Tamachi Building Co. Invites Nursery School Children to Strawberry Picking

The 219 square meter (m2) garden where the event took place is situated on the roof of the Dai Ichi Tamachi Building, directly across from East Japan Railway's Tamachi Station in Minato-ku. Within the rooftop garden, a 21.5m2 vegetable garden has been used for cultivation of 80 strawberry seedlings. The strawberries, which are highly popular among children and suitable for garden farming from winter to spring, were planted after the company's sweet potato dig last autumn.

At the latest event, 11 participating children between the age of three and five from a nearby nursery school first learned about the rooftop garden system and its benefits through easy-to-understand explanations using photos and drawings. They then enjoyed strawberry picking, drawing pictures of their fun experience, and eating the strawberries. When the event was finished, they each left with a pack of their remaining pickings to take home.

Tamachi Building has been conducting the rooftop garden experiment since May 2009 as part of a program to achieve full-fledged rooftop greening in the near future. The initiative is also linked to Minato-ku's greening campaign targeting a green coverage ratio of 25% by 2026.

Tamachi Building is a wholly owned subsidiary of MHI established in 1964 to own and operate rental office buildings, manage MHI's own buildings, and provide related services. Reflecting a business philosophy that aims to provide safe and comfortable buildings, the company undertakes activities relating to education and the environment in line with MHI's CSR and environmental policies. Since April this year the company has taken up a new challenge focused on consumption, in a restaurant within the Dai Ichi Tamachi Building, of dishes using safe, healthful, freshly picked vegetables cultivated on the site in solar-powered “mini vegetable factories” that use no pesticides or other chemicals.

Through these various activities, Tamachi Building is contributing to a better environment and to its local community as it simultaneously raises the CSR awareness of its employees.