Kuraray was founded in 1926 to pursue business in rayon and became the first firm in the world to succeed in commercial manufacture of KURALON (PVA fiber) in 1950. Ever since, we have continued to furnish society with valuable products in the field of high-performance resins and chemicals, beginning with poval, EVAL, and isoprene, based on our distinctive polymerization and synthesis technology. Our development of KURALON, which is at the foundation of today's Kuraray, grew out of the sense of mission felt by Soichiro Ohara, who was our president at the time. Japan had suffered badly in the second world war, and he was determined to make the world's first synthetic fiber to assist its recovery and to better the lives of its people, who were struggling with shortages of all sorts of commodities. This spirit lives on in our corporate culture, under the banner of "contributing to the world and individual well-being through actions that others are unable to produce". We believe that the purpose of our business lies in heightening the value added to the resources we receive from society by applying our unique technology, and then returning them in this high-value added form to that society, for the benefit of all. We use the profit gained from this business for investment in facilities and R&D for further growth. Besides making a return to our shareholders by paying higher dividends through the continuous improvement of our result, we make a proper return to our employees, communities, social activities, and society as a whole.