When our predecessor, the Postal Life Insurance Service, was founded in 1916, life insurance was difficult to obtain for all but the wealthy. The desire to make it accessible by providing smaller coverage amounts and spreading basic coverage through the familiar network of post offices has enabled us to contribute to creating stability in the daily lives of the people of Japan for over 100 years since our founding. I believe that the value of any company's existence lies in whether it is "useful to the people of the world and appreciated by its customers." In the case of our company, this means fulfilling our social mission (Purpose), that is, that "We will remain trusted and selected by customers, thereby protecting their lives by providing life insurance product." We position these business activities as our contributions to bringing about a sustainable society.

Throughout its long history, the Japan Post Group has consistently held onto its business concept of being a highly public business group that accompanies customers in the totality of their lives, walking alongside them from before birth to after death and providing financial, logistical, and other services that people need at each of life's milestones. In regions all across the country, the post office brand enjoys a great amount of trust from local communities, offering people a sense of security. Our greatest feature is precisely this "post office insurance." Insurance provides people with support in moments of crisis, and that is why I believe there is such great value in offering insurance through "the local post office," an institution that is familiar to all the members of the community. We currently have over 20 million policies in force and will continue to work with the post office to provide insurance products and services that meet the needs of all generations.

We are also an asset owner with an enormous volume of assets under management. As a universal owner (a long-term investor managing large amounts of money diversified widely across capital markets), we have a significant impact on the economy and society as a whole. This gives us not only a certain responsibility, but also ample opportunities to change society for the better. For example, we have launched projects to promote impact investing (investment activities intended to generate not only financial returns but also positive and measurable social and environmental impacts). In addition, we have launched initiatives by which we work with educational institutions in an industry-academia collaboration in asset management to provide funding for startups that use the research findings of academia. In contributing to solving social problems and producing innovation, we are working toward the creation of an even better future for society. In addition, as our first international partnership, we have formed an alliance with a U.S. asset management company and its affiliated group of life insurance companies. We are now discussing ways to collaborate with them. Our hope is that pursuing these new initiatives will aid the growth of our Company and broaden the landscape of ways in which we can provide value to society.

After working at the postal service for 40 years, I have become convinced that "a company possesses the same shape as each of its individual work sites, and the truth is to be found on the ground at these work sites." The starting point for me was when I became the director of a post office with 106 employees. I was 29 at the time. Problems arose on a daily basis, and each time we were able to overcome the challenges through the help of the on-site staff. When I became chairman of the "Japan Post Start-up Committee" in 2003, I gathered feedback from employees across the country and set about to "transform the work site." Even now that I have become president of the Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd., I regularly make my way to the front lines. By listening directly to the concerns and challenges that employees face and taking prompt and proper steps to resolve them, my desire is for the Company to become a place where employees can work cheerfully and energetically, with confidence and pride. I am firmly convinced that precisely such a company will be of service to both our customers and society.

We have organized these initiatives aimed at achieving sustainable growth for our Company and resolving social issues as materialities. These materialities are there to fulfill our social mission to "protect customers' lives with the power of insurance." By further promoting our initiatives related to materialities, we will continue to strive to be the company of choice for all stakeholders, including customers, shareholders, employees, and local communities.