The Power of Sports – Why We Sponsor J.LEAGUE

Meiji Yasuda Life has supported J.LEAGUE as title partner for J3 in 2014 and for all J.LEAGUE categories—J1, J2, and J3—since 2015. Time flies, and we will be marking the 10th anniversary of our partnership in the 2024 season. We believe sports have three kinds of power: the power to energise people, the power to bring people together, and the power to connect people with each other and with their communities. Sports can energise spectators and viewers, create connections through shared support, and attract even more supporters through these expanding networks. Our decision to choose football among all sports and become J.LEAGUE’s title partner was not merely for brand exposure. J.LEAGUE’s “100 Year Vision” and Home Town Principle perfectly align with our desire to support local communities, thus making us natural allies, like comrades with a shared mission. Therefore, in addition to the title partner agreement, Meiji Yasuda Life also holds sponsorship agreements with every J.Club individually, deepening ties with all regional clubs nationwide and working hand-in-hand to advance community contributions. Nowadays, there is rising social interest in regional revitalisation, sustainability, and the environment, and this interest also overlaps our own aspirations. Meiji Yasuda Life is a mutual company whose policyholders are company members, and similarly, J.LEAGUE is a collective where each of the 60 clubs has a vote in its operations. We are both, therefore, democratic and sustainable organisations. In this respect, it feels like “the times are propelling us forward”.

From Relationship Building to a Phase of Co-creation

Our first four years as J.LEAGUE Title Partner, starting in 2015, focused on relationship building. Under the slogan “Supporters Across the Board,” we encouraged all of our 47,000 employees to go and watch games at stadiums. Through this initiative, employees who previously had no interest in J.LEAGUE started visiting stadiums, experiencing the excitement of football and the camaraderie of cheering together, and grew to love J.LEAGUE. They began inviting their families, friends, or customers to join them at the stadium, expanding the circle of supporters. As a result, about 80% of our employees now support J.LEAGUE, with nearly 70% visiting a stadium at least once a year. We treat this initiative of relationship building as a matter of the highest priority, and thanks to efforts to encourage people to watch matches in stadiums, the cumulative number of match attendees exceeded two million as of October 2023. The theme for the second four-year phase, starting in 2019, was co-creation, where we launched activities with J.LEAGUE to support health maintenance and improvement efforts for local communities. As part of this effort, we rolled out the Meiji Yasuda Life J.League Walking Campaign as a pillar of our own Wellness for All Project*1 in order to provide local communities with health promotion information and opportunities for physical activity. This walking project unique to Meiji Yasuda involves community members and local J.Club players walking together to promote health. It has attracted over 70,000 participants so far. Additionally, we have been organising football clinics for elementary school students nationwide to support the healthy growth of children, having held over 1,300 sessions to date.

Deeper Bonds in 2023, Our Tenth Year of Partnership

In January 2023, Meiji Yasuda Life renewed the J.LEAGUE Title Partner Agreement with J.LEAGUE. With creating social value as the theme for this third phase, we support J.LEAGUE’s SHAREN! community contribution efforts started in 2018 while engaging in social contribution activities that address issues specific to each region as part of our Community Vitalization Project*2. One such initiative is “SHAREN! for Blood Donation”. In response to the societal issue of declining blood donations among the younger generation, we started this campaign working with all J.LEAGUE clubs to raise awareness of blood donations in collaboration with the Japanese Red Cross Society, with which we hold a comprehensive partnership agreement. We promote regular blood donation through activities like informing the community about blood donation centres and bringing bloodmobiles to stadiums on match days to encourage fans and supporters to donate blood. As of the end of October 2023, the number of blood donors nationwide has exceeded 8,000. In addition, considering the recent demand for corporate action towards a sustainable society as environmental issues like climate change become more apparent, we have newly signed a J.LEAGUE Climate Action Partner contract. To preserve the forests of Japan, which support people’s lives and bring abundant blessings, we have started forest conservation activities in “Forest to Weave the Future” supported by Meiji Yasuda and J. LEAGUE. In June 2023, J.LEAGUE relocated to Meiji Yasuda’s company building. Seizing this as an opportunity, we named the block that includes the Meiji Yasuda Life Building and the adjacent Meiji Seimei Kan (Meiji Life Building) “Meiji Yasuda Village”. We aim to revitalise the area through cultural and sports endeavours by creating a space that energises local people. In July, we held the Meiji Yasuda Village Opening Event with J.LEAGUE, co-hosting J.LEAGUE-related events around our building and Marunouchi Naka-dori Street. J.LEAGUE Chairman Yoshikazu NONOMURA and former players Kengo NAKAMURA and Hisato SATO attended the opening ceremony. In August, to celebrate the J.LEAGUE’s relocation, we held a welcome party in the cafeteria of our building, fostering camaraderie between employees of our company and J.LEAGUE. Additionally, we accelerated various initiatives across multiple fronts, including special sponsorship for the MEIJI YASUDA J.LEAGUE WORLD CHALLENGE for the first time in four years. In this memorable year, marking the 30th anniversary of the J.LEAGUE’s inception, we have grown closer both in our hearts and physical distances, and I feel our bonds have deepened more than ever.

J.LEAGUE Relocation Welcome Party at Meiji Yasuda Village (Company Building 22nd Floor Cafeteria)

The Future of Our Partnership – Expectations for J.LEAGUE

We have been hearing more and more about “co-created value” lately. There is a limit to the value that can be created solely by a company and its employees. What is essential is the co-creation of multifaceted value, including health, bonds, and happiness, beyond mere economic value, with partners who share our mission. Forging and nurturing bonds will require a greater focus on multifaceted value and co-created value. In today’s world, wars and other conflicts are raising national barriers, leading to increased division and disparity. Furthermore, local society and various communities—the intermediaries between the state and the individual—that formerly played major unifying roles have weakened. This has led to the loss of horizontal connections and bonds, making loneliness and isolation a social issue worldwide. As we mark ten years of partnership in the 2024 season, Meiji Yasuda Life is determined to continue supporting J.LEAGUE. We will collaborate more closely than ever with J.Clubs in local communities to restore community cohesion and to secure and expand horizontal connections and bonds. We expect J.LEAGUE to continue living up to its philosophy of “cultivating a rich sports culture around community-based sports clubs” and to walk alongside us into the future. I pray that J.LEAGUE and Japanese football development will lead to happiness for all people.

• (*1) We have been hearing more and more about “co-created value” lately. There is a limit to the value that can be created solely by a company and its employees. What is essential is the co-creation of multifaceted value, including health, bonds, and happiness, beyond mere economic value, with partners who share our mission. Forging and nurturing bonds will require a greater focus on multifaceted value and co-created value. In today’s world, wars and other conflicts are raising national barriers, leading to increased division and disparity. Furthermore, local society and various communities—the intermediaries between the state and the individual—that formerly played major unifying roles have weakened. This has led to the loss of horizontal connections and bonds, making loneliness and isolation a social issue worldwide. As we mark ten years of partnership in the 2024 season, Meiji Yasuda Life is determined to continue supporting J.LEAGUE. We will collaborate more closely than ever with J.Clubs in local communities to restore community cohesion and to secure and expand horizontal connections and bonds. We expect J.LEAGUE to continue living up to its philosophy of “cultivating a rich sports culture around community-based sports clubs” and to walk alongside us into the future. I pray that J.LEAGUE and Japanese football development will lead to happiness for all people.
  HP：https://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/enjoy/ld/kenkatsu/
• (*2) An initiative inspired by the concept of “creating communities of connection, interaction, and mutual support”, aiming to contribute to enriched community development by acting as a bridge in the community to provide social connections and link members of society to local resources and communities in each region
  HP：https://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/brand/ld/jimotonogenki/