In Tokyo, eight of us recently teamed up to participate in Oxfam Trailwalker, the organisation's annual charity event on the weekend of 3rd-4th June 2017. This was really an excellent event to build teamwork and raise money for a great organization.
The original course was a 50 km hike across Mt. Adatara in Japan’s Tohoku region (about 250km north of Tokyo) with the time limit of 24 hours to complete but due to bad weather (extremely strong winds) we had to change the original course. However with our flexibility and “can do attitude” we still decided to do our own challenge! Our hiking adventure started at 7am and the trail started by taking us through steep green slopes then flattened out into winding countryside blanketed with tiered rice fields. Throughout the walk, all our members were able to stay motivated, very collaborative, and never complained despite the change of course. In addition we luckily had no injuries, rain or bear encounters! Finally, we were able to complete our goal just 10 minutes before the closing time of the Onsen (Japanese hot spring) where we were able to finally relax!
As this is a region that is still recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, it was so nice that we were able to socialize with the local people who welcomed us with local dishes including delicious Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) in the middle of the walk. It was motivating to see the appreciation in their smiles and pride in sharing their local products with us.
In addition to the physical challenge, the main purpose is raising funds for charitable causes. With many supporters’ donations and kindness we were able to achieve our goal and raised JPY 155,595. This was matched by Euromonitor through our CSR policy and so a total of JPY311,190 (approx. £2,200) has been donated to Oxfam, which will still be used for restoration of earthquake-hit areas (Tohoku and Kumamoto) as well as alleviation of poverty issues globally.
We enjoyed this experience with our colleagues who encouraged us and would like to say thank you to all of the Euromonitor colleagues, the local people in Fukushima and our family members who supported us. We hope many more volunteers will participate in Oxfam Trailwalker event next year and we hope for better weather!
For more information on our CSR activities, visit http://www.euromonitor.com/corporate-social-responsibility.