On February 13, 2020 at the Sendai City Support Center Community Theater, the "Sendai Talk Cafe ～ Considering how to make "fun Sendai" with young working adults and students ～", a talk event for the youth who are interested in solving issues of the community, was held.
48 young people who wish to create "fun Sendai" participated in the event hosted by Sendai City, and the venue was filled with a relaxed atmosphere which was brought by lighthearted talks.
Through the "Sendai Youth Awards", Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. supports this event by providing beverages at the venue and materials for the decorations.

Planned as place for networking for youth

The event was planned as a place for networking for the youth who are interested in local issue-solving and social contributions in Sendai and thinking, "I live in Sendai, but I don't know about the community," "I want to be involved in community issues," and "What kinds of activities are carried out in Sendai?" Social contribution activities to understand and solve local issues cannot be done alone. That is why it is necessary for the young people who participate in social contribution activities to create a foundation to do social activities by knowing each other's activities and communicating with each other.

Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. supports this event through the "Sendai Youth Awards". The Sendai Youth Awards give awards to activities to solve social issues carried out by organizations participated by young people. It has been implemented since 2017 through cooperation among Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc., Sendai City, and Wakatsuku.

Lecture, panel talk, and networking meeting held

The event started with a lecture by Mr. Yoshiharu Akimoto, a guest speaker who is Director of G-net, a NPO organization, and Visiting Associate Professor of Shiga University. Under the theme of "50 messages to the 20s", Mr. Akimoto gave a lecture on “Things you can do because you are young" based on his own experience over more than 20 years in local vitalization.

In the panel talk, Mr. Akimoto and the panelists discussed about "how they got involved in social contribution and local issue-solving activities" and "the reasons to continue their activities", and exchanged their opinions. The young people with different positions and experiences spoke their real opinions to each other.
At the end, the participants had networking time. By presenting the self-introduction sheet to each other in groups, the participants seemed to be able to deepen interaction, and comments such as "It has led me to take the next action," "It has offered me a clue to my own activities." were heard.

Will continue to support activities by youth

According to Sendai City, the host of the event, many young working adults participated in the event, among whom there was a person who is not originally from Sendai City but became interested in contribution to the local community ever since he had been transferred to Sendai.
Sendai City intends to continue to work with the projects such as the Sendai Youth Awards to attract more participants and support the activities of young people.