Audio and visual

“Listen through the Body” concerts

Pioneer has continued to hold “Listen through the Body” concerts for people with hearing difficulties since 1992, using a system that changes sound into vibrations that can be felt by the body. In recent years, monthly concerts at the Company's head office have been organized on a volunteer basis by employees and their families. With the help of volunteers, concert venues have today been extended from the suburbs of Tokyo to various regions throughout Japan, as well to overseas offices of the Pioneer Group.

In an effort to spread the pleasure of music to as many people as possible, concerts are held in such regions in Japan as Sendai, Shizuoka, Tottori, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, at venues including regional halls, schools for the disabled and Pioneer business site conference rooms.

Overseas, a Listen through the Body concert was first held at a school for the hearing impaired in Shanghai, China, in March 2008. In June of the same year, a second U.S. concert was held in Los Angeles featuring music by saxophonist Sadao Watanabe. Pioneer installed 20 body sensory system seats for the enjoyment of local students and the elderly. Closer to home, an in-house produced film was shown in one of the conference rooms of Pioneer's Singapore subsidiary for the benefit of local students and the elderly. Through these and other means, the Pioneer Group is proactively engaging in social contribution activities throughout the world.

Listen through the Body concerts received the “Mecenat Award for Physical Acoustics” and the “Readers' choice for Mecenat Award” in the September 2007 Japan Mecenat Awards of the Association for Corporate Support of the Arts. These awards recognized the volunteer endeavors of Pioneer employees and their families, the quality and expertise of the Company's proprietary audio technologies, as well as Pioneer's ongoing efforts to contribute to society.

The Listen through the Body concerts bring pleasure and enjoyment to all concerned from the audience to the participating employee volunteers and performers. Looking ahead, Pioneer plans to further spread the pleasure of music to an increasing number of people through periodically held concerts across a wide variety of regions.

Number of concerts held each year

Pioneer holds regular concerts that offer a richly varied program featuring performances from a diversity of music genres.

The body sensory audio system consists of a chair with a cushion and a pouch containing a vibrating unit. The system realistically conveys sound directly to the body as vibrations.

Environmental conservation

Pioneer Forest

As a company that manufactures speakers made with wooden materials, Pioneer undertakes activities to protect forests. Pioneer has undertaken regular management of 2.4 hectares of cypress forest near Kamakita Lake in Saitama Prefecture through an agreement with the Saitama Prefectural Forestry Public Corporation, executed in 2005. The forest has been designated as the “Pioneer Forest,” and management work is carried out twice per year in spring and fall. Employees and their families volunteer to prune and thin trees. What was originally a dark forest that blocked out sunlight has been reborn as a bright and leafy forest. Pioneer will continue with these management activities and develop further activities using its “forest for nature exploration classes” for children, among other initiatives.

Pruning in Pioneer Forest

Environmental conservation activities at business sites

Both in Japan and overseas, Pioneer Group employees regularly volunteer to participate in cleanup activities particularly in the areas surrounding each business site, as well as local parks, coastal areas and streams.

Moreover, employees place considerable emphasis on interaction with local schools and residents participating in regional environmental events. Through these means, every effort is made to increase overall environmental awareness in the regions.

Cleanup around Headquarters

Supporting education

Hands-on Craft Workshops

In order to show the next generation the technologies of manufacturing and introduce them to the pleasure of making things, Pioneer actively undertakes related educational activities. As part of this effort, the Company holds “Hands-on Craft Workshops” for elementary school children. Employees lead classes where children make speakers out of paper and assemble a DVD player by hand. The children experience the pleasure of creating through the joy of hearing sounds from the first speakers they have ever made and the surprise of seeing images from a DVD player they assembled themselves.

“What kind of speaker can I make now?”

Educational support activities at business sites

Pioneer's Corporate Research & Development Laboratories periodically invite elementary and high school students to attend “Fun Science Lab” events and “Science Camps,” respectively. In the science supplementary reader for first graders, Kawasaki Science World, which was distributed to middle schools in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture from April 2008, Pioneer engineers present technologies on the theme of “Audio Systems and Surround Sound.” These initiatives are supplemented by environmental lectures and activity presentations at various business sites given to local students and teachers.

The supplementary science reader Kawasaki Science World

The “Fun Science Lab,” a lasting memory of the summer holidays

A “Science Camp” held for high school students

Overseas social action programs

Pioneer Technology (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. has jointly held the “Pioneer Mathematics Contest” with local education authorities every year since 1995, with the goal of showing high school students the importance of mathematics, which represents the cornerstone of electronics. In a contest held in October 2008, 958 students took part from 34 schools, and a total of 16,591 students have participated to date. The certificate of participation in the contest has come to be regarded as an important admission criterion for higher education, and the contest is widely viewed as a valuable initiative.

The tense atmosphere at the Pioneer Mathematics Contest

Social action programs of the Pioneer Group

Both at home and overseas, the Pioneer Group is committed to efforts that contribute to society. Taking into consideration the needs of each local community, the Group is active in a wide-range of fields, implementing programs in the fields of audio and visual, environmental conservation, education support, sport and entertainment, social welfare and disaster relief. Extending well beyond gifts and donations, the Pioneer Group harnesses its business-related know-how and technological capabilities to promote employee participationbased voluntary activities.

Breakdown of expenses by segment in the Pioneer Group
in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009

Percentages of charitable and volunteer activities in the Pioneer Group
in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009

Communication with Society