The Morinaga Group's purpose is to "continue to create healthy foods that can be enjoyed beyond generations, thereby bringing smiles to the faces of people around the world now and in the future".
Based on this purpose, we will formulate a social contribution policy, work on solving social issues, and contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.
The Morinaga Group will carry out social contribution activities based on the altruistic spirit of thinking about how to be considerate and contribute towards others.
Through cooperation and collaboration with local communities, government agencies, NPOs, and NGOs, we will work as a member of society to contribute to the creation of a society that brings smiles to people's faces.
We conduct guided tours for visitors to see both the Morinaga Angel Museum MORIUM and the Tsurumi factory production line. At MORIUM, we introduce visitors to the history and technology of Morinaga & Co., Ltd. and provide insight into the thought process behind our products through displays and videos. During the factory tour, we hope visitors will be able to feel the excitement and thrill of manufacturing, and get a real sense of our efforts towards food safety and reliability through their own eyes.
Morinaga Angel Museum MORIUM
MORIUM Exhibition
Tour entrance
Tour guests
Employees visit elementary schools to teach a class about the industrial production of milk caramels. The class targets fifth graders and offers a sense of realism as if they are on a factory tour. The class aims to teach about the ingenious attempts and hard work of industrial production, as well as our passion toward manufacturing. This helps deepen their learning in textbook.
We have also been conducting online lessons since FY2022/3, contributing to the creation of equal educational opportunities.
Pupils watch the video of production process and take part in quiz and workshop to participate experience-based class.
Lecture
Quiz session
Workshop①
Workshop②
Confectioneries have the power to make people happy
I participated in the lesson because I wanted children to love caramel more. I was nervous about standing on the podium, but I was very happy that many children listened to me with serious faces and asked questions earnestly. The smiles the children gave me when they received caramels as a souvenir reminded me that “Confectioneries make people happy,” and made me love caramels even more. This is an opportunity to understand the value of our products. I would like to expand this activity to many employees.
Motoki Matsui
MIRAI Research & Innovation, R&D Center, Morinaga & Co., Ltd.
We host virtual company visits to serve as career education and as class lessons for junior high and high school students.
Employees explain the range of Morinaga's business and about duties and workstyles, and communicate directly with students through question. The aim is to provide an opportunity for students to think about occupation and their future careers, and develop an idea of what working is all about.
Morinaga Group has been committed to "food (not only foodstuff itself but including culture and science of food)" for more than 120 years. We have been and will continue to be a supporter of smiles and wellness lifestyles, and we are sincerely committed to "health of mind and body" through educating "food".
In 2022, we opened the "Morinaga's Food Education" website to provide information related to "food".
Morinaga believes that the value of confectioneries lies in supplementing nutrition and its role in communication that connects people to people and hearts to hearts.
Morinaga donates “Mel and Mar's Picnic,” our original picture book for confectionery education, to children's nursery facilities. This is aimed at helping children develop creativity while learning about, in a fun way, confectionery's roles and how to properly associate with confectionery. The nursery facilities use the book for such purposes as storytelling and drama-based workshop.
At the Sweets Factory, a pavilion exhibited by Morinaga in the KidZania, children can experience the joy of working and try manufacturing techniques through the production of HI-CHEW candies. They can also learn about food hygiene, rules, and manners, while developing independence and sociality.
From 2022, we endorsed the Children's Food Support Box implemented by Save the Children Japan and donate products such as Moonlight, HI-CHEW, and other items. This initiative was implemented during the summer and winter holidays with the aim of improving the food situation for children, targeting families in financial difficulty amid the prolonged COVID-19 infection and rising prices. Save the Children Japan delivered support boxes to approximately 10,000 households every year.
In July and December in FY2022, a total of 21 employees from our company took volunteer leave for four times in total to participate in the Children's Food Support Box packing program.
The Morinaga Group will continue to encourage participation from our employees to solve social issues in accordance with its social contribution policy, aiming to create a society where people can smile.
In May 2022, we donated 10 million yen to Plan International Japan, a public interest incorporated foundation, to provide humanitarian aid to Ukrainian children and their parents who were fleeing their country due to the escalation of war in Ukraine.
In addition, 307 directors and employees made humanitarian aid donations, which were matched by the Company with an additional donation of the same amount.
These donations were used to improve the environment, provide psychosocial care, and support education for evacuated Ukrainian children and their parents.
In May 2023, we donated 10 million yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society jointly with Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. to be used for relief efforts and reconstruction of the areas affected by the Turkey and Syria earthquakes. We also made a donation to the Japanese Red Cross Society through a matching donation initiative, in which 281 directors and employees of the Morinaga & Co., Ltd. and its Group made a donation and the Company matched the amount of money.
In February 2024, we donated 50 million yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society jointly with Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. for the purpose of providing relief to people in the disaster-hit areas of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture and for reconstruction of these areas. Morinaga Group also made a donation to the Japanese Red Cross Society through a matching donation initiative in which more than 700 executives and employees donated money and the Company matched the amount of donations collected.
Naoki Idegawa is a professional downhill mountain bike rider who Morinaga Training Lab has been supporting for many years, and upon his request, we started providing training and nutrition support at the Bicycle Academy. The Bicycle Academy is a bicycle school launched in FY 2021/3 by Idegawa, who serves as the main coach, with the objective of contributing to character building in addition to fostering bicycle knowledge and skills. Its philosophy is to share the three joys of happiness, growth, and success through mountain biking; pursue activities with love, sincerity, and thankfulness; and contribute to the development of the bicycle community. The Lab's trainers and nutritionists provide support to member elementary school students bike riders and their parents and guardians by offering training programs important for athletes in their growth phase, and by uploading sports-related food education videos once a month. And in July, in Jelly <Energy Lemon> was provided to members after their lesson, and they learned about the importance of heat stroke prevention and of supplemental food.
Instruction at the Bicycle Academy on warming up
Take in Jelly <Energy Lemon> after a lesson in summer
Training program instruction for Bicycle Academy coaches
Excerpt of sports-related food education video
Morinaga Training Lab, which is mainly in charge of providing training guidance and nutritional support to athletes, devised the Ottotto Calisthenics in collaboration with Yokohama Sport Association, in the aim of promoting, as much as possible, children's healthy growth through exercise and diet.
The Calisthenics was devised in the expectation that various forms of body movements, such as jumping, rolling, and standing on one leg, will promote the development of athletic ability in early childhood, thereby reducing injuries caused by falls. In the Calisthenics, we incorporated the image of the sea friends, the characters appearing in our Ottotto snack, so that children can enjoy the exercise.
Ottotto Calisthenics educational videos
Morinaga has continuously participated in the Bellmark program since it was launched in 1960 and has provided support for Bellmark activities, which assist the improvement of school equipment and educational materials, as well as children who are endeavoring to learn with various disabilities. Currently, Morinaga is contributing to the Bellmark program by printing the Bell Mark on six products: Milk Caramel, Hi-Soft, Morinaga Biscuits, ChocoBall, Milk Chocolate, and Ottotto.
Emphasizing the importance of an “Angel's Heart,” which is Morinaga's symbol, the Morinaga Angel Foundation conducts research on forms of abundant human lifestyles and the ideal of families in the future through, for example, art, sports, nature, food, and classics. We are also engaged in activities to deliver a picture book titled “MORI-no-Ehon” to children who are living in the areas hit by recent earthquakes, heavy rains, and other natural disasters, including the Great East Japan Earthquake. The number of the book's copies delivered amounted 8,556. In addition, we plan and offer a variety of lectures for internal use. In 2022, we held one lecture entitled "Reconsidering Corporate Activities from the Perspective of the SDGs," which was attended by employees from a wide range of divisions, including sales and raw material procurement divisions, to deepen their understanding of how the SDGs have become more deeply involved in business operations.
Activities to deliver the MORI-no-Ehon picture book
Under the Project, companies (limited to food manufacturers, distributors, and providers) that wish to use Morinaga's trademarks of "Angel" join CSR activities that contribute to the improvement of environments for children's education and training, in lieu of paying a royalty.
In FY2020/3, the project's scope has been expanded to the use of patent rights, and, as the fruit of an initiative to revitalize the local economy, which was jointly undertaken by Kawasaki City, Kawasaki Instituter of Industrial Promotion, and Kawasaki Shinkin Bank, a new product Angel no Hoppe (angel's cheeks), a Daifuku confection flavored with powdered green tea and chocolate, was launched by Kashisho Suehiroan, a Japanese-sweets manufacturer, utilizing Morinaga's patented technology.
Please learn about Co-existence and co-prosperity with local communities, which is linked below.