Messages from Top Management of the 19 Companies comprising the Sumitomo EXPO2025 Promotion Committee

Awareness about sustainability has increased across society at an accelerated rate over the years. As Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan approaches, I feel great expectations are placed on the private sector, and particularly us in the Sumitomo Group, which has developed with the Osaka and wider Kansai regional communities, contributing to solving increasingly complex issues confronting society. I hope that the Sumitomo Pavilion will offer visitors an opportunity to think about how we live in harmony with nature and the environment and how we achieve a truly sustainable society. We at Sumitomo Chemical are looking forward to strengthening our ties with countries and regions around the world and exploring new opportunities for innovation through the Expo.

Sumitomo Chemical is striving to help solve society’s major issues, such as climate change and conservation of ecosystems, by leveraging the diverse businesses, technological prowess and human talent that it possesses as a diversified chemical company. On the environmental front, for example, we are working on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, while also stepping up efforts toward achieving a circular economy for plastics and other useful resources. In the area of food supply, we are advancing sustainable agriculture using our biorationals and other innovative crop protection solutions. In the healthcare field, we are committed to enhancing people’s quality of life by utilizing our advanced technologies cultivated in the pharmaceuticals business.

Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan will be a well-timed event putting forward a vision of what a sustainable future society should be like. The 1970 Osaka Expo made a big impression on me, convincing the first-year junior high school boy of human society’s enormous growth potential and a bright, hopeful future. I expect the forthcoming Expo to be a great occasion to gain inspiration from the sustainable world envisioned by the Expo and rethink what a happy life is all about in the coming era.

As the contemporary crystallization of Sumitomo’s time-tested business philosophy, the Sumitomo Pavilion will seek to inspire us, orient us toward socially beneficial goals, and encourage us to unleash a wind of change full of promise for the future. Through participation in the Expo as a member of Sumitomo Group, I relish this opportunity for everyone at Sumitomo Heavy Industries to be inspired to develop and apply life-enhancing new technologies while recognizing anew the extraordinary value inherent in Sumitomo’s business philosophy, which is the foundation of our business.

At Sumitomo Heavy Industries, we have identified environmental load reduction and realization of a better life and working style as material issues concerning sustainability. Leveraging our unique technological capabilities, we are striving to enhance productivity and improve the working environment at production sites. In terms of life sciences, in addition to cancer diagnostic equipment, many units of which are already installed, we have an impressive track record in the field of radiation therapy, with development of a boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) system being a notable recent achievement. To accomplish the SDGs, we are making a concerted effort to maximize our products’ contribution to decarbonization and ensure that they enhance wellbeing and the quality of life in society now and in the future.

I have vivid memories of the 1970 Osaka Expo. As a youngster living in Osaka, the sight of all the pavilions of countries and companies from around the world kindled my hopes and dreams for the future. It is my fervent desire that the Sumitomo Pavilion will rekindle that spirit in the hearts and minds of people throughout the world. I believe the Unknown Forest, a technological tour de force rooted in Sumitomo Group’s 400-year history, will offer visitors a stimulating and immersive experience. The coming Expo will be a beacon of hope and a call to action for all of us.

We see the Expo as a great opportunity for the Kansai region, and indeed for Japan, to invigorate economic growth. In line with the concept of the Expo as an incubator for the future society, many of our customers are taking this opportunity to create innovations and to reform their business models. As a financial institution, we hope to make the Expo an opportunity to advance together with our customers and society by supporting their efforts and taking on new challenges ourselves.

SMBC Group, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, positions sustainability at the core of its management, and contributes to building a sustainable society with customers through financial and non-financial businesses. These include financing renewable energy projects, supporting customers’ efforts for decarbonization, upgrading digital platforms for smooth financial transactions, and promoting innovation that will lead to the next generation. All these businesses fit the theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”

I remember how excited I was to see the future at the 1970 Osaka Expo, where wireless telephones, electric vehicles, moving walkways, and other innovative technologies and products were on display. At Expo 2025, I look forward to experiencing technologies that will be put to practical use in the future and imagining the future. I hope that Expo 2025 will be an opportunity for the children and young people who will lead the next generation to embrace dreams and hopes for the future just as I felt at the time, and move forward powerfully.

Our predecessors’ initiatives ever since the founding of the House of Sumitomo, notably the development of copper smelting and refining in Osaka some 400 years ago, the opening of the Besshi Copper Mines, and environmental considerations and technological innovation in the course of business development, have all helped resolve issues that have challenged society over the years. It is our earnest desire that participation in the Expo will be a great opportunity to rethink what we can do through business to help accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is the Expo’s overarching objective.

We develop and operate copper and gold mines, smelting and refining to produce metals, and add new value by metals into advanced materials. Operating worldwide, we are doing business in 15 countries and regions. We secure valuable resources and provide stable supplies of nonferrous metals for resource-poor Japan. Demand for nonferrous metals such as copper and nickel is on an upward trajectory led by the progress of decarbonization, and the growing need for cathode materials for secondary batteries for automotive applications and for advanced materials to meet the needs of the increasingly sophisticated digital society. Thus, Sumitomo Metal Mining is contributing to the emergence of a sustainable society.

Though the 1970 Osaka Expo did not loom prominently in my daily life as a 10-year-old lad growing up in the suburbs of Tokyo, I was aware of its significance. Many aspects of contemporary society that have brought us greater affluence and extraordinary convenience were first showcased at the Expo and subsequently became part of everyday reality thanks to technological progress. Today, we aspire to a sustainable future in which we can live in harmony with the Earth, experiencing both material and spiritual fulfilment. I look forward to Expo 2025, which will fuse the wisdom of humankind and the latest technology to raise the curtain on this fascinating new world.

I believe that the Expo to be held in Osaka, the historic source of Sumitomo Group’s business, will stimulate change and innovation as we progress toward the goal of a sustainable society. Sumitomo Corporation would like to make this an opportunity to achieve economic and spiritual prosperity connected to the dreams of people worldwide who seek a truly sustainable future society. To achieve this happen based on Sumitomo’s business philosophy of Jiri-rita Koushi-ichinyo, meaning “Benefit self and benefit others, private and public interests are one and the same,” all our employees are applying their minds to social issues concerning the environment and human rights, seeking to create new value linked to worthwhile change.

Sumitomo Corporation has identified six key social issues, including mitigation of climate change, and is tackling them with ingenuity and tenacity. For realization of a carbon-neutral society, we have established the Energy Innovation Initiative and are creating a next-generation energy business. We are also promoting resource-saving businesses, such as those linked to the sharing economy, and businesses that contribute to development of regional communities and economies, including social infrastructure, and agriculture-related businesses. By contributing to a prosperous future for people around the world, we are determined to fulfill our corporate message, “Enriching lives and the world.”

I vividly recall the 1970 Osaka Expo, a thrilling event overflowing with hopes and dreams for a future society. The coming Expo should offer the up-and-coming generation of children and young people a vivid creative experience so that the Expo theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” flourishes as a beacon of hope for the future. The Sumitomo Pavilion, embodying the life-affirming values of the Sumitomo Group, is at the heart of this ambitious endeavor.

The Expo to be held in Osaka, the vibrant city from which Sumitomo emerged, is a national project with a special resonance for us. Our enthusiastic engagement with the Expo will be a shining example of Sumitomo’s business philosophy of Jiri-rita Koushi-ichinyo, meaning “Benefit self and benefit others, private and public interests are one and the same,” in action. Moreover, Expo 2025 will coincide with the centenary of The Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co., Ltd., a predecessor of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group. Furthermore, “Truthfulness and loyalty,” a component of the Group’s Codes of Conduct (“Value”), has its origin in the founding prospectus of Sumitomo Trust and Banking. In the past 100 years, inspired by this value, the Group tackled various social issues. With an eye to the next 100 years and determined to build a bright future together with our clients and society, we will seize the opportunity of the Expo to reaffirm the original inspiration of Sumitomo Group.

Mindful of our responsibility, we believe that by creating a virtuous circulation of funds, assets, and capital through the power of trusts, we will help place a bright future within the grasp of the next generation, thus benefitting people far into the future. We position strengthening sustainability in management and society as one of our key measures, have identified the age of 100-year life, ESG management, and networking as key strategic areas for which a virtuous circulation should be encouraged, and are striving to resolve social issues. As a source of trust, we will continue tackling social issues head-on to create both social and economic value, aiming to hasten the emergence of a society where well-being is ensured, a goal aligned with the Expo theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”

I was born in Osaka and lived there until my high school days. The 1970 Osaka Expo is unforgettable. As a child at elementary school at the time, I can still vividly recall the joy of eating a French baguette sandwich overflowing with ham and cheese of types I had never seen before, let alone eaten. Everything I saw and experienced was new to me, stimulating my curiosity. I went there nine times, collecting stamps from all the pavilions I visited in my guidebook. Expo 2025 will be a wonderful opportunity for today’s youngsters, who will be responsible for the future, to experience the green shoots of the future as I did back then, linking them to their own budding creativity.

Guided by our corporate purpose of contributing to the advancement of social and public welfare, we aim to contribute to a sustainable future together with our customers, business partners, employees, society, and other stakeholders by earning their trust and support not only through the insurance business but also our initiatives to tackle social and environmental issues. Thus, our vision matches the Expo’s concept. Participation in the Expo will be a great opportunity for our employees to think about what they can do to achieve these goals hand in hand with our stakeholders.

Since the launch of SUMITOMO LIFE Vitality Shared-Value Insurance in 2018, we have been implementing the CSV Project to enhance the health and quality of life of all our customers, thereby contributing to their well-being in a society of longevity. In a next-generation smart health project launched in 2022 in partnership with Osaka Prefecture, we have been offering elements of the Vitality Wellness Program, as distinct from the insurance policy, to encourage people to adopt health-enhancing lifestyles. With SUMITOMO LIFE Vitality at the heart of this endeavor, we have enthusiastically embraced the Expo theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”

Osaka is my hometown. Though I was only five years old at the time of the 1970 Osaka Expo, the event offered me a thrilling vision of the future that stimulated my imagination. The Tower of the Sun, the iconic symbol of the 1970 Osaka Expo encapsulating the promise of a bright future, stands to this day. A world expo brings together the planet’s wisdom, including cutting-edge technology, to tackle issues confronting people everywhere. Now, 55 years after the first Osaka Expo, I am eager to step into the future at Expo 2025, even into the 22nd century, while celebrating human beings’ extraordinary creativity and potential. I hope the Expo will not only kindle the hopes and dreams of today’s youngsters, but also trigger to produce groundbreaking innovations capable of securing a sustainable future of everyone on planet Earth.

Sumitomo Warehouse’s head office is in Osaka, a city with which Sumitomo Group has deep and enduring ties. Our corporate philosophy states, “We will provide earnest and timeless support for logistics functions as the social infrastructure, which is needed by all, while also working to create new services sought after by our customers and society.” Inspired by this philosophy, all of us at Sumitomo Warehouse are eager to contribute substantially to the further development of Osaka and the Kansai region where we are based, reaffirming our pride and responsibility as members of Sumitomo Group as we help to achieve an affluent and sustainable society.

In recent years, supply chains have globalized and customers’ logistics needs have been diversifying. Since its founding, Sumitomo Warehouse Group’s unwavering mission has been to deliver the valuable items entrusted to us to the right place at the right time, thereby supporting our customers’ business operations and society. We will continue our efforts to resolve social issues through our business by integrating our accumulated logistics expertise with new technologies so that we can further build on the trust that society has placed in Sumitomo Group in the course of its long history.

“Progress and Harmony of Mankind” was the theme of the 1970 Osaka Expo. I remember how thrilled I was, even though my experience of the event was limited to the television coverage, as I viewed crowds of visitors with high expectations for a prosperous future and got a powerful sense of how vigorously many countries around the world were pursuing economic development and a better life for all. It is my earnest desire that as many people as possible will visit Expo 2025, grasping with both hands this opportunity to recognize that all of us, wherever we may be in the world, are members of a team whose task is to speed progress toward a better tomorrow and a flourishing future. I also hope that visitors will experience at firsthand the wonderful vibe of Osaka and the Kansai region.

Global warming. Pandemics. Natural disasters. Violent conflict. In a world beset by ever more pressing issues, the Expo is an immense and timely opportunity for Japan, and indeed for the world, to pool the planet’s wisdom and advance boldly toward the sustainable society to which we all aspire. In this context, Sumitomo Group, the engine of the Osaka-Kansai region’s long-term growth and development, has much to offer.
Success of the Expo will enhance global confidence in Japan and will be a springboard for revival of the Osaka-Kansai economy.

In 2022, we formulated the Sumitomo Electric Group 2030 Vision. Under this long-term vision, we are committed to fulfilling our mission as a provider of products and services that support development of infrastructure and industries for a green planet and a safer and more comfortable society. In the energy field, we are developing new technologies to make the power lines of the electricity grid far more resilient, enhance the grid’s efficiency, and adjust the supply-demand balance.
In water resource recycling, which is another priority for the world and for Sumitomo Electric, our long-cultivated polymer material technology is boosting the performance of water treatment systems.

I went to the 1970 Osaka Expo on a high-school trip. We visited many pavilions including that of the U.S., featuring a chunk of rock from the moon, and, of course, the Sumitomo Pavilion. The Expo was an eye-opener. I really felt part of an extraordinarily fascinating world with throngs of people speaking many different languages. At Expo 2025, I look forward to experiencing thrilling revolutionary technologies, not just 5G advances but maybe even a flying car, a concept that kindled my imagination as a young lad all those years ago!