Canon Inc. invited children from children-welfare facilities in Tokyo and their attendants to the J. League regular game between “Tokyo Verdy 1969” and “Kashiwa Reysol” held at Ajinomoto Stadium on Saturday, May 14, 2005.

This program is part of the Canon social support project, conducted in cooperation by J. League and its official sponsor Canon. The program aims to provide children, who seldom watch games at the stadium, with an opportunity to watch J. League games and become familiar with sports. This was the fourth meeting following the one held last November. A total of 53 disabled children and their attendants, who registered for the program in advance at Tokyo Council of Social Welfare, joined the program.

Verdy-kun, the “Tokyo Verdy 1969” mascot, welcomed the children at the pitch, and showed them around. The children enjoyed the tour very much. A spokesperson of the “Tokyo Verdy 1969” team talked about soccer, and showed them the players’ uniforms, spikes, gloves, and balls that were actually used in the games. They had a good time examining those items. Later, two players from “Tokyo Verdy 1969” joined the children to communicate with them, have pictures taken, and give autographs. The bright-eyed children were delighted, to get the autographs and gifts.

A hotly contested game between “Tokyo Verdy 1969” and “Kashiwa Reysol” began at 15:00. As the game proceeded, the children became excited, glad and sad by turns, putting their hands up when a point was scored, and cheering the players when they stopped a goal. The participants commented, “I was happy because I could meet the players and get their autographs,” “The tour of the pitch was interesting,” “I enjoyed having my photo taken with the mascot Verdy-kun,” “I’m glad that Verdy won (Tokyo Verdy 1969 is a home team),” etc.

Some Canon employees volunteered to work on this program, and the participants spent a great day.