Monday, February 21, 2022 | The Japan Times | 9

sustainable japan

ESG promotional content
produced by The Japan Times CubeDai-ichi Life Insurance supports corporate ESG activity
ESG Talk
TOMOKO KAICHICONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Dai-ichi Life Insurance group this year
marked the 120th anniversary of its foundation. The group began as Dai-ichi Mutual Life
Insurance Co., Japan’s first mutual life insurance company, which is now the Dai-ichi
Life Insurance Co., the core company. Todaythe Dai-ichi Life Insurance group, with assets
totaling ¥63 trillion ($550 billion), is one ofJapan’s leading institutional investors, andpositions ESG (environmental, social andgovernance) investing as a key pillar of its
asset management.
Asked what the key was for the group’ssurvival for more than a century, Seiji
Inagaki, who concurrently serves as president of Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. and theDai-ichi Life Insurance Co., quoted thegroup’s founder: “Consider whether people
will be pleased with what we do or find it
unnecessary. Business is what we do for thesake of people.”
Dai-ichi Life Insurance “is a company thefounder created to provide households withstability of living,” Inagaki said. “Ways of asset
management have changed in response tochanging needs, but the company has kept
asking if it is doing what it’s expected to do
as an asset owner and if it is making people
happy.”
There are wide-ranging social issues, but
the group gives particular priority to mea-sures to address climate change. In 2020,
the Japanese government pledged to makeJapan carbon neutral by 2050, which put thecountry on a path to decarbonization.
The Dai-ichi Life Insurance group is bothan operating company and an institutional investor. As an operating company, itannounced it will switch all power sources atthe Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co.’s 1,300 offices
in Japan to entirely renewable sources by
the end of 2024. As an institutional investor,
the group joined the Net-Zero Asset Owner
Alliance, an international initiative in which
members seek to make their portfolios
carbon neutral by 2050, becoming the first
Asian member of the alliance. The group iscommitted to an interim target of reducing by 2025 greenhouse gas emissions of its
portfolios of listed stocks, publicly offeredcorporate bonds and real estate properties
by 25% from the level at the end of March
2020. As cooperation of investee companies
is essential for the achievement of this target, the group supports their initiatives andefforts to transform behaviors by stepping
up dialogue to encourage their decarbonization efforts and offering transitional financein which financial assistance is provided toencourage technological innovation andinfrastructure investment.
“The biggest challenge for Japanese businesses is to find ways to change the existing
business models,” Inagaki said. “Japan has thelevel of technology that can enable adjustments necessary for achieving carbon neutral. I want companies to have the courage toSeiji Inagaki serves asrepresentative
director and president of the Dai-ichi
Life Insurance Co.
Inagaki also earned amaster’s degree inbusiness administration from Harvard
Business School.
KOUTAROU WASHIZAKI

Seiji Inagaki, representative director and president of Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc.
KOUTAROU WASHIZAKI

face the challenge. Financial institutions,including us, are here to cheer them andsupport them.”
The Dai-ichi Life Insurance group was
early to begin efforts to ensure diversity inworkplaces. Soon after the war, it began toincrease hiring of women, who currently
represent over 90 percent of its employees.
Women have come to represent over 30%of those targeted for positions at the levelof section chief, but their representation
remains far smaller at the levels of generalmanager or higher. The group thus aims toraise the ratios of women to 30% in posi-tions of a department or section heads byApril 2024 and 30% of the executive officers
by 2030. “You need role models if you wantto promote more women,” Inagaki said.
“We now have more female executives withexcellent skills, so I think we can achieve thetargets. As half our customers are women,
we have some apprehensions about therisk that we may not be tolerated if we don’t
have diversity in our management team.”
The The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co.’s basic
policy for ESG investing has three key goals.
The first is to build asset portfolios that canboth generate investment returns and help

solve social issues. This calls for taking ESG
factors into account in policies and processes
for managing all assets and ensuring thatinvestment decisions take such factors as
climate change risk into consideration. The
second is to practice investing and lendingthat can help solve social issues. Improving
quality of life, mitigating impacts of climatechange and revitalizing regional economies
and local communities are priority areas
selected for this goal. ESG-themed investments totaled about ¥940 billion, including¥360 billion in SDG bonds, by the end ofAugust 2021, with the largest portion, about¥390 billion, invested in solutions to problems related to climate change. The groupaims to increase the cumulative total ofinvestments to above ¥1.1 trillion by the endof March 2024.
The third is to carry out stewardship activity aimed at encouraging investees to engage
in ESG efforts. For this goal, the group aims
to provide information and offer solutions
according to given ESG issues, encourage
disclosure of information related to climatechange and participate in collaborative
engagement groups and initiatives in Japanand overseas. Inagaki said the environment
for information disclosure has improved
from a decade ago, thanks in part to theprogress in efforts to create internationalrules.
A particular characteristic of a life insurer
as an institutional investor is that it canmake long-term investments. Life insurers tend to have long asset management
periods, as the periods from the receipt ofpremium until the payment of insurancemoney average about two decades. They
can, for example, think about and support returns from a long-term perspective
without having to bother about short-term
numbers, even for issues that are difficultfor Japanese companies to tackle, such asenergy transition, according to Inagaki.
Dai-ichi Life Holdings is a member of theGlasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, an
initiative under which over 160 financial

Seiji Inagaki at the ESG Talk held at The Japan
Times offices on Jan. 28 KOUTAROU WASHIZAKI

institutions from different countries aim toachieve net zero emissions for their investment portfolios, and Inagaki became thefirst Asian to be added to the 20 leaders
comprising the Principals Group, whichleads the overall management of GFANZ.
He volunteered to serve as a principal
because he has a sense of crisis about thecurrent situation, in which the work todesign climate change countermeasuresand information disclosure rules is led by
Europeans and Americans. “We Japanese
have the responsibility to represent Asians
and express views of Asians,” Inagaki said.
In order to smoothly shift business models that were effective during the period ofrapid economic growth into ones suitable
for a carbon neutral world, Inagaki believes,it is essential for each country to have aframework tailored to the situation specific to it so that such side effects as wealthgaps, energy price rises and job losses canbe avoided. “It is important for Japan toshow the flag. We will actively step onto theinternational stage”
as a Japanese asset
owner, Inagaki said.
The ESG Talk series areinterviews with businessleaders who are active proponents of ESG investingand practices in Japan.

Taking Japan’s ‘undiscovered
gems’ nationwide and beyond

Luxe cosmetics maker seeks
coprosperity with stakeholders

ESG/SDGs

ESG/SDGs

MAIKO MURAOKACONTRIBUTING WRITERTOMOKO KAICHICONTRIBUTING WRITER

The competition for Undiscovered Gemsof Japan 2020-2021 was held in Tokyo’s
Chiyoda Ward on Feb. 11 and 12 to recognize and promote innovative and creative
products gathered from across Japan. Thegrand prize went to Karato Sweets SakeMonaka, a snack made of traditional Japanese pickles and pickled cream cheese
sandwiched between colorful, crisp, lightas-air rice wafers, made by Imanari Tsukemonoten, a century-old pickle makerand store in the Niigata Prefecture city ofUonuma.
Yoko Imanari from Imanari Tsukemonoten explained in her presentation speechthat rice, one of the major local products,
is the key ingredient in Karato Sweets
Sake Monaka. The type of pickles (tsukemono) they make is yamagazuke, a kindof kasuzuke — vegetables pickled in sakelees, whose main component is rice. “Wethought that it should go very well withmonaka shells, which are also made of rice,”
she said. To minimize waste, they use thesake lees that remain after vegetables arepickled, which normally are discarded, toalso pickle cream cheese — something thatwould not have existed in Japan when aforebear of Imanari started making yamagazuke more than a hundred years ago.
“Imanari Tsukemonoten had been making only yamagazuke since it was established, so Karato Sweets Sake Monaka
is our first new product in 100 years. I
devoted myself to making it with all thesupport I received from our experienced
workers, whose average age is over 60,
because I wanted young people to know
the taste of real tsukemono,” Imanari said,
revealing that she herself did not realize the richness of the food culture of her
own hometown until she came back fromTokyo, where she had lived for 20 years.
Takuya Hane, executive producer of theevent, who during the screening session
tasted three types of monaka served witha glass of sparkling sake, commented: “Thetaste and smell of fermentation is so richand deep. It goes perfectly with sake.” Oneof the judges fancied the appearance of thebite-size, pastel-colored monaka, saying

Albion Co. was established with the ambition of becoming the world’s best premium
cosmetics manufacturer in the mid-20thcentury, when the idea of “luxury items”
had yet to take root in Japan. The company
is exclusively focused on making high quality products and has a solid fan base mainly
in Japan. Incorporating the philosophy ofcoexistence and coprosperity with stakeholders, including employees, business
partners, consumers and local communities, into the core of corporate activities,
from materials sourcing, manufacturing
and distribution to social contribution —that is the Albion way.
“We prefer not to set criteria for costs. We
use materials, however expensive they may
be, as long as customers can feel the effect(of our products) on their skin,” said Albion
President and Chief Executive Officer Shoichi Kobayashi, explaining what the company particularly cares about as “Japan’sonly cosmetics manufacturer exclusivelyspecialized in premium products.”
Albion began developing production
materials in-house in an effort to enhance
the competitiveness of its products. Thecompany created a 120,000-sq.-meter inhouse farm where 50 to 60 types of plants
are organically grown at the foot of theShirakami Sanchi mountains, a World Heritage Site. It has since developed production
materials from 10 types of plant grown on
the farm. Albion has also succeeded in commercializing a unique technology to extract
ingredients and has put effort into conducting plant biotechnology research.
Albion has systematically incorporated
the interest in coexistence and coprosperity it has held since its foundation into

Participants and nominees at the Undiscovered Gems of Japan 2020-2021 competition held onFeb. 11 and 12 UNDISCOVERED GEMS OF JAPANthey look like macaroons.
The unique thing about UndiscoveredGems of Japan is that it is not just a competition but a platform that turns ideas into
new products or services through learningand collaboration with business ownersand companies from various areas. The“active learning” method devised by Hane,
a former Harvard instructor specializing inhuman development who founded Active
Learning Inc., is incorporated into the seminars. Imanari said: “We are only a small
tsukemono maker, but I realized that westart to see a different view when we thinkout of the box and get the courage to takeon new challenges without being defeatedby the pandemic situation. This is something I learned through the seminars.”
The process starts with regional seminars where participants discuss how todevelop ideas into products or improveexisting products, and what kinds of collaboration are possible in order to realizeor accelerate their commercialization.
Kyukyoku no Arita-yaki Purin (ultimate
pudding in Arita ware cups), the runnerup in the 2020-2021 competition, is thefruit of collaboration between Arita Porcelain Lab and Ryokan Oomuraya, a hot
spring inn in Saga Prefecture. Over 1,200participants, representing 1,031 companies, attended the regional seminars heldin eleven areas as well as online for thisround.
Then eight regional competitions wereheld, narrowing 95 entries down to 54
for the all-Japan competition. Entries are
not limited to food products. Categories
are determined by the regional competitions’ organizers — local governments,chambers of commerce and financial
institutions — based on keywords thatbest represent or promote their area, suchas woodwork in Nara Prefecture, knives
and metalware in Hyogo or tourism inHiroshima.
The judges of the national competition
consist of chefs and owners of renowned
hotels and restaurants, media figures, influencers and so on. This can be helpful forparticipants in expanding their sales channels, according to the secretariat of Undiscovered Gems of Japan. Hane also has abroad network both in Japan and overseas,
helping for example a Kochi Prefecture
tea farm whose annual sales had beenvery small earn more than ¥100 million($850,000) a year by introducing it to anoverseas cafe run by a famous entrepreneur
whom Hane is acquainted with.
A world competition is planned to takeplace in Singapore this summer, inviting
the top finalists of the Japan competition tocollaborate with Singapore chefs and storesas the first step to venturing into the globalmarket.

School building donated to Madagascar
ALBION CO.

PAGE: 9Returning the fruit
efforts to helpof research to theachieve thelocal community
U.N. sustainable
is one the facildevelopment
ity’s top priorities.
goals. Examples
Albion has conof this are seentinued to donate
in its developbackpacks andment of plasschool supplies fortics derived
children in Madafrom naturalgascar since 2013.
sources toIn 2016, it donatedreduce the use
elementary andof petroleumsenior high school
based plastics
buildings as part ofin containers
its 60th foundation
for cosmetics,
Shoichi Kobayashi, president and chief executive
anniversary proefforts to colofficer of Albion Co. at The Japan Times offices
gram. Kobayashi
lect and recycle
YUIKO TAIYA FOR PHOTOMATE
says he wishes toused containersbuild a plant in Madagascar to help increaseand endeavors to reduce carbon dioxide
local employment.
emissions at its plants. Albion also strives
Kobayashi says he has “absolute confito maintain a working environment comdence” in Albion’s products, for which thefortable for employees. For example, itcompany is involved in the entire process
has nurseries under outsourced operafrom growing plants and manufacturtion at offices in Tokyo’s Ginza districting products to their sales. The company’sand Fukuoka, aiming to allow parents thestrategy of intentionally tolerating fixed
option of working while rearing children.
costs pressures its margins, but Kobayashi
The company evaluates staff members
believes it will lead to sustainability-mindedbased on talent rather than gender, anmanagement over the long term and, eveneffort Kobayashi says has brought a positive
tually, help increase its competitiveness. The
impact on the entire company. Women“Albion way,” to which Kobayashi attaches
now represent 40% of positions at the levimportance, supports a virtuous cycle inels of executive officer and higher, he said.
which the company generates reasonable
Albion operates an in-house research
profit by selling premium cosmetics andlab in Sri Lanka, where a wealth of native
making investplants grow. There it works with a local
ments for theuniversity on a joint project to study plants
future.
and the beneficial ingredients they contain.

NAONORI KIMURA
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH PLATFORM, INC.
(IGPI) PARTNER

Unity of inner knowledge
and action: Coexistencewith the environment andco-creation with suppliersand employees have been
embedded in Albion’s corporate philosophy since its foundation.
This is a company that has practiced
sustainability-oriented management overmany years, without itself realizing it.
President Shoichi Kobayashi has said, “Youwouldn’t last long if your thinking is, ‘It’s

OK if we are OK,’” and many people might
think this observation is obvious. However, you face clashes of different interests
in operating a business, and it is not easy
to find the best solution from the perspective of multiple stakeholders without prioritizing only your company.
I think the company is really wonderful in that its corporate DNA is to practicethis.
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