The changes that Japan has undergone over the past few decades have transformed it. Dramatic graying, the rupture of the bubble economy, and rapid urbanization are just three of its many challenges. These fundamental changes all have potentially destructive power, and in reality the past decades have seen the nation's provincial areas fall into decline. Since its beginnings, our foundation has struggled to find ways to transmute these difficulties into positive forces, lending social welfare organizations the strength to bridge the gaps left by governmental programs.

Our efforts to revitalize Japan's provincial areas through work such as our refurbishing project are a perfect embodiment of our domestic philosophy. The flight to the cities has negatively impacted provincial services for the elderly, the disabled and those with small children. At the same time, it has engendered a rise in the number of disused buildings across the nation. To create a positive out of two negatives, we have begun renovating these buildings, creating a new underpinning for the country's welfare services, at a third what new facilities would cost. They are much smaller in scale, but in combination provide the same services as large, multi-functioned facilities. Today, groups around the country are using buildings refurbished under this project to provide welfare services of every kind.

Many of those same groups are also engaged in providing mobility for the elderly and those with disabilities. To aid them, in 1994 we began distributing cars, vans and buses, many of which are equipped to accept wheelchairs. The need for this project has proven to be great, given the limited resources of most volunteer groups. By the end of 2007, we had donated 20,000 of these vehicles.

Our work to improve the basic quality of life includes efforts to raise the general health of the nation through exercise and sport. This interest lead us in 1991 to establish the Sasakawa Sports Foundation to propagate sport as a lifelong enterprise. Recently, the foundation's activities have expanded, including not only the direct sponsorship of sporting events, but the much-needed training of sports volunteers for such major events as the Tokyo Marathon and Shonan Open Water Swimming—Japan's largest ocean-swim.

As Japan's population continues to change in nature, and its provinces find themselves with fewer and fewer resources, the volunteer groups that we support will swell in importance, breathing new life into the country.