For over 110 years, the Rohto Group has been responding to the eye problems of our customers in line with the times. As a leading OTC eye care company, we are taking a fresh look at eye health issues for people around the world and proactively working across borders to contribute to the "joy of seeing."
Global Eye Care Support Initiative
The Rohto Group overseas is united in carrying out the "Joy of Seeing (JoS) Project," which promotes activities to protect people's eye health around the world.
Project logo
The motif of Joy's earth and colors, and ee's smile that resembles an eye, expresses the desire for the project to spread the "joy of seeing" all over the world, beyond borders.
Awareness-raising and support activities for "children's eye health and myopia"
The project was launched in 2022, and as its first phase, it focused on the theme of "children's eye health and myopia," a serious global health issue, and has been carrying out activities mainly in Asia, including Japan. Currently, the project has expanded its scope to include issues such as "cataracts" and "dry eyes," and the number of regions participating in the activities is also increasing. The project is actively engaged in social initiatives around the world, including holding awareness events, disseminating information, providing eye examinations, and providing free eyeglasses.
2024
10AREAS involved
- Japan
- China
- Vietnam
- Taiwan
- Hong Kong
- Thailand
- Malaysia
- South Korea
- Singapore
- Indonesia
people attended the events*1
Approximately 108,000 people
booklets*2distributed
Over 386,200books
children received free eye check-upsincluding online vision tests
Over 77,900people
individuals were reached through social media
Over118,137,000
pairs of glasses wereprovided to children in need
Over 1,140bottles
INTRAOCULAR LENSES provided for free
200or more
EYE SURGERYfor free
More than 500items
Other eye care support around the world
We are expanding our eye care support activities around the world. Cataracts are the number one cause of blindness in the world. Looking at the world, particularly in developing countries, many people are losing their eyesight due to cataracts, not only because of poverty, but also because a lack of medical professionals and facilities prevents proper examinations and diagnoses, and because treatment is not possible due to low surgical techniques.
Furthermore, in order to solve local social issues related to eye health, we are actively working with stakeholders to contribute to society through educational activities to raise awareness of eye care and free eye examinations.
Supporting the Amazon Cataract Eradication Project
To improve the situation of indigenous communities in Brazil who have difficulty accessing eye care, we continue to support the "Amazon Cataract Eradication Project," which has been running for over 20 years. Aiming to improve the quality of life in remote areas, medical camps are held several times each year. Ophthalmos Rohto participates as volunteer staff and provides cataract surgery products free of charge, contributing to medical care that transcends regional and ethnic barriers.
Free provision of intraocular lenses for cataracts
PT. PT. Rohto Laboratories Indonesia Laboratories Indonesia, established in 1996, is the first in the ASEAN region to manufacture and sell intraocular lenses for cataract surgery. Having overcome challenges such as the difficulty of getting local ophthalmologists to understand the quality of intraocular lenses, the company now sells them in 15 countries, including Indonesia. Intraocular lenses can reduce blindness caused by cataracts, and the company sees this as an important business that also contributes to society, actively supporting "sight" through activities such as carrying out charity cataract surgeries (provision of intraocular lenses free of charge) in collaboration with ophthalmologists.
Raising awareness of eye care habits
Vietnam was the first country where we developed an overseas market from scratch, and we established an office in 1996. Although there is no culture or custom of using eye drops as health medicine in the country, we continue to carry out awareness-raising activities to convey the importance of eyesight and provide free eye examinations for schools and the general public. We also support free cataract surgeries at eye hospitals that are working on sustainable business models.
Together with our business partners
Supporting ophthalmology support activities overseas together with retail business partners
As part of our efforts to support the joy of sight for people around the world, since 2016 we have been working with our business partners to donate to ophthalmic support activities in Asia and Africa. This initiative involves our retail partners acting as "social partners" and working together to contribute to society beyond the boundaries of business. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide, and tens of millions of people are believed to be blind today. Advances in surgical treatment in Japan have significantly reduced the rate of cataract blindness. However, globally, many people lose their sight to cataracts due to poverty, as well as a lack of medical professionals and facilities, which prevents proper examinations and diagnoses, and poor surgical techniques that prevent treatment. In fiscal 2023, our eighth year, we matched a portion of the sales of eye drops from our 10 social partners during the period, donating a total of 1,324,240 yen to organizations engaged in international ophthalmology support activities.
Support recipients
OUI Inc.
We are a venture company whose mission is to reduce global blindness by 50% and protect people's health through their eyes. Based on the concept of spreading the "eyes" of ophthalmologists around the world, we have developed a smartphone-attached ophthalmic diagnostic device called the Smart Eye Camera (SEC). Using this portable and easy-to-use device, we have been conducting pilot demonstrations of the SEC in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Mozambique since 2022, in collaboration with local medical institutions and ophthalmologists.
NPO Asia Blindness Prevention Association
With the hope of ensuring that even a single person in the Indochina Peninsula, primarily Vietnam, and other poor Asian countries does not lose sight, we provide free eye care and technical training locally, as well as material assistance such as the provision of eye care equipment.
Protecting the eyes of the next generation of children
Initiatives to "Suppress the Progression of Myopia in Children"
The prevalence of myopia is increasing worldwide, and in Japan too, children's eyesight is declining. Recent statistics show that more than 60% of high school students, more than 50% of junior high school students, and more than 30% of elementary school students have a visual acuity of less than 1.0 (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2017 School Health Statistics Survey).
Myopia is not only an inconvenience in daily life, but depending on the condition, it can lead to visual impairment, making it a social problem.
To prevent severe myopia, we are working on an approach that is particularly useful for school-age children, a time when myopia is most likely to progress.
Rohto Eye Care Teaching Materials for Teaching Eye Health in Schools
Children are becoming more familiar with digital devices such as computers.
Furthermore, as part of the government's GIGA School Initiative, it has begun to be used in educational settings. As a company that cares about eye health, we have prepared educational materials that can be used in educational settings.
Overseas Eye Care Programs
We are also actively involved in activities to protect children's eyes overseas.
The Rohto Eye Care Program, which began in China in 2003, provides knowledge and services on preventing myopia and eye fatigue to children and the general public, and communicates the importance of eye care. We visit orphanages and continue to conduct eye health awareness activities, including providing vision consultations, eye care lessons, and distributing eye care kits. We also conduct wide-ranging vision tests for elementary school children on our website.
Providing correct information
List of eye conditions and symptoms
If you feel something is wrong with your eyes, check this first. We will introduce an overview of each condition and symptom, as well as prevention and treatment methods.
Please use it to improve your eye health.
"Product Information" site (eye drops by Rohto)
The official Rohto Pharmaceutical website offers a variety of content, including product information, campaign information, a list of brand sites, and commercial information.
"Research and Development Activities" site
It continues to evolve in response to the various eye problems and lifestyle changes that people face over time, leading the domestic eye care category.
With the know-how and dedication we have accumulated over 120 years, we conduct research and development that pursues not only functionality and effectiveness, but also comfort that will allow you to use our products for a long time.
Eye care awareness survey
We conducted an "Eye Care Survey" to investigate current eye concerns and attitudes toward eye care. Due to lifestyle changes caused by COVID-19 and other factors, digital devices have become even more essential in our lives. We found that approximately 80% of people are experiencing eye problems.
Furthermore, it was suggested that among various physical concerns, resolving eye problems increases a sense of fulfillment. Going forward, we will continue to develop products that address the eye concerns of people of all ages, contributing to well-being through eye care.
Collaboration with universities and medical institutions
Joint research aimed at creating a solution to predict systemic diseases from eye health information
Aiming to create new solutions that predict systemic diseases from eye health information, we are working on a joint research agreement with the Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (Professor Nishida Koji) and SAI Inc. (Representative Director: Fukuda Yasufumi) to create new solutions that will improve overall health from eye information.