【Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture】Bringing Smiles to Children with 'Completely Handmade School Lunches' Born from On-site Enthusiasm. Received Donation from GL Sciences Inc. Through Corporate Furusato Nozei.
Iruma City in Saitama Prefecture has received a donation from GL Sciences Inc. through the Corporate Furusato Nozei (hometown tax donation) system, which will be used to support its school lunch program. The city's school lunches are renowned for being 'safe, secure, and delicious handmade meals,' with all dishes, including curry roux and desserts, prepared from scratch without chemical seasonings or additives. The donation will help maintain the high quality of these meals, ensuring children's smiles through delicious and safe food.
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- 📰 Published: April 8, 2026 at 05:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 7, 2026 at 20:30
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 18, 2026 at 12:26 (255h 56m after Collected)
Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture (Mayor: Riichiro Sugishima) recently received a donation from GL Sciences Inc. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Yoshihiro Nagami) through the Corporate Furusato Nozei (local revitalization support tax system). A ceremony to present the donation catalog and letter of appreciation was held on March 13, 2026 (Friday).
The donated funds will be utilized for the school lunch program, which supports Iruma City's nationally acclaimed 'safe, secure, and delicious handmade school lunches.'
■ Iruma City's School Lunches: "Completely Handmade" Without Sparing Effort
Iruma City's school lunches are unique nationwide for their thorough commitment to 'safe, secure, and delicious handmade meals.' They do not use any ingredients containing chemical seasonings or food additives, nor any pre-frozen processed foods. All broths are extracted entirely from ingredients, and everything, from curry roux to desserts, is made from scratch.
Notably, all 16 elementary schools in the city adopt the 'self-contained kitchen system,' where kitchens are annexed to the school premises. The aroma of school lunches wafts through the school, and children can experience food preparation, making it an important place for 'food education' where they learn through all five senses.
Junior high school lunches are prepared at the school lunch center, but from the second semester of 2026 (Reiwa 8), a new school lunch center capable of preparing up to 4,500 meals per day is scheduled to start operation. The city is making continuous investments in food safety and enrichment across the board.
■ Enthusiasm of On-site Cooks and Use of Donations
The quality of Iruma City's school lunches is supported by the strong enthusiasm of the city employee cooks working on-site.
There is an anecdote where cooks once passionately requested, 'Rather than equipment to make our work environment easier, we want an oven to make gratin to delight the children.' This professional pride of the on-site staff has led to the high-quality school lunches of today.
The donation from GL Sciences Inc. will be used for cooking utensils and other items to maintain high-quality, safe school lunches and create meals that bring smiles to children's faces through deliciousness.
■ Comment from Riichiro Sugishima, Mayor of Iruma City
"Iruma City's school lunches are supported by the strong desire of those on-site to bring joy to children. In the past, cooks even pleaded, 'Rather than improving our working environment, we want an oven so we can make gratin.' Even as times change, we are determined to firmly uphold these 'delicious handmade school lunches.'
The sentiment we have received this time will be effectively utilized for the smiles of children and to allow cooks to work with pride. I express my heartfelt gratitude for your continued support for the second consecutive year, following last year's 'Zero Carbon Promotion Project.'"
Comment from Mr. Koji Shinkai, Director of GL Sciences Inc.
"Our company celebrates its 59th anniversary this year, and we have been indebted to the people of Iruma City for a long 51 years since relocating our factory to Iruma City in 1975. We wish to contribute, however small, as a way of giving back to the community that has nurtured us.
We sympathize with the purpose of Iruma City's 'Child Rearing Support Project' and have made this donation. We hope that the safe and secure handmade school lunches, which are a testament to our commitment to handmade food, will be of some help in ensuring the food safety and growth of children who will lead the future."
【Contact Information for this Matter】
Business Content:
Planning Department, Planning Division, Future Co-creation Policy Promotion Office: Yamanaka, Motohashi
1-16-1 Toyooka, Iruma City
TEL: 04-2964-1111 (Extension 3341)
Others:
Planning Department, Secretary and Public Relations Division: Kishida, Toyama
1-16-1 Toyooka, Iruma City
TEL: 04-2964-1111 (Extensions 3121, 3122)
■ About Iruma City
【From the home of Sayama Tea to the World】Iruma City's Vision for a "Well-being City"
～A new model woven from world-class traditional technology and cutting-edge co-creation urban development～
About an hour from the Tokyo metropolitan area. Iruma City, blessed with the rich nature of the Kanto Plain, boasts a beautiful original landscape of tea fields, representing the northernmost large-scale tea plantations in Japan. It is a major producer of "Sayama Tea," which has a history of about 400 years, and has achieved an unprecedented feat of "20 consecutive and 25 total wins in Japan" in the National Hand-Rolled Tea Competition. It also showcased its craftsmanship at the Osaka-Kansai Expo held in 2025, promoting its wonderful traditional technology to the world.
Meanwhile, the city's diversity, where American culture from "Johnson Town" (a redeveloped former US military base) and large commercial facilities coexist, is also a major attraction. In 2022, it was selected as an "SDGs Future City" and enacted the nation's first "Delicious Sayama Tea Love Ordinance." Under the purpose of "creating and preserving a 'future original landscape' where people can live enriched lives," it aims to realize "Well-being City Iruma."
Furthermore, through the public-private collaboration platform "Iruma Future Co-creation Lab," it is continuously forming next-generation urban development that is not confined by frameworks, including aroma analysis with universities, e-sports, and inter-industry collaborations with entertainment companies.
▼ Click here for the proposal form for regional issue resolution and co-creation projects from companies and organizations in Iruma City
The "Iruma Future Co-creation Lab" connects your ideas with the potential of the region.
https://www.city.iruma.saitama.jp/gyosei_joho/purpose/10547.html
【Basic Information about Iruma City】
Iruma City Hall
Location: 1-16-1 Toyooka, Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture
Phone: 04-2964-1111 (Main)
《Link List》
Official Website: https://www.city.iruma.saitama.jp/
Iruma Disaster Prevention Mail Plus: https://plus.sugumail.com/usr/iruma/doc
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