, where disused school bags are given renewed lives by filling them with stationery and other school supplies and sending them to underprivileged children overseas.
The performances of santur, a Persian musical instrument played by Ms. Pouri Anavian and Ms. Mai Kawamura, as well as of the piano and chorus group JULEPS, brought a pleasing atmosphere to the event. The event picked up further steam thanks to a discussion held between Ms. Dalia Anavian, a Persian interpreter and Mr. Takeshi Uchibori, a professional photographer, about pictures taken in Afghanistan, while Ms. Riko Narumi and Mr. Tsuneyuki Nakajima then talked about their memories regarding school bags, as members of the Across the Sea Cheering Group.
Kuraray invited 20 children who are going to enter elementary school this April and their parents to the school bag presentation ceremony. Parents and children also took part in a photo session with members of the Across the Sea Cheering Group.
- Celebrities at the Event (Members of the Across the Sea Cheering Group)
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- JULEPS (piano & chorus group)
- Riko Narumi (actress)
- Tsuneyuki Nakajima (professional golfer)
- Takeshi Uchibori (photographer)
- Honorable Guest
- Kenshiro Matsunami, Member of the House of Representatives, Deputy Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Chairman of the Japan-Afghanistan Association
Back row, from left: The four members of JULEPS, Ms. Narumi, Mr. Matsunami, Mr. Nakajima
Front row: Children invited to the event
- Information about the Sending School Bags Across the Sea Campaign
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Hosted by Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP)
Randoseru Industry Association, Japan Luggage AssociationSponsored by Kuraray Co., Ltd.
