Thank you for your support!!

We are trying our best to look ahead and come back as soon as possible!

-----

Our beekeeper division started harvesting honey in 2016. All the employees together with all the bees are doing their best to hold on thanks to your support!

We extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who was affected by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes.

We pray with all our hearts for the quick recovery of the quake-stricken areas.

As reported by the news, after Kumamoto earthquakes they've been checking the damages in the whole Kyushu region, especially in Kumamoto and Oita. Even Sugi Bee Garden's main office in Kumamoto was hit by several damages like building failures, fires, and mudflows caused by the rain from the early dawn of the 21st to the 22nd, many people were injured and even now more than 30,000 people are spending the days distressing in a shelter. Moreover, the collapse of the stone wall in Kumamoto castle, which is the very symbol of Kumamoto, together with the destruction of Aso Shrine, represented a huge loss for our cultural assets as well.

The situation at Sugi Bee Garden

-----

At Sugi Bee Garden, there were damages to the company building and the employees' homes, but fortunately all employees and their families confirmed that they are safe and no one was physically injured. However, since their houses were completely or partially destroyed, there are several employees who are still living in a shelter.

- Beekeeper division

The Beekeeper Division is quite worried about the damages to the bees, but except for some bee hive boxes that fell in part of the apiaries, there were no big damages and they keep flying around vivaciously. Even in our own orchard, there were no damages to the green house and the kumquats and plums weren't affected.

We are entering the honey harvesting season, and we are currently harvesting lotus honey. We are taking action to secure the beekeepers' safety by considering an alternative route to the apiaries located in the majorly affected areas like Mashiki and Nishihara.
From the 25th, we started the second harvest.

Even the honeybees for pollination (lending the honeybees to farmers in order to help cross-fertilization of the agricultural products) weren't affected much, it's taking a while to move them because of the road's conditions, but we're still proceeding as usual with the introduction (lending) of the bees, although the farmers had damages too and there is not a day when we're not praying for their quick recovery.

- Production and Logistics Division

Production and Logistics division is not in completely perfect conditions but we have restored the production line and restarted the manufacture of products. As for the logistics, all the shipping companies started collecting the cargos and although it's taking a while, we started shipping again. From the 29th, we started shipping operation as usual, and proceeding with the shipments in order. We are very sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time and caused you trouble.

- Sales Division

The situation of Aso Mitsubachi-farm store. At the moment there is no intention to close the pathway. 

As for the directly managed stores in Kumamoto and Oita, except for Aso Mitsubachi-farm store, Aso Farmland store and the store in Tsuruya dept, other stores are reopening with some changes in the business hours. If you come over here, go have a look, please.

*Warning: for the time being, the opening hours will be as follows:

From 9:00 am to 4:00 pm - Fureaikan Store, Kurokawa Spa store
From 9:00 am to 5:00 am - Kumamoto Station store, Yufuin store
From 9:00 am to 6:30 pm - Ozu Bunka no mori store (however it depends on the instructions given by Bunka no mori)
From 9:30 am to 4:00 pm - Suizenji store
From 10:00 am to 4:00 pm - Yamaga Spa store

- Main office

At the main office, there are cracks on the walls of the entrance hall and the call center on the 1st floor of the company building, and a part of the ceiling collapsed, but we are already applying the emergency procedures. At the moment, the employees who are able to work have come back, and we are offering services such as managing orders and inquiries. We are very sorry for any inconvenience.

In this situation we have been receiving a lot of messages of concern and encouragement by our customers from inside and outside the country. To us this represents an incomparable strength. We employees would like to take this opportunity to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. It's a difficult situation but as a local Kumamoto company we are doing our best to go back to the lively Kumamoto as soon as possible!

Thank you very much for your continuous support from now on.