HONDA The Power of Dreams

The Children’s Idea Contest is a learning activity that helps children to develop their talents and abilities they will need to survive in the uncertain future of the next generation through the process of expressing their dreams and experiencing the importance and joy of creation. The contest was held for the 19th time in 2021 with 11,868 ideas submitted. A cumulative total of 75,000 ideas have been submitted over the past 19 years. In 2021, with the spread of COVID-19, the final selection round was held online, as in the previous year. The themes covered a wide variety of social issues such as problems related to nature and the environment, computers and robots, medical care and welfare, as well as everyday concerns.

In addition, the Children’s Idea Contest is also held in Thailand and Vietnam. (The contest was cancelled in Vietnam in 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19.) A cumulative total of more than 4.3 million entries have now been submitted across Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The contest gives us the opportunity to nurture the promising next generation.

In 2006, Honda Launched the Honda Beach Cleanup Project with an aspiration to pass on to the next generation beaches that can be walked on barefoot safety.
The project uses the Beach Cleaner, which Honda has developed based on a desire to use its technologies to find a solution to clean trach washed ashore. In 2021, the activity marked its 15th anniversary. Although it was more difficult than any other year to carry out the activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company still cleaned the beach in five prefectures.
Originally initiated by Honda’s current and former associates, the project has now grown to a nationwide circle of cooperation encompassing members of the Honda Group and local residents, with annual participation surpassing 7,000 persons.
To date, Honda has conducted the beach cleanup about 400 times at more than 200 locations across Japan, and the cumulative total of beach trach collected by the project 490 tons.

Honda wishes to ensure safety for everyone who is at risk of encountering a traffic accident. The company conducts traffic safety education tailored not only to drivers, but also to pedestrians, cyclists and all those who take part in the diversifying mobility society in Japan and overseas. Through this education, Honda aims to realize a society with zero traffic accidents.

Honda’s traffic safety education programs have been developed to meet the needs of various age groups and societies and are used by local traffic safety instructors, schools and others. Last year, Honda examined how the traffic safety education using these programs affects safety behavior, and conducted a verification of the effects with the aim of reviewing educational methods and developing new programs.
An elementary school in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture cooperated to evaluate the effectiveness. Fixed-point cameras were installed at intersections without traffic lights near the school, and surveys were conducted four times: one week before, immediately after, one week after, and one month after the safety education classes. The aim of the surveys was to investigate changes in behavior from before and after the classes, such as checking safety to the left and right before crossing the road, by children in all grades at the school who pass through the intersections when leaving school.
With regard to the results, when each traffic behavior was quantified and analyzed with the help of experts, it was found that some safety behavior was observed immediately after the classes, but the children gradually returned to their previous behavior over time. Through these results, Honda was able to confirm that the safety education, which is currently given a few times a year, is not enough to lead to real change in traffic behavior and it takes time for children to learn appropriate behavior and thinking.
Going forward, Honda will propose methods and develop teaching materials to maintain educational effectiveness.
Through collaboration with local traffic safety instructors and schools, we will develop more effective traffic safety education to achieve zero traffic accidents.

In June 2022, Honda once again hosted the Honda C-card Charity Award Ceremony with the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Japan Committee for UNICEF.

Honda donates a fixed percentage of the total annual Honda C-card spend to the Red Cross and UNICEF, with zero burden on its customers.

Fiscal 2022 marked the 27th year that Honda has donated money to the charities.