Contributions to Local Communities

Kakegawa Factory, Yamaha Corporation

  At Yamaha Corporation's Kakegawa Factory, the facility for grand pianos opens its doors to the public and a wide variety of people go there to visit, from musicians to families, school students and corporate personnel. Around 11,000 people took the grand piano tour in fiscal 2011.

  Visitors to the factory pass through Harmony Plaza, where we display an early model grand piano that has been recognized as part of Japan's Heritage of Industrial Modernization. In the factory we introduce them to the assembly process for grand pianos using the latest equipment and craftsmanship, as well as our environmental protection initiatives.

  Our goal in running these tours is to deepen the general public's understanding of Yamaha Corporation, and to provide the opportunity to experience the appeal of instruments and music. We also take requests from schools for tours and try to present different aspects to suit students of all ages, from elementary school to university, with themes including factories, industry and manufacturing.

  Kaohsiung Yamaha Co., Ltd. mainly manufactured guitars in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 1971 to January 2007. The contribution the company made to the guitar industry in Taiwan as well as its corporate culture centered on quality control and employee development means it continues to be rated highly by local people even following its closure due to the consolidation of business sites into China and Indonesia.

  An exhibition showcasing the contribution of the company and its employees to the guitar industry as well as the company history was held at the Kaohsiung Museum of Labor in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from May to August 2011. Yamaha was impressed by the concept of the exhibition, which was aimed at further promotion of industry in Kaohsiung, and cooperated by providing material from the time to the organizing city.

  Material such as products and catalogs as well as Kaohsiung Yamaha's efforts toward quality management and human resource development were introduced at the exhibition.

  The Yamaha Group actively supports the spread of music and culture in communities around Japan.

(1)Hamamatsu Jazz Week

  Each year, Yamaha Corporation holds “Hamamatsu Jazz Week” in cooperation with the city of Hamamatsu. The 20th anniversary of the event was a lively affair held in October 2011. A concert for parents and their children and unique new programs such as “Jazz Koza” that fuses rakugo comic storytelling with jazz gained attention.Yamaha Corporation provided a diverse array of programs that could be enjoyed by all ages, including big bands from outstanding elementary, junior and senior high schools throughout Japan, concerts that featured top global artists, as well as public music lessons and an event that combined a citizens' group with the region's jazz club. Through this event, Yamaha Corporation helps the city of Hamamatsu develop with music at its center.

(2)Produced Project for Jozenji Street Jazz Festival

  Yamaha supports regional activities as part of its operations in the name of developing cities based on music

  In the 21st Jozenji Street Jazz Festival (JSF) held in September 2011, the Company produced the Swing Carnival in Tsutsujigaoka, which was hosted by the disaster relief project team of the festival. JSF, centered around Jozenji-Dori Avenue in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, is one of Japan's community-based leading street music festivals. The Swing Carnival in Tsutsujigaoka was a project aimed at getting everyone to perform jazz together regardless of age or experience with musical instruments. Between 200 and 300 people brought instruments each day, allowing everyone to really feel the joy of performing together.

  Yamaha Corporation provided POCKETRAK® digital recorder free of charge to the Wild Bird Society of Japan for use in a study of the habitat of the Blakiston's Fish Owl.

  The Wild Bird Society of Japan has been setting up a unique bird sanctuary since 2004 with the aim of protecting the Blakiston's Fish Owl, which is an endangered species. It is necessary to study their habitat in order to find potential candidates as a bird sanctuary. Recording the cry of the Blakiston's Fish Owl on recorder can come in handy in searching for the owl in the study.

  Yamaha Corporation provided 20 devices, 18 POCKETRAK® CX and two POCKETRAK® W24, to the Wild Bird Society of Japan after a request for assistance. Research using these devices commenced in the season of 2011. For the study, POCKETRAK® devices are placed on forest roads and dry riverbeds near the candidate sites and left to automatically record sounds. After a few days, the recorded data is checked to ascertain whether any owls have flown in or not. So far a total of 12 studies have been conducted in seven zones, with the species confirmed to be living in one of them.

  The Yamaha Group continues to help preserve the environment in regions where it has factories, marketing bases and other business offices, such as by picking up trash and through afforestation. We also collaborate on activities to prevent global warming in these regions.

•  Environmental Initiatives / Regional Activities