Japan
Toray Industries, Inc. (Toray)
Groundbreaking Ceremony for Automotive Center (AMC) (Held On 11/19/2007)

Mr. Sakakibara at the weed cutting ritual

The ritual for dedicating the site for the construction of the AMC took place at the Nagoya Plant on November 19th based on the Japanese tradition.
Seventy people attended, including guests from the local community and Toray executives headed by Mr. S. Sakakibara, President, CEO and COO, Mr. K. Tanaka, Executive Vice President, and Mr. A. Nikkaku, Executive Vice President.
It proceeded solemnly with series of rituals such as the cutting of weed with a sickle by Mr. Sakakibara, the groundbreaking by constructors, and the dedication of a sacred branch for the safe completion of the construction.

Then, the groundbreaking ceremony taking place at the Bunkyo Center got underway with the Mr. Sakakibara’s opening speech. He talked about his intention of realizing the AMC and Toray’s Automobile & Aircraft Plan. Then representatives from Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City both made complimentary addresses, expressing their expectations and support for Toray’s plans.

After the ceremony, a press conference was held, attended by 20 people from 16 news companies mainly from the Chukyo-Nagoya area.
Local expectations to Toray’s advanced materials invited active and fruitful discussions among participants all the day.

(By Eiji Imai, Administration Dept., Nagoya Plant)