Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Corporate
August 16, 2016

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Participates in Summer Events in Tokushima Exciting Summer in WAJIKI, Tokushima Awa Odori, Oronamin C Drink Presents Awa Odori Sound Festival

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Head Office Tokyo, Japan; President: Tatsuo Higuchi) participated in a trio of summer events, including the traditional Awa Odori dance festival, in the Otsuka Group's birthplace of Tokushima Prefecture. Organized with the cooperation of local organizations and corporations, events that brightened the Tokushima summer included the Exciting Summer in WAJIKI outdoor rock concert, the famed Tokushima Awa Odori Festival and the Oronamin C Drink Awa Odori Sound Festival.
Otsuka will continue to work together with local communities in Otsuka Group birthplace of Tokushima and in other locations where we do business to contribute to the development of regional economies and the health of local residents.

Exciting Summer in WAJIKI 2016

Sponsored in conjunction with local organizations, Exciting Summer in WAJIKI is a free-admission outdoor concert held every summer at the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Tokushima Wajiki Factory. First held in 1990, the year after completion of the Tokushima Wajiki Factory, 2016 marked the 27th annual outdoor concert featuring promising young artists. On the day of the concert, tours of the Calorie Mate production facility are offered as a way to familiarize visitors with Wajiki Factory and its products. Initially organized by young members of the Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations as a way to slow the exodus of young people and energize the community, the annual outdoor concert has become an established summer event. This year, Exciting Summer in WAJIKI 2016 was attended by approximately 5,000 music fans.

Tokushima Awa Odori

Proud to claim Tokushima as its birthplace and aiming to carry on the 400-year tradition of the Awa Odori, Otsuka Pharmaceutical organized the Otsuka Ren* corporate dance team in 1988. Subsequently performing at the Awa Odori Festival every summer, the Otsuka Ren is currently composed of employees from Otsuka offices in Tokushima, Osaka, and Tokyo who undergo rigorous training with instructors from famous Awa Odori teams. Those who pass the screening gather in Tokushima every August to perform their polished dance moves for the festival crowds. This year, a group of 100 employees displayed their coordinated routines at the August 12 Awa Odori Festival. The Otsuka Ren continues to seek new challenges, polishing their skills as a team by performing at venues in Japan and overseas and developing new dance formations, all dedicated to perpetuating the Japanese traditions of Awa Odori.

  • Awa-Odori dance teams are known as "ren"

Oronamin C Drink presents Awa Odori Sound Festival 2016

The Awa Odori Sound Festival was launched in 1990, and is also marking its 27th anniversary in 2016. This free concert event is held at the Eagle Gate Plaza in Tokushima Central Park annually on August 11, the eve of the Awa Odori Festival. Featuring different genres of music each year, the event is conceived to appeal to music fans of all ages. The Festival attracted 2,800 attendees this year.