Thoughts About "Shimizu Foundation"
From “Kazenoko Letter” No.456 - January 2016
| On November 25th, I attended a ceremony for the 50th Anniversary of Shimizu
Foundation in Tokyo. I attended to show our gratitude and appreciation
on behalf of our 5 staff members who were able to attend a 3 month overseas
training course (mainly in Europe) thanks to a grant from Shimizu Foundation.
Shimizu Foundation is an independent corporation established by construction company Shimizu Corporation in order to make social contributions. It was founded in 1937, and the total amount granted towards social welfare services has been \10.5 billion ($105 million). I found out by attending this ceremoney that the first president Yasuo Shimizu had received advice from the father of capitalism Eiichi Shibusawa, who said, "You have to share your company's profits for the common good, because you receive these profits through society." Hearing this, I realized the need for people to be in contact with exceptional people like this and be influenced spiritually by them. Our corporation offers a Day Service Center for the Elderly, called "Suisen no Ie". Author of Children's literature Ryohei Komiyama came to "Suisen no Ie" and gave a speech at one of our lectures about 10 years ago. He told us about a time during childhood when he had been arrested by the special "Tokko" political police for ideological reasons, during his time working as a pageboy under Eiichi Shibusawa. He was released after investigations, and Mr. Shibusawa had taken care of everything for him without fuss. Mr. Komiyama told us that he still to this day respected and felt grateful for Mr. Shibusawa's generosity. Mr. Komiyama is famous for his bestselling postwar book "Tsudurikata Kyodai" ("The Child Writers"), published by Rironsha. He passed away last year. I have shared various thoughts here, having been able to reflect on all kinds of things through attending this ceremony. |
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