Sociocultural Support Activities
Initiatives

Major Initiatives

Canon Young People Programme Harnesses the Power of Positive Visual Storytelling

Canon Europe partners with local NGOs across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa through the Canon Young People Programme (CYPP) to empower disadvantaged youth. The program promotes sustainable futures by teaching visual storytelling and critical thinking aligned with the SDGs, and offering hands-on experience in photography and video.

In 2025, Canon celebrated the 10th anniversary of CYPP, marking a significant milestone with 10,000 young people engaged. Research conducted by the University of Northampton's Institute for Social Impact & Innovation (ISII) confirms that CYPP has delivered significant and lasting impact on young people, communities, and partner organizations worldwide.

The Independent ISII evaluation highlights that, through visual storytelling and skills training, CYPP empowers young people to address local social and environmental challenges, develop leadership capacity, and explore new career paths. Over the past decade, by working with more than 40 partners across 36 countries, alumni have emerged as community leaders, entrepreneurs, and agents of change.

Comment from a CYPP Alumni

CYPP gave me my first encounter with a camera in 2020, when I was introduced to photography through Wild Shots Outreach (WSO). I quickly discovered my abilities, capabilities, and passion. Photography helped me tap into a whole new dimension of learning about photography, about wildlife conservation, and about myself. Now, on the 10th anniversary of CYPP, I am a Programme Leader. In this position, I am able to coach, encourage, and empower the next generation from African communities like my own. Through CYPP, my mission is to change the narrative, to give young people like me a voice, and to make photography and wildlife conservation more diverse and inclusive.

Miraisha Programme Aims to Increase Employment Opportunities and Technical Skills in Africa

High youth unemployment is a severe problem in Africa. Moreover, while demand is increasing for photography, video production, and printing, most of this business is done by foreign companies because local skill levels often do not reach international standards. In response to this situation, Canon Central and North Africa has been promoting its Miraisha Programme, a social investment initiative in Africa. Miraisha is a portmanteau of the Japanese word mirai, meaning future, and the Swahili word maisha, meaning life. Through the program, Canon aims to improve the technical skills of local young people and increase employment opportunities for local young people in Africa’s growing photography, video production, and print industries.

Through partnerships with local organizations, educational institutions, event organizers, and with the assistance of Canon Ambassadors and trainers, the Miraisha Programme has trained a total of 7,900 participants, including 300 who participated in 2025. Canon has also created a training program to develop local photographers and videographers as Canonaccredited trainers for the Miraisha Programme. By 2025, a total of 21 Canon Certified Miraisha trainers were working throughout Africa, three of whom were recruited as Canon Group employees.

Inclusivity Initiatives Using Elevated Printing Technology

Canon Europe is currently hosting the World Unseen campaign in different regions of EMEA, challenging people to see the world from new perspectives. As part of the campaign, which began in 2024, a photo exhibition was held using Canon's imaging and printing technologies to allow visually impaired people to experience photography. Works by renowned photographers, including Sebastião Salgado, are printed using Canon's UV-curable large-format flatbed printers, which utilize ink thickness to create a raised effect, allowing people to experience them through touch.

In 2025, across the EMEA region, from Europe to the Middle East and South Africa, we continued to hold photography exhibitions, offering new experiences and inspiration to visitors. Our approach to such exhibits has started to influence other major exhibitions. For example, at the 2025 Ocean Photographer of the Year marine photography competition and exhibition, Canon's elevated printing technology was adopted for displays in both London and Cape Town.

The Research and Education Program "Eyes on Yellowstone" Made Possible by support from Canon U.S.A. Helps to Communicate the Importance of Environmental Conservation

Canon U.S.A. donates products and funds to Yellowstone Forever, the official nonprofit partner of a globally renowned Yellowstone National Park in the U.S.A. to support initiatives such as surveillance activities targeting endangered wildlife species.

Eyes on Yellowstone allows Yellowstone's scientists and managers to break new ground in conservation, endangered species protection, and the application of cutting-edge science and technology to park wildlife and ecosystem management. The data collected from these projects have educated and inspired millions of people around the world. Eyes on Yellowstone enhances the experience for both in-person and virtual visitors, inspiring deeper engagement with our national parks and global environmental conservation.

In 2025, Canon's 4K Outdoor PTZ Camera captured a bison herd chasing away a grizzly bear from the live-stream of Old Faithful geyser.

The 4E's Project in India

Canon India carries out the 4E's Project in partnership with the NGO Humana People to People India. The project provides various forms of assistance in the four fields of eye care, education, environment, and empowerment to impoverished villages near to the Canon India offices.

Especially in the field of eye-care, Canon strives to provide improved medical assistance to the people with vision impairment by utilizing its technology from the Medical Group that Canon plans to further strengthen and expand its operation as part of the priority business strategy. In India, despite the fact that 80% of cataracts, a major cause of visual impairment, are believed to be preventable or treatable, the issue is lack of access to appropriate diagnostic or therapeutic care due to insufficiently developed healthcare infrastructure. Canon India opens vision centers in selected villages to provide eye examinations using equipment made by Canon.

A total of 5,746 people visited these centers in 2025, with 707 receiving free eyeglasses, and 408 patients being referred for treatment in hospital. More than 21,000 beneficiaries were reached through the 4E’s Project.

Support for Education in Asia

Canon supports the education of children across Asia who will become leaders of the next generation.

Respecting the right of every child to receive an education, we have set up 11 Canon Hope Elementary Schools in China to provide a better educational environment through improved access to education.

In Vietnam, since 2007 we have been pursuing the Canon Friendship School Chain Project, which involves constructing school buildings, providing desks and chairs, and donating school supplies to improve the learning environment for children. We opened our 55th school in 2025 in an impoverished area in the mountainous region of northeastern Vietnam.

In Thailand as well, Canon staff are engaged in ongoing volunteer activities to support children in impoverished areas in receiving a high-quality education in conducive environments. Employees visit schools to repair facilities, take photographs for student IDs, and donate Canon products and daily necessities. Furthermore, to foster greater interest in scientific technology, we provided opportunities for disadvantaged public elementary school children to visit science museums.

In a Charity Goods Fair organized at Canon Inc., employees donated children’s goods, picture books, and other unused household items in addition to recycled items to be sold at an in-house bazaar. The company matched the proceeds generated by the sales, donating the funds to organizations supporting education and medical services in Asian countries, including Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.

Collaborating with Other Companies and Leveraging Each Other's Strengths to Support Education

Since 2014, the Canon Marketing Japan Group has been working with Pentel (ASTRUM Corp.) on the Memories of School Building Project, which supports the creation of final memories of school buildings that are to be demolished due to rebuilding, closure, or amalgamation. Children draw on the entire school building and the scenes they capture with digital cameras, and these are made into large posters and donated. By leveraging the strengths of both companies, the project supports children's memory-making and helps to raise awareness of the arts and contributes to regional revitalization. This program was implemented at eight schools in 2025.

Preserving Precious Japanese Cultural Assets for the Future Through the Tsuzuri Project

Canon and Kyoto Culture Association (NPO) have been running the Cultural Heritage Inheritance Project, commonly known as the Tsuzuri Project, since 2007.

Many of Japan's precious ancient cultural assets have limited viewing opportunities, often because they have been moved overseas or are preserved in storage as designated National Treasures. The Tsuzuri Project combines Canon’s imaging technology with traditional Kyoto craftsmanship to create high-resolution facsimiles that are as faithful to the original as possible. The facsimiles are utilized in a range of ways, including in public exhibitions held by the donating institution and for educational purposes.

In 2025, a high-resolution facsimile of the "Landscapes, Flowers, and Trees of the Four Seasons" folding screen, a work that never leaves the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, was donated to the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage. A high-resolution facsimile of the "Arrival of the Southern Barbarians" folding screen held by The Cleveland Museum of Art was donated to Nagasaki Prefecture, while a high-resolution facsimile of the "Peafowl and Phoenixes" folding screen was donated to the city of Izumi in Osaka Prefecture. Furthermore, as part of support for efforts to aid rebuilding after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, a highresolution facsimile of "Maple Tree," a National Treasure now preserved at Chishaku-in Temple in Kyoto, was donated to the city of Nanao in Ishikawa Prefecture, after which outreach classes were conducted at local elementary and junior high schools.

In the city of Nakadomari in Aomori Prefecture as well, it was announced that the fusuma (sliding door) painting "Birds and Flowers of Spring and Summer" held in the Shimuan annex of the historic Miyakoshi family residence was a pair with the "Birds and Flowers of Autumn and Winter" fusuma painting found in the collection of the British Museum. Following the announcement, a highresolution facsimile of the latter painting that had been donated to Tanzan Shrine in 2018 as part of the Tsuzuri Project was put on display at the Miyakoshi residence. Around 6,000 visitors came to view the paintings at special spring and autumn exhibitions.

The Tsuzuri Project

Comment from the Curator of the Ishikawa Nanao Art Museum

I would like to express my gratitude for the Tsuzuri Project's donation of the high-resolution facsimile of the "Maple Tree" painting in support of the Noto Peninsula earthquake reconstruction efforts in September 2025. We received many words of joy and celebration from the citizens of Nanao and others in the disaster-affected region who watched the news coverage of the donation ceremony.

"Maple Tree" is a representative work of the group of kinpeki shōhekiga (gold-leaf wall and sliding-door paintings) that were passed down to Chishaku-in Temple in Kyoto from Shoun Zenji Temple, which Toyotomi Hideyoshi built for his eldest son, Tsurumatsu, who died young at three years old. The artist, Hasegawa Touhaku, was a painter from Nanao here in Noto. The giant maple tree with its branches stretching to the left and right against a magnificent gold-leaf background reflects the splendor of the Momoyama period. Meanwhile, the autumn flowers painted in front of the tree bloom daintily, as if to ensure that Tsurumatsu never feels lonely.

This is a beautifully executed reproduction, faithfully recreated with genuine gold-leaf applied by skilled artisans and using high-resolution technology that allows the raised shell-white pigment to remain visible even when viewed up close. In addition to its use in educational programs for children in collaboration with the Board of Education, the reproduction will be used in cultural heritage outreach activities and to further showcase the appeal of Touhaku's works.

Contributing to Society Through Rugby

Canon Inc. manages the Yokohama Canon Eagles, part of Japan’s Rugby League One, with the aim of creating and sharing thrilling experiences with sports fans and local residents through the sport of rugby.

As a social contribution activity targeting elementary, junior high, and high school students nationwide, the team holds career education classes and tag rugby workshops run by current Eagles players and staff. The goal is to contribute to the healthy development of children through rugby by letting them experience the importance of team play and the joy of physical activity.

In 2025, the team held career education classes and tag rugby workshops at 29 elementary schools, with a total of 3,018 students participating. The team also hosted the “Eagles Cup 2025” mini-rugby tournament for rugby schools from the region at their training ground at Canon Sports Park in Tokyo.