Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee recently supported The 81st Speech Contest of The Schools for the Blind (hosted by Mainichi Newspaper Co., Ltd. Tenji Mainichi) held on Oct. 12th, 2012 at the Okayama Prefectural Okayama School for the Blind.

This year, nine blind student representatives emerged from districts from all over Japan, after winning their elimination contests. They spoke with passion on how they felt when they had overcome conflicts in their minds and the important experiences they had through dealing with their family or friends.

The impressive winner of this year‘s contest was Hiroyuki Tominaga, the delegate from the Chugoku/Shikoku region, with his speech, titled “My family and me”. He spoke with honesty and humor about starting a new life in a dorm at the school for the blind because he lost his job after being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa and he talked about conversations with his wife who cheers him on with a severe tone which made the audience laugh. At the end of his speech, he spoke of his strong appreciation for his family, “I want to be a successful masseuse and protect my family sooner than later”. All of the audience was touched and the hall was engulfed by emotion.

Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee is formed jointly by 36 companies; which are all part of the original Sumitomo company with over 400 years of history. They work together for various activities to increase community trust with Sumitomo and hope to make positive relationships in society through these initiatives.

With our group message, "Passing important values from people to people", we hope we can contribute to the development of this “The Speech Contest of the Schools for the Blind” which is sending “The power of living” to our society through words even if it is just a little bit.