Connections with Local Communities

The Yamaha Group acknowledges that a corporation is a member of society, and we endeavor to be a good corporate citizen while promoting socially acceptable values and conduct. As we contribute to the development and popularization of music culture and to the enrichment of society through our business, we are also fulfilling our social responsibility as a good corporate citizen through proactive community outreach and engagement. We thereby aim to advance low-environmental-impact business activities that are considerate of society. At offices and factories, we regularly hold information exchange sessions with surrounding municipalities and solicit opinions at neighborhood council meetings. When we build or retire a Yamaha office, we do so after reporting and explaining the matter to the head of the local government in the area while also using our exchange sessions with surrounding municipalities to make reports, as appropriate, and ask for their opinions and requests. Furthermore, when we retire a Yamaha factory, we carry out soil and groundwater surveys to assess environmental impacts on the area. In the event that an impact, such as contamination, is discovered, we take prompt and appropriate measures for decontamination or removal.

The Yamaha Group engages in ongoing communication with the communities that are home to business sites to maintain good relations with these communities.

• Regular information exchange sessions with neighborhood councils
• Factory tours
• Accommodation of community study trips for local elementary school students and hands-on workplace experience programs and tours for local junior high and high school students
• Summer festivals for strengthening relationships with communities
• Signing of memorandums to open up facilities to the public during disasters
• Participation in local events and celebrations
• Exhibition in and cooperation with MUSIC SPOT at Shin-Tomei Expressway NEOPASA Hamamatsu and exhibition at Hamamatsu Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen line
• Lending of facilities, parking lots, etc.
• Cooperation with regional safety patrol activities
• Cooperation with regional environmental activities, including participation in regional cleanup efforts by employees
• Participation in joint disaster drills led by municipalities
• Donation of household goods, sweets, etc., gathered through charity bazaars and donation campaigns to local organizations
• Donation of food from disaster stockpiles to food bank FUJINOKUNI
• Donation of food from disaster stockpiles to food bank Saitama
• Donation of food from disaster stockpiles to food bank OSAKA
• Lending of instruments and holding of concerts

• Note: Some activities were canceled in fiscal 2022 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the Kakegawa Factory, a domestic piano manufacturing site, we open our doors to public visitors so that they can observe the process of making grand pianos and thereby experience the appeal of instruments and music. In factory tours, visitors see how we use modern techniques and some traditional, more than 100-year-old manufacturing processes. Visitors also pass through the adjacent showroom, where we display valuable instruments as well as instruments that visitors are invited to try out. In addition, visitors witness the environmental preservation initiatives woven into our product creation activities. We accommodate a plethora of visitors, including professional and amateur musicians and local elementary school students on field trips, while also opening our doors to general customers and organizations as part of our efforts to foster understanding with regard to product creation at the Yamaha Group. In fiscal 2022, factory tours were held with limits on the number of participants in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we also provided remote (online) factory tours for local elementary school students.

Opened in 2018, Innovation Road is a hands-on corporate museum displaying exhibitions on the history of the products and services of the Yamaha Group. This museum allows general visitors to learn about products and services from the Company’s founding until today, their development process, and the Company’s vision for the future via audio and visual exhibits. Since its opening, many people have visited Innovation Road, including organizations, business partners, and community members.

Every year, Yamaha Corporation and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., jointly host the Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi women’s golf tournament at the Katsuragi Golf Club located in Fukuroi City, Shizuoka Prefecture. In fiscal 2022, this event was held with roughly 3,000 spectators each day based on our desire to support athletes who continue to chase their ambitions amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to deliver the excitement of the competition directly to golf fans. The greatest possible steps were taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the event. Holding this major event was made possible by the support and understanding of volunteers, community members, and local governments. The burden placed on these supporters was even greater this year due to COVID-19 precautions.
Since the first tournament in 2008, Yamaha Corporation has given donations to local governments that have backed the tournament (Shizuoka prefectural government and five municipalities) as a token of our appreciation to community members for their cooperation and support of the event and as an expression of our desire to further strengthen these ties. These donations are to be used for regional revitalization and social welfare activities, such as maintaining sports facilities, buying vehicles for volunteer activities, and funding cultural and educational venues.

• Yamaha Ladies Open KATSURAGI (in Japanese only)