The rhythms of Japan – 50 dancers from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals perform the Awa Odori dance at the Hannover Messe Opening Ceremony.

Hannover, 20.04.2008 – At the official opening ceremony of the Hannover Messe 2008, 50 dancers from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals gave the audience a taste of Japan with their performance of the traditional Awa dance. Japan is this year’s partner country at the world’s biggest industry fair.

The Awa Dance dates back to 1587, when the feudal Lord Iemasa offered sake to the people of Tokushima in celebration of the newly built Tokushima castle. The citizens, having consumed a great amount of sake, began to dance. The dancers and musicians shout the following words during the performance: “it’s a fool who dances and a fool who watches! If both are fools, you might as well have fun dancing!”

Awa is the former name for Tokushima, the home of Otsuka, and nowadays the dance is usually performed at the Awa Dance festival which takes place in Tokushima in August, attracting more than one million tourists every year. The Otsuka Awa Dance troupe is made up of Otsuka employees from all over Japan who are encouraged to continue the tradition.

In September 2007 the prefecture of Tokushima and the state of Lower Saxony signed a partnership treaty for future cooperation in the fields of education, culture, sport and economics. In order to support this bilateral cooperation the Otsuka Group is also participating in the Hannover Messe 2008 with four Otsuka companies exhibiting on the Tokushima booth.

Founded in 1964, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a healthcare company with the mission statement: “Otsuka — people creating new products for better health worldwide.” Otsuka researches, develops, manufactures and markets innovative, original products, focusing its core businesses on pharmaceutical products for the treatment of disease and consumer products for the maintenance of everyday health. The Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group comprises 99 companies and employs approximately 31,000 people in 18 countries and regions worldwide.