Visions - Fall 2019 - 9

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

SC Mexico & MMVO Help Open
Japanese School in Mexico

W

ith the influx of Japanese-affiliated companies in
Mexico and the increased number of expatriates
in recent years, the demand for more Japaneseoriented educational opportunities has become apparent.
In an effort to meet the unique needs of this growing population, Sumitomo Corporation (SC), SC Mexico and Mazda
de Mexico Vehicle Operation (MMVO) combined resources
to help provide a solution; the Instituto Educativo Japonés
de Guanajuato, A.C., (aka Japanese Educational Institute of
Guanajuato). This school was established this year in Irapuato
City, Guanajuato, to fulfill the need for Japanese language
education for Japanese children living overseas.

Above and left:
Opening ceremonies
for the school were
attended by SC and
MMVO executives

The new school was certified by both the Japanese Ministry
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry
as well as the General Education Law from Mexico Guanajuato
State Department of Education. Part of the school's mission is
to promote educational and cultural exchange activities with
Mexican educational institutions, societies and communities
as well.

"Accompanied with the development of the automotive industry
here in Guanajuato State," Sakaue said, "the number of
Japanese companies has increased more than 10 times
in comparison to 5 years ago and so has the number of
Japanese workers to more than 2,400. Therefore, it became
urgent to establish a new full-time Japanese school in addition
to the supplementary school."

Serving students in grades one through nine with a staff of
twelve teachers, the school began operations in April in the
facilities of the Institute of Languages at the Technological
Institute of Higher Studies of Irapuato (ITESI). 25 students
attended the first semester of classes.

"We started the school establishment project in December 2017
and since then; we have accomplished the difficult tasks such
as the acquisition of tax-benefit status, the selection of the land
for the school and the collection of donations totaling over 240
million yen, or $2 million. However, it has been quite hard to
prepare everything to open a school in one year and a half while
running our main business."

Chiharu Mizutani, President and CEO of MMVO, served as
chairman of the school's preparation committee, along with
other MMVO executives. Serving as vice chairman of the
preparation committee was Masahiko Morito of SC Mexico's
Automotive Business Unit and EVP of MMVO. Additionally,
Takahiro Sakaue at the same unit and GM of Finance at
MMVO headed the accounting and financial subcommittee.
This committee was able to raise more than $2 million for
the school from nearly 140 companies.

Mr. Morito said that he too was concerned as to whether the
school could be ready by April of 2019.
"However," he said, "when I saw the beautiful brand-new school
buildings during the opening ceremony, it made me very satisfied. After the ceremony, I saw the students running and playing
at the schoolyard, and dancing in the music room, and I really
thought it was absolutely worthwhile to have worked so hard in
spite of the difficulties. Also, this project is very meaningful as a
social contribution activity for MMVO and SC, and here I would
like to express my sincere gratefulness to SC/SCOA/SCMX for
their generous donation."

Sumitomo Corporation of Americas

9
Visions - Fall 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Visions - Fall 2019
