On July 4, 2019, Ofunato City’s education board held Ofunato Career Challenge Day[1], a career education event for junior high school students living in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Toray has been participating in this event since its first edition and this year, the eighth edition, Senior Staff Daichi Miyazaki at Electronic & Imaging Materials Research Laboratories held three 50-minute lectures including Q&A sessions under the theme of "Will, Role and Ability of Researcher."
Miyazaki told the students that the real ability of R&D is to "imagine the future and connect it to the present" by citing the example of the evolution from wall phones to smartphones, and that it was important to gather information and build ties with peers. Students were taking notes earnestly. They also asked lots of questions during the Q&A session such as "What made you feel happy in your job?" "What are the reasons, other than getting a salary, for someone to work?" "What are the things we should learn while at junior high school?"
"I could sense the intent and passion in the serious looks on the children’s faces. It was a great opportunity to feel first hand our company’s social contribution activities," said Miyazaki after the sessions.
We would like to continue participating in this event, which would help children of Ofunato to select their career paths.
[1] Ofunato Career Challenge Day: A new form of career education program in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, which was devastated by the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Following the earthquake, the prefecture was finding it difficult to find businesses to host the vocational experience programs, which it used to hold every year for second-year students of junior high school. The new program received the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in 2012.
