LAS VEGAS, January 7, 2011 – Children are some of the most vulnerable members of our population with more than 2,000 children reported missing every day. Driven by this disturbing fact, Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children^® (NCMEC) will host the 12th Annual Canon Customer Appreciation Reception and NCMEC Celebrity Golf Tournament, sponsored by Canon, in Las Vegas, in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of protecting future generations. John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted" and co-founder of NCMEC, will be a guest speaker at this year's Reception, acknowledging NCMEC's continued success.

Canon hopes to further mobilize public support to help NCMEC recover more missing children and lower the number of reported missing children. For the past 12 years, the Canon Customer Appreciation Reception and NCMEC's Celebrity Golf Tournament have helped in educating the public about the issues of missing children and child exploitation and to date, Canon helped NCMEC raise more than $5 million to help NCMEC provide the resources and information to assist in the recovery of abducted children and promote child safety.

"Correlating to our philosophy of making a better world for future generations, Canon is proud to continue our 13-year partnership with NCMEC, helping to educate the public about the issue of child exploitation and helping to improve the safety of our youth," said Joe Adachi, president and CEO, Canon U.S.A."

"We are grateful to Canon for its many years of working with us at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to bring missing children home, said Ernie Allen, NCMEC President and CEO. "Today's event is just one example of Canon's generosity and its commitment to giving children the safer lives that they deserve."

In addition, since 1997, The Canon4Kids program, sponsored by Canon U.S.A. and NCMEC has donated products to help law enforcement quickly distribute photos and information about missing children, produces Public Service Announcements (PSAs) with missing children photos, and informs parents about the importance of updating photos of their children. Through the Canon4Kids program, Canon raises public awareness about child abduction, exploitation and the power of photos to keep children safer. The Canon4Kids program has allowed thousands of concerned citizens to see pictures of missing children in venues around the country. To date, 691 children featured in Canon4Kids PSAs have been recovered.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's hotline which has handled more than 2,528,730 calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 157,720 children. The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than 989,970 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 43,015,480 pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2009†, with global revenues of US $35 billion and is listed as number six in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies 2010 list. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.