Supporting Disaster Victims
How can we give help in all regions nationwide?
There are many natural disasters in Japan like typhoons and earthquakes. Ever since our company's foundation, our philosophy has been to "deepen customer relationship through products, and be a company that widely contributes to society." One way we contribute is to support disaster victims, aid in reconstructing disaster-stricken areas, and donate money to the cause.
We wouldn't exist if it weren't for our customers throughout Japan who take our supplements every day. We do not want to forget our gratitude towards them. So we thought, "How can we give back by helping disaster victims lead healthy lives one by one? We are Wakasa Seikatsu, there must be some way we can contribute"
Torrential Rains in Fukuchiyama and Tamba 2014
It rained 357.5 ml in 72 hours — Japan's harshest rainfall to date. The torrential rain damaged over 5,000 buildings in Fukuchiyama and 2,500 in Tamba. These cities are close to our headquarters in Kyoto and we went to help with more than 1,200 people, including our employees, the Japan Women's Baseball League, and people we have connections with. We donated tens of thousands of dust cloths, towels, masks, antiseptics and bottles of waters.
Typhoon Man-yi 2013
Typhoon Man-yi caused torrential rains in Japan. Over three days, a total of 120 of our employees and Japan Women's Baseball League athletes helped out in northern parts of Kyoto prefecture. We went to private homes and public areas to remove mud, rubble and trash. We also donated 500 million yen to the reconstruction of the disaster-stricken areas.
Severe Tropical Storm Talas 2011
The tropical storm brought heavy rainfall to the southern coast of Japan. Wakayama prefecture was one of the regions affected and it was there that President Kenichi Kakutani was entrusted to running a health food store in his previous occupation. We donated one million yen and divided it between seven towns in Wakayama, Nara, and Mie prefectures.
Great East Japan Earthquake 2011
President Kenichi Kakutani suffered through the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995 and learned that support for regrowth should not be temporary but continuous.
The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 was the most powerful earthquake ever to hit Japan, and it caused over 15,000 deaths. We donated 300 million yen and over 100,000 packages of supplements. However, monetary and material donations are not enough.
This is why we established a branch office in the disaster-stricken area in eastern Japan. It is a way to give continuous support to the regrowth of the region by helping local employment. The branch office is located in Sendai and focuses on building customer relationships not only via phone calls and the internet, but also by meeting customers directly and holding events for them.
The Chuetsu Earthquake and Typhoon Tokage 2004
Two natural disasters took place in October 2004: the Chuetsu earthquake and Typhoon Tokage. We have many customers in the areas they struck, and we immediately sent help.
Our male employees went to the earthquake-struck Niigata prefecture and our female employees to the typhoon-hit Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures. We also donated 5.5 million yen and 720,800 hand warmers in total.
We received official thank-you letters from the town Oe in Kyoto Prefecture and from the governor of Niigata prefecture. We also received a Medal of Honour with a dark blue ribbon from the government of Japan for our exceptionally generous monetary donations.