Panasonic to send hope with a Sakura Tree for Japan

Panasonic Corporation announced today to collect "Messages of Hope" from around the world to encourage children in disaster areas, from October 6 to December 31, 2011, in support of the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. The collected messages will be presented together with young cherry trees to the Tohoku region in the spring of 2012.

A "Message of Hope" may be posted on the special website, Facebook, or Twitter. Each message will be added as a cherry flower to the cherry tree on the website until it is in full bloom. Once it reaches full bloom, posters and tapestries of it will be made and presented together with young cherry trees to children in disaster areas.

In 2007, Panasonic started its "Let's Plant a Tree for a Unit!" campaign and has continued the activity to plant a tree for each unit of an applicable ECO NAVI product sold in Japan. With the cooperation of LEAF and Eco-Schools of Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which is an international NGO, over 1.8 million trees have been planted in 45 countries. (As of the end of September 2011)

In 2011, tree planting is scheduled to be done in 58 countries. In Japan, in support of the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake, young cherry trees will be planted at elementary schools, kindergartens, and day-care centers primarily in the Tohoku region, and the "Messages of Hope" collected from around the world will be presented in the spring of 2012.