Ricoh 2012 Annual Report Download - page 82

Ricoh Group Sustainability Report 201281
To Grow with Society
“What do today’s children tend to lack despite growing up in Japan’s seemingly affluent society of abundant goods and information?”
In 2002, Ricoh established the Ichimura Nature School as part of its social contribution activities aimed at the sound development of children.
To help to fill a possible void in their lives, the Ichimura Nature School offers programs that are designed to foster a zest for life within children, who
hold the future in their hands.
The Ichimura Nature School in the Kanto Region
“Developing a great zest for life
through learning from Nature!”
With this unwavering philosophy,
the Ichimura Nature School supports
the sound growth of children.
Developing a great zest for life from farm
work and communal life
The Ichimura Nature School Kanto is an NPO that was founded in
Ashigara-kami-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture in 2002 to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Ricoh Group’s founder, Kiyoshi
Ichimura. Based on the concept of “learning how to live from Mother
Nature,” the school offers hands-on programs to children from grades 4
through 8 throughout the year.
The school’s building stands at a nature-rich site that extends to
around 7,000 m2. During the 8-month long program, city-raised children
spend two nights every other weekend engaging in a variety of agricultural
activities, from sowing seeds to harvesting crops. Along with this hands-on
experience, being away from their parents provides them with opportunities
to learn the importance of farming, which requires much physical work, and
to feel blessed by nature and experience a great sense of accomplishment
through working hard together with peers, while also allowing them to
appreciate the fruits of their labor and experience, namely the joy that
comes from harvesting their crops. In the autumn season, when the leaves
that sprouted in the spring turn red, the children graduate from the school,
their state of body and mind more robust than when they first came.
Understanding how precious life is and learning
the essence of the dignity of a human life
At the same time as when the Nature School was first established, the
fragile mental state of increasing numbers of school-aged children was
manifesting itself as their self-isolation from society, as victims of abuse.
“What went wrong with these children?” Ricoh attempted to determine
what it could do to help the children, and ultimately decided to found a
Nature School under the philosophy of the then chairman, Hiroshi Hamada.
Instructors at the school follow the basic principle of the
“four don’ts”: don’t give children too many instructions; don’t give them
too many orders; don’t try too hard to teach them something; and don’t
coddle them. The school programs are designed to help children develop
three values—caring for nature, caring for others and cooperation, and
caring for social rules—as well as a twin capacity for independent action
and awareness of safety and danger.
More than 10 years have passed since the school’s foundation and
over 500 children have finished the course. Despite the requirement to
stay on the school’s premises every weekend, the attendance rate of the
students exceeds 95%. Through participating in school activities, students
begin to nurture a great zest for life. By the time they finish the course,
a strong self-confidence that is underpinned by enthusiastic feelings has
sprouted within them. Messages from their parents indicate that students
have been steadily developing a spirit of independence, a sense of
responsibility and a sense of caring for others. Examples of such messages
include: “my child now voluntarily helps with household chores,” and “my
child has begun to say his/her own opinions confidently.”