Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; President: Kenji Nagata; hereinafter “TNSC”), a Japanese industrial gas business company in the Nippon Sanso Holdings Group, has become a corporate member of Team Tyura Sango that engages in activities to save coral reefs in Onna village, Okinawa Prefecture. Through its membership in the project, TNSC will be committed to preserving Japan’s biodiversity as well as raising environmental awareness, thereby contributing to creating sustainable future.

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1. About Team Tyura Sango
Coral reefs, which 30 percent of marine organisms are said to inhabit, serve as ecosystems that are vital to biodiversity conservation. Coral reefs in waters around Okinawa Prefecture are among the world’s largest, yet they have been considerably affected by global warming and other factors that have caused environmental degradation. Consequently, living organisms in the ocean have been losing their habitats, which has caused damage to biodiversity.
This reality brought together businesses from Okinawa and other prefectures in 2004, so that they would explore how to restore the views of the underwater environment, and this is how Team Tyura Sango was born. The team leads activities to preserve coral reefs in waters around Onna, a village in Okinawa, through educational events including a coral planting program. It also works to raise public awareness of the spiritual enrichment that comes from treasuring Churaumi.
As of January 2025, Team Tyura Sango works on its activities with support from sixteen businesses and local stakeholders, along with government organizations including the Ministry of the Environment and the municipality of Onna. The team has planted 19,500 corals over the twenty years since its launch, and its work has enjoyed notable recognition. In 2015, at the 3rd Good Life Award ceremony hosted by the Ministry of the Environment, Team Tyura Sango won the year’s Minister of the Environment Award for Best Project; and in 2023, at the National Convention for the Development of an Abundantly Productive Sea in Hokkaido Prefecture, it won the Fisheries Agency Director-General Award.
* Reference: Team Tyura Sango website


2. Why we have joined Team Tyura Sango
Corals in the ocean absorb a massive amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) when zooxanthellae that live in symbiosis with them photosynthesize. However, with coral reefs disappearing, this cycle of CO₂ absorption has deteriorated, damaging the global environment. TNSC decided to join Team Tyura Sango, which accepts corporate employees as its members, to get involved in the action to save coral reefs. As we have learned how vital the role of coral reefs is for biodiversity and the earth’s environment, we are determined to help regenerate ecosystems that revolve around coral reefs.
As a member of the team, we will be participating in the coral planting program and cooperating in other activities to preserve coral reefs. We also plan to offer opportunities for our employees and their families to join the coral planting program as part of our efforts to raise awareness of biodiversity conservation.
On the same note, Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation (President CEO: Toshihiko Hamada), our parent company, is a special partner in the OIST Coral Project run by Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (President: Dr. Karin Markides; hereinafter “OIST”). OIST plays a leading role in coral reef protection in Okinawa and around the world.

Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation
Tnsc.Info@tn-sanso.co.jp