Takeshi Okada led Japan's national soccer team to two World Cups. Recently, he left coaching to serve as chairman of Imabari. Yume Sports Co. which operates the FC Imabari soccer club. Mitsubishi Electric discovered a number of common threads with the company in its corporate philosophy, and in November of last year, announced a partnership to nurture the community and its people. In this issue, we will introduce the event which was held as part of that project, and the thoughts of those involved who also attended the event.

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The city of Imabari in Ehime Prefecture is nationally known for its Imabari Towel. FC Imabari, based in this area, is a soccer club headed by Takeshi Okada, the former coach of Japan’s national soccer team, who led the country to the World Cup twice.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has concluded signed an executive partnership agreement with FC Imabari's management company, Imabari. Yume Sports and signed an executive partnership agreement as an "Exciting Future Co-Creation Partner" to create an exciting future together.

The background to this partnership is the overlap and agreement between the two companies’ philosophies.

Imabari. Yume Sports has set forth as its corporate philosophy, "to contribute to the creation of a society that values fulfillment of the heart over material wealth for the sake of future generations," and as its "vision for 2025," it envisions the realization of an organization that enables individual growth and a city that values its ties with the local community as its core.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has adopted the corporate philosophy, "We, the Mitsubishi Electric Group, will contribute to the realization of a vibrant and comfortable society through ceaseless technological innovation and boundless creativity." The company aims to achieve sustainability, focusing on contributing to a sustainable society by solving social issues through its business activities. To this end, the company states that contributing to various communities and growing together with other people are important points.

In other words, the keywords common to both companies are "contribution to the community" and "growth of people." With this background in mind, they have decided to hold an event as a kick-off for future partnership activities, and to communicate the ideas to the world.

As the first of the two companies' co-creation activities, the art project "Purpose Project x aiueohana" was simultaneously held on Saturday, December 16, 2023, at Imabari Satoyama Stadium in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, and at the Mitsubishi Electric Event Square "METoA Ginza" in Ginza, Tokyo.

The "Purpose Project" is a company-wide project of the Mitsubishi Electric Group in which each employee considers his or her own "My Purpose" and discovers the overlap and connection between the corporate philosophy and his or her purpose.

The "aiueohana" art project, on the other hand, is an art project by Kyoto City artist Kyota Takahashi. Participants come up with a "Mahou no Kotoba" (magic word) that expresses a "message to your future self" in seven hiragana letters. Each of the 50 hiragana syllables is assigned a color, so participants will check the color of the "Mahou no Kotoba" they have thought of, make seven flower petals out of strips of film, and attach them to solar lights to complete the "glowing flowers".

On Saturday, December 16, employees of both companies and members of the general public gathered at "Imabari Satoyama Stadium" and "METoA Ginza", respectively, for a workshop to create "glowing flowers" with a "message to your future self" written as a wish. Many families with children participated in the workshop, making their own "glowing ohana" under the guidance of Mr. Kyota Takahashi, connecting the two venues online. The "glowing ohana" created by the participants were displayed at both the Imabari and Ginza venues (the exhibition was open until the end of January).

This event seemed to be a good opportunity for participants to think about the future. In order to summarize their "message to their future selves" in seven simple letters, the participants had to face their present selves and who they want to be in the future. The participants struggled with the seven hiragana letters, sometimes with smiles on their faces, and sometimes seriously, penning their thoughts as they went along. It was truly fantastic to see the flowers "bloom" with such serious thoughts in them, and witness a scene unique to an art project spread out before our eyes.

Naoki Yoshida and Mari Yamazaki of the Ehime Branch of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, who also both participated in this workshop, and Takayuki Tobita, FC Imabari Executive Officer, General Manager of the Corporate Planning Office and Partnership Group, who was involved in the planning and execution of the event, provided comments.

All three were happy and relieved that the workshop participants enjoyed themselves with smiles on their faces. They were also happy that the event was a co-creation activity developed by the two companies.

Yoshida: I am glad that we were able to hold a very meaningful event, as it was a co-creation activity with FC Imabari, and I was able to work on the workshop with a sense of unity with everyone who participated, from both the Mitsubishi Electric and FC Imabari sides - and I was able to discover my own personal purpose as well.

Yamazaki: I thought it was great that not only the participants at the Imabari and METoA venues, but also the employees of Mitsubishi Electric's branches across Japan and people from FC Imabari, were able to make "Mahou no Kotoba" (magic word) as a flower with smiles on their faces.

Tobita: In order to hold the event, we had to make sure that the philosophy and thoughts of Mitsubishi Electric (the Purpose Project being undertaken by its employees), and the philosophy of FC Imabari were firmly combined. We were also particularly conscious of the fact that the participants and the staff involved in both companies should be able to enjoy the project. At first, we were in a state of fumbling around, with no clear idea of what the project would look like; but I am impressed by the mutual understanding that developed through regular meetings with everyone involved, and the project began to take shape.

Mr. Yoshida of Mitsubishi Electric told us about the company's community contribution activities and the future, and shared his thoughts and impressions of the event.

Yoshida: Through my participation and sponsorship of this event, I realized that I can contribute to the local community. From now on, I would like to expand the ties between the region where I live and work, FC Imabari, and hopefully, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, and Shikoku - little by little as I can. The "Message to My Future Self" that I made this time was, "Kazoku no Kizuna" (Family Ties), and I put in this phrase my wish to, "deepen our ties as a family" - not only with my own family, but also with the company and the local community.

As for Ms. Yamazaki of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, she thought that her company's participation in the event provided an opportunity to reflect on its own activities. She shared her hopes and thoughts on the future of both companies'.

Yamazaki: As part of its contribution to the local community, the Ehime Branch of Mitsubishi Electric has registered as an "Ai Beach Supporter" under Ehime Prefecture's, "Ai Beach System: Ehime Fureai no Umibe," and conducts beach cleanup activities. These activities are participated in by many people already, but I thought that by using this event as a reference to strengthen communication and continue these ventures, they could become even more meaningful community contribution activities. I also hope that the co-creation of the project between these two companies will create an unprecedented exchange that will further develop the region.

Mr. Tobita of FC Imabari shared his thoughts on contributing to the community from the perspective of someone who is involved in a sport closely connected to the community.

Tobita: I believe that having a place that gives liveliness to the town and a place where people can share their enthusiasm will contribute to the community. In addition, it is important to create an environment where people in the community can communicate, as in this workshop. To this end, in addition to traditional offline activities, online collaboration and exchange with companies and people outside the region using IT are also necessary, and I see great potential in having Mitsubishi Electric Corporation as a partner in this regard. We would like to continue such activities that can make a big impact, because they are local, and take advantage of the various assets (nature, relationships among people, etc.) and opportunities in the region, as well as make use of the corporate philosophy of FC Imabari and its strength as a J-League club.

As we reported at the beginning, this event was just the beginning of co-creation activities by the two companies.
The three people we spoke with expressed a strong sense of hope and potential for future activities.
The event, which provided a solid response, has served as a kickoff for continued and more active co-creation activities between the two companies, which both share common philosophies. From their activities that contribute to the community and society - and from the interaction and development of people through these events - it is expected that the people who support these activities will further their understanding and gain appreciation for others.

Written by Our Stories Editing Team