Nojima Corporation has announced its decision to donate 200 million yen to projects of the Olena Zelenska Foundation aimed at supporting children.
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska shared this news on Facebook.
During her visit to Japan, she and the Foundation’s team had the opportunity to meet with Hiroshi Nojima, President of Nojima Corporation — one of Japan’s largest retail networks in electronics and digital technology.
The company president announced the decision to contribute 200 million yen to support the Foundation’s projects.
“This is a significant contribution to strengthening our key focus areas,” emphasized the First Lady.
She added that the meeting was especially meaningful to her.
“At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Mr. Nojima personally provided financial assistance to Ukrainians who had to evacuate to Japan. At a time when thousands of families had to leave their homes, this support was a heartfelt gesture of solidarity and humanity.”
Nojima Corporation continues to assist Ukrainians, especially children. In partnership with JICA and the Yokohama municipality, the company implemented its own initiative to donate laptops to schools in Odesa. Thanks to this, hundreds of Ukrainian students were able to resume their studies, stay connected with teachers, and maintain a sense of normalcy despite the ongoing war.
“We presented the Nojima team with the Foundation’s main areas of work and introduced a new project — youth spaces offering psychosocial support for teenagers and young adults aged 12 to 21 called ‘12–21’. These will be barrier-free, accessible spaces where every young person can receive individual or group psychosocial support, career counseling, and meaningful leisure activities. All services will be free and confidential,” the First Lady noted.
She also said, “Our target audience is teenagers and young people from 12 to 21 years old. We plan to open the first five centers in different regions of Ukraine this year.”
Zelenska expressed gratitude to Nojima Corporation for their substantial support.
“For us, it is especially important to see Ukrainian-Japanese partnership developing not only at the state level but also through initiatives between people and businesses. This partnership is another step toward creating real opportunities for children in Ukraine to grow and have a dignified future,” she said.
During the visit, Zelenska also met with Katsura Miyazaki, the First Executive Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and CEO of Japan’s leading technology company Rakuten Group; and the leadership of Daiwa House, one of Japan’s construction industry leaders.
The Foundation’s team also met with representatives of Panasonic Corporation, a global leader in electronics manufacturing.
The First Lady thanked the companies and JICA for their consistent support of Ukraine.
During these meetings, the Foundation team presented their activities and key projects, including building shelters in schools and kindergartens, creating “Schools of Superheroes” at children’s hospitals, providing students with gadgets for distance learning, and constructing homes for large foster families who lost their homes.
