Canon Inc. held Summer Eco-Festival 2005 at the head office (Shimomaruko, Ota Ward in Tokyo) on Sunday, August 7, as part of its community-contribution, environmental and educational, activities.

The objective of this event was to communicate with local people and children through environmental topics, and to provide them with enjoyable opportunities to learn about environmental issues. The event was managed by three sectors of the community; administration (Ota municipal government), local organization (non-profit group), and corporation (Canon). In this fourth event, about 2,600 local residents and employees’families, including about 1,100 children , participated.

The event opened with a fanfare played by Clef Brass Choir, a local brass ensemble, to introduce many colorful programs such as a concert and performances. This year, Megastar, a ten-meter diameter planetarium was set up at the venue, and the children looked up at 4,100,000 stars with sparkling eyes.

The variety of events and services conducted at the Canon booth included an introduction of its environmental activities and environmentally friendly products, photo output services, environmental game with puzzles for children, eco-kids diagnosis, and handicraft workshop using boards made from scrap chips. The appearance of Morizo and Kiccoro, original characters for EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan, excited the children, and they shouted for joy. They had their photos taken with the characters.

At the Ota Ward booth, parks throughout the ward were introduced, and parks and green zones in the vicinity of Canon were also introduced on panels. At the NPO booth, a handicraft workshop using wood (that came from trees thinned out in forests) to make star charts or spinning tops was conducted. There were also panel displays of the observations of living creatures, and an introduction to NPO activities. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) introduced WWF activities, held a handicraft workshop on making round paper fans, and staged a picture story show.

Other events included a lecture on the environment by writer Makoto Shiina, a children’s course on digital cameras supervised by photographer Hikaru Nagatake, a live concert of Beetles songs by the band Ohsama, recreational games, and a lottery with attractive prizes. All of the events really livened up the place.