Daily Life

One of the priority issues for Fuji Xerox is to help solve social issues in local communities through business. As a part of related activities, Tono Mirai Zukuri College was established in Tono City, Iwate Prefecture, which served as a logistic support point for the disaster area after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The college now functions as a collaborative site for industry, government, academia, and the local community to work together towards resolving social issues for the future through utilizing Fuji Xerox’s advanced communication technologies.

The college celebrates its second year in FY2015, and Fuji Xerox has promoted further usage of the college to broaden its operational foundations. Approximately 20 programs over seven areas are offered including; Attractive Educational Environment for local communities, New Product & Service Seeds for corporations, Realistic Local Research for universities, and New Administrative Services for governments. The programs enjoyed 5,316 participants from local communities, corporations, and universities, 50 percent more than the 3,469 participants in FY2014. The number of rooms for accommodation in the college building marked 1,969 this year. Half of the participants were from the Tokyo metropolitan area, providing significant economic benefit to the local community (approx. 200 million yen). Also in 2015, the Tono & Sumida Country Life Experience Council,*1 of which the college is a member, received the Global Award of the Discover Countryside Treasures in Japan*2 program (second selection) hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). This work of community revitalization is now attracting public interest and has gained a reputation as a movement to invigorate rural areas.

Fuji Xerox plans to broaden the projects to help in resolving concrete issues in the area of education, industry promotion, and administration, in addition to the exchange programs. It also plans to establish a PR team to promote further usage of the college.

Fuji Xerox is intending to expand the Future Creation projects nation-wide, utilizing the expertise it gained in Tono City. Following the Minami-Ashigara Mirai Zukuri Project (Kanagawa Prefecture), in October 2015 it concluded a collaborative agreement with Iki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, for an Iki-na Mirai Zukuri Project. This project aims to build a model of community revitalization on a remote island. Fuji Xerox’s efforts in community revitalization are steadily progressing.

*1 Tono & Sumida Furusato Experience Council: An organization formed by 11 bodies, including Tono Mirai Zukuri College, Tono Minpaku (vacation rental) Association, and Sumida Minpaku Association.

*2 Discover Mura no Takara: An MAFF program to promote nation-wide model rural community revitalization projects.