Rakuten, Inc. (“Rakuten,” Chairman and CEO: Hiroshi Mikitani, Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo) today launched the special site “Rakuten Tasukeai” on its online shopping mall “Rakuten Ichiba”. The site provides a means for Rakuten members to donate specific supplies to people living in areas hit by the Tohoku Pacific Offshore Earthquake and to earthquake evacuees.

Through “Rakuten Tasukeai,” users can purchase specific supplies from “Rakuten Ichiba” stores, which will be delivered directly to local governments and donated to disaster victims.

The supplies offered on the special site are provided by partner stores at special prices and reflect specific requests from local governments. Rakuten and its partner stores will receive no profit from the sales of these products.

As an initial step in this initiative, sales of stationery sets commence today to support 126 children, who are set to begin school on April 8. These children were evacuated from Futaba Town in Fukushima Prefecture to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture.

The site will be updated regularly to reflect the requests and needs of local governments and disaster areas. With the support of its partner stores and users, Rakuten will continue to make our utmost efforts, however small they may be, to provide support for victims and contribute to the swift recovery of the disaster areas.

* Supplies purchased and donated by users will be announced at a later date on “Machi-Raku” (http://event.rakuten.co.jp/area/).