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The Japan Sustainable Seafood Awards was launched in 2019 to recognize projects that contribute to the sustainability of Japan's fishing industry and the spread of sustainable seafood, and to expand the movement.
The winner of the first Initiative category (now the Leadership category) was the CSR and Citizenship & Culture Department of the Brand Communications Headquarters of Panasonic Corporation, which was the first in Japan to introduce sustainable seafood to company cafeterias (hereafter referred to as "company cafeterias"), sparking the trend toward CoC certification in the school food service industry.
Our company's CEO Kazuo Hanaoka spoke to Kosuke Kina, who has been leading the project, about what motivated him to apply for the award and his plans for the future.
Hanaoka:This project was started primarily by you, Mr. Konno. What prompted it?
Kina:There were three main factors that formed the basis for this activity. The social background is that we are now in an era where companies are expected to contribute to achieving the SDGs. For our company, which is an official worldwide partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, this activity will become a legacy of Tokyo 3. The other reason is that in our social contribution department, as part of our activities to "protect the abundance of the ocean" that we have been working on for the past 2020 years, which also served as support for the Tohoku reconstruction effort, we were able to contribute to the oyster farming in Tokura, Minamisanriku (Tokura Branch Office, Shizugawa Branch Office of Miyagi Prefectural Fisheries Cooperative Association) becoming the first in Japan to obtain ASC certification in 20.
Against this background, the major impetus for this initiative was the idea that we might be able to create a new, ideal form for corporate social contribution activities.
Up until now, corporate social contribution activities have often been limited to the areas that each company is good at and what they can do by themselves, and I feel that they have often not produced a large social impact. However, this activity is a major social issue of SDGs Goal 14 "Protect the life of the oceans and seas," and any industry can work on it if they have a company cafeteria, so I think it will be a new social contribution activity in which companies can work together to contribute to the solution. In addition, we thought that by working as a front-runner, we could contribute to other companies by sharing the know-how we have gained.
Hanaoka:That's wonderful. You wanted to create a supportive and open way to contribute to society with a true altruistic spirit, rather than focusing on what you can do or your special skills within your company. I understand that nothing like this has existed before, so why did you decide to spread it beyond your own company?
Kina:This is because we had thought even before we started the initiative that simply changing the consumption behavior of our approximately 10 employees would not have a significant social impact.If we want to create a big wave of change in consumer behavior in Japan, where people choose to purchase sustainable seafood, we need the support and involvement of many large companies.
To achieve this, we thought that if we proposed it as a new way of contributing to the achievement of the SDGs, which are difficult to address through business activities and many companies are struggling with, it would be understood.
Hanaoka:As this was the first such initiative in Japan, I imagine there were many hurdles both inside and outside the company. How did you overcome them?
Kina:Yes. At the beginning, most of the catering companies didn't know about sustainable seafood, so we were bombarded with questions every time, which was tough. Also, as I mentioned earlier, from the beginning, we wanted to collaborate with other companies to create a big movement, so we had to repeatedly explain to the PR department the social significance of this initiative, such as its contribution to achieving the SDGs, in order to make press announcements, and we had to go through a lot of things to get them to understand why an electronics manufacturer was working on sustainable seafood. However, as a result, the press release we sent out resonated with many companies, and it has now been introduced to seven companies, and in particular, DENSO has praised it as a good way to spread the SDGs within their company, and they are moving forward with introducing it at all of their locations.
I think it was good that we were able to send out this message with the hope that it would be of use to everyone, rather than just wanting people to know about our activities.
Hanaoka:It is wonderful.
Kina:I think it was interesting that fish was something so familiar to me. "What, our company is about fish?!" (laughs)
Hanaoka:Is there anything good about applying? Not about becoming the champion, but about the fact that I applied.
Kina:For me, it was a big moment. In the two years since we started our activities, we have been running around, gaining understanding from both inside and outside the company and promoting the introduction of our initiatives in company cafeterias, and actively promoting our initiatives to as many people as possible, so I haven't had a chance to look back. When applying, I thought that we needed to show our achievements and potential in objective figures so that a third party could evaluate our activities, and in the process of checking various figures, I realized the magnitude of the impact that our company alone provides 2 million meals a year.
I also realized that this initiative was only possible thanks to the support of so many people, including the school lunch company and the human resources and general affairs departments, and I was once again filled with gratitude.
Hanaoka:Thank you. What kind of reaction did you get when you finally became the champion?
Kina:I am grateful because there were so many things that happened both inside and outside the company. Within the company, social contribution activities do not have a clear evaluation axis like sales or profits, so when the evaluation outside the company improves, the evaluation inside the company also improves, creating a cycle. Therefore, through this award, many people within the company became aware of this initiative and awareness of the fact that it is being evaluated outside the company has increased.
Outside of the company, we are now being approached by major fisheries and distribution companies that we had wanted to approach before but had not been able to. I believe this is because our efforts have been recognized after winning the award.
Hanaoka:It's a positive stimulus both inside and outside the company. Have you noticed that employees who eat at the company cafeteria are now choosing more sustainable seafood?
Kina:The growing awareness of sustainable seafood within the company is palpable, with the "ghost" menu item being chosen by 50% of customers and the word "suscy" becoming an everyday word in the company cafeteria.
Furthermore, the initiative has been actively introduced into company cafeterias, with the group receiving the President's Award for its internal social contribution activities and being featured in an interview in the company newsletter.
Furthermore, as part of work style reform, we are about to begin to reconsider the very nature of company cafeterias, and we hope that the introduction of sustainable seafood will serve as an opportunity for the cafeteria to become a place of communication where people can learn about social issues in an enjoyable way.
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Key terms and concepts to understand seafood sustainability.
