Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., will hold a tree-planting ceremony as part of its "YOKOHAMA Forever Forest" project on November 11, 2007 (Sunday) at its Hiratsuka Factory. Local residents and employees of the Yokohama Rubber Group and their families – about 3,500 people – will plant 30,000 trees that day. Professor Emeritus Akira Miyawaki of Yokohama National University will supervise the planting, which will be followed by various events including a discussion on stage between Mr. Tadashi Tateuchi, a noted automotive journalist, and Mr. Ukyo Katayama, a former F1 driver. Inquiries in advance are welcome from people in the community wishing to join in the planting and festivities.

The "YOKOHAMA Forever Forest" is a long-term project being carried out as part of the Yokohama Rubber Group's environmental preservation activities. If forests are created around factories and similar facilities, they will, of course, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They will also contribute to their local communities in various other respects including safety, playing, for example, disaster-preventive roles as evacuation sites at times of earthquakes, fires, etc. Over the coming ten years, the Hiratsuka Factory, six other domestic plants and 11 plants at overseas affiliates will plant a total of 500,000 trees, creating about 100,000 m2 (about 25 acre) of new forests.

Dr. Akira Miyawaki is a biologist known for the concept of "potential natural vegetation*." He has guided more than 1,500 tree-planting efforts both domestically and abroad, having thus helped in the planting of 30 million trees.

*Potential natural vegetation: vegetation most suitable to the native area and habitat, supported by the existing conditions of location in the absence of any human intervention.

Date and times: November 11, 2007 (Sunday)
8:30 Registration of participation
9:30 Opening ceremony
10:30 Planting
11:50 Events
14:00 Closing ceremony
Place: Hiratsuka Factory (Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa)