November 28, 2023

Tokyo University of the Arts
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.

Tokyo University of the Arts and Mizuho enter into
comprehensive collaboration agreement
Tokyo Geidai Artfes 2023, sponsored by Mizuho, begins November 29
On November 7, Tokyo University of the Arts (Taito-ku, Tokyo; President: KatsuhikoHibino; “Tokyo Geidai”) and Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo;President & Group CEO: Masahiro Kihara) entered into a comprehensive collaborationagreement.
At Mizuho, we revised our Corporate Identity and announced our new Purpose of“Proactively innovate together with our clients for a prosperous and sustainable future”
in May of this year. As one initiative to realize this Purpose, we have been deepening
collaboration with Tokyo Geidai across a variety of fields. Together, we are aiming tocreate a future with both economic and artistic prosperity and vibrancy in culture,society, and people’s lives. Our three concepts for this are “energizing with art”,“making art more accessible”, and “creating change with the power of art”.
This comprehensive collaboration agreement will enable Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho todevelop our relationship even further. Art, artists, and Tokyo Geidai are characterized
by a freedom and abundance of creativity, viewpoints unbound by existing
preconceptions, a strong passion for turning imagination into reality, and the power ofexpression to move people and draw out empathy. Mizuho, for our part, has
accumulated the expertise to connect a diverse array of people and organizations
through finance. By combining our respective capabilities, Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho
will be able to take specific action for a range of social issues, among them theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Japanese government’s Society 5.0,
personal well-being, innovation, and regional revitalization in Japan.
The Tokyo Geidai Artfes 2023, sponsored by Mizuho, will take place online beginning
November 29. The festival will feature images and videos of works selected by the jury
panel of Tokyo Geidai, accompanied by descriptions of the works and profiles of the1artists, who are mainly Tokyo Geidai students and graduates. It will also include anexhibition in the metaverse of student works that have been nominated by artuniversities around the world. On December 13, there will be an awards ceremony, atwhich a Mizuho Award decided with input from Mizuho employees will be presented
alongside the President’s Award, Excellence Award, and Honorable Mention Award.
https://tgaf.geidai.ac.jp/Tokyo Geidai Artfes 2023 online interface

Mizuho President & Group CEO Masahiro Kihara (left) and Tokyo Geidai
President Katsuhiko Hibino (right) at the signing ceremony

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Attachment
Outline of initiatives for this agreement
Agreement date: Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Main initiatives
 Creation of new connections between art and society and a sustainable ecosystem
 Advancement of the SDGs and solutions to related social issues
 Regional revitalization and local community development
 Education and research on culture and the arts
Tokyo Geidai is Japan’s only comprehensive national arts university. Since its founding,it has undertaken world-class education and research in the field of the arts, cultivatingand graduating countless prominent artists as well as educators and researchers. It
has also facilitated the preservation and development of artistic culture through wideranging and multifaceted artistic activities and social projects, both in and outside
Japan. For many years, Mizuho has been connecting a diverse array of people andorganizations through finance as part of efforts for the development of business, theeconomy, and people’s personal well-being. By combining our respective capabilities,Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho will aim to create a future with both economic and artistic
prosperity and vibrancy in culture, society, and people’s lives.

3To create a future with both economic and artistic prosperity and vibrancy in culture, society, and people’s lives

 Produces far-reaching, world-classeducation and research in the field of thearts, both in and outside the university
 Facilitates the preservation anddevelopment of artistic culture throughartistic activities based in collaborativesocial projects with a variety of companies

Concept of the comprehensive collaboration× For many years, has been connecting a diverse arrayof people and organizations through finance as part ofefforts for the development of business, the economy,
and people’s personal well-being Aims to support global sustainability, enhancement of
the competitiveness of Japanese industry,development of a more inclusive society, andapplication of innovative technology in society

Areas of collaboration
 Creation of new connections between art and society and asustainable ecosystem
 Advancement of the SDGs and solutions to related social issues
 Regional revitalization and local community development
 Education and research on culture and the arts
 Organizational development, talent development, and exchange

Diagram of comprehensive collaboration agreement initiatives

Signing ceremony
On November 7, a signing ceremony was held in Tokyo Geidai’s cast collection room.
Senior Executive Officer Takefumi Yonezawa of Mizuho Financial Group opened theceremony by explaining the details of the comprehensive collaboration agreement.
Comments from Senior Executive Officer Yonezawa
I am very happy that Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho are able tobegin our comprehensive collaboration agreement today. We
will work together to create a future with both economic andartistic prosperity and vibrancy in culture, society, andpeople’s lives. The journey will be long and come with many
challenges. However, putting together our unique strengths
and relying on one another will allow us to carry out ouractivities over the next 20 years, 30 years, and beyond. I lookforward to our numerous collaborative projects fostering
enduring connections not only for Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho as organizations but also
for the individual people who take part in them.

4After signing the agreement, both Group CEO Kihara and President Hibino gave theirthoughts.

Masahiro Kihara, President & Group CEO, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.
Since last year, Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho have been
deepening our collaboration under our shared vision ofcreating a future with both economic and artistic prosperity
and vibrancy in culture, society, and people’s lives.
The collaboration began from my Mizuho colleagues’
concepts of “energizing with art”, “making art moreaccessible”, and “creating change with the power of art”.
Artists have a freedom and abundance of creativity,
viewpoints unbound by existing preconceptions, a strong
passion for turning imagination into reality, and the powerof expression to move people and draw out empathy. Art has inspired a number of mycolleagues to naturally pursue their own endeavors.
This is the sort of influence Tokyo Geidai, which has produced countless artists, canhave. For many years, those of us at Mizuho have been engaged with the economy
and society through finance, connecting a diverse array of people and organizations
as part of our efforts for development of business, the economy, and people’s personal
well-being. I believe that, by combining our respective capabilities, Tokyo Geidai andMizuho will be able to generate even greater momentum towards realizing aprosperous and vibrant future.
Before us stand a range of social issues, among them the achievement of the SDGs,
the Japanese government’s Society 5.0, and well-being; promotion of innovation; and5

revitalization of less urban local regions. As we seek to design solutions for these social
issues, we will deepen our collaboration with Tokyo Geidai and practice our Purposeof “Proactively innovate together with our clients for a prosperous and sustainablefuture”.

Katsuhiko Hibino, President, Tokyo University of the Arts
Currency came about within the concept of finance as acommon unit for trading value. Enabling people to “trade”
their individual values and change their ways of looking at
and thinking about the world is something at which art also
excels.
Finance and art may seem quite separate from one
another, but I think that by integrating the two andcombining our strengths across a variety of initiatives Tokyo
Geidai and Mizuho will be able to find some leads towards
developing solutions to the plethora of issues burdening contemporary society.
I hope that 20 or 30 years from now we will be able to say that our comprehensive
collaboration agreement served as a starting point for the solutions to such issues.
I am very excited that those of us at Tokyo Geidai were able to join in this agreementwith Mizuho as we move forward on new initiatives.

The two exchanged a firm handshake to conclude the signing ceremony.

The video of the signing ceremony is available here. (https://youtu.be/1unP_oCraDI)

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Current and future initiatives
Tokyo Geidai Artfes 2023, sponsored by Mizuho
Tokyo Geidai Artfes is an online art festival organized by Tokyo Geidai and sponsoredby Mizuho. It cultivates artists by providing current students and graduates of TokyoGeidai with a venue to present their work, compensating for the decline in suchopportunities under the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of Tokyo Geidai’s collaboration
with the other members of Arts 7 (A7)*, an international partnership between art
universities, the art festival puts forth the theme of “world peace” and encourages
people to think collectively about global-scale social issues.
The President’s Award, Mizuho Award, ExcellenceAward, and Honorable Mention Award will bepresented on December 13, at a public ceremony
held during the art festival. The Mizuho Award will bedecided with consideration to the votes submitted byMizuho employees between November 1 and 16.
* Arts 7 (A7): On the occasion of the 2023 G7 in Hiroshima, Tokyo Geidai joined with seven partner art
universities from around the world to establish A7. The universities issued a joint statement announcing
their mission of contributing to world peace through the arts.
https://www.geidai.ac.jp/news/20230519124993.html#en

Introducing early career artists’ works on Mizuho’s internal social media: Views fromTokyo Geidai
In an effort to make art more accessible, we regularly post articles introducing early
career artists’ works on Mizuho’s internal social media. Students from Tokyo Geidai’s
Department of Design serve as the writers, and the first articles discussed the works
and artists that won awards in the Tokyo Geidai Artfes 2022.

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Joint research on gender: Art and Gender Study GroupTokyo Geidai and Mizuho together launched an Art and Gender Study Group, whichorganizes invited lectures with experts and conducts joint research. The theme for2023 is women’s social advancement in art settings. The study group will work toaddress gender-related social issues through joint research, lectures, and workshops
on gender.

Introducing initiatives at a symposium

Tokyo Geidai and Mizuho’s regional revitalization initiatives: Aizu ProjectThis project aims to promote art-based regional revitalization and talent developmentat Mizuho Bank branches in less urban areas. The pilot program is currently underway
at Aizu Branch with support from Hajimari Art Center, the Aizu Culture and Art Forum,and other museums and cultural organizations active around Aizu and Fukushima. Theprogram features lectures, workshops, and research to help the people working at theAizu Branch develop their creativity. Through this collaboration, all of the participants
are looking at what roles finance and art can play in Aizu’s regional revitalization andwhat they can do to carry out those roles. Going forward, we will share best practices
and knowledge from the project with other regional Mizuho branches across Japan.

The workshop8

Featuring Tokyo Geidai student artwork in IR materials
This project sees Mizuho feature artwork by Tokyo Geidai students on the covers ofpresentation materials for shareholders and investors. The first such artwork was avisual interpretation of Mizuho’s corporate purpose, rendered by a master’s student inTokyo Geidai’s Department of Design. It graces the cover of the November
presentation materials on Mizuho’s interim financial results. Students’ artwork will
enliven the covers of many more of Mizuho’s IR materials going forward.

Group CEO Kihara with Tokyo“Spreading roots”, the work

Geidai student

featured on the IR materials

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