“Takahashi River Shijuku” has been held from November 2020 through February 2021.
The 41 sessions are divided into three categories—SDGs Vision, General Education, and Skills—and are attended by 23 students, along with auditors who join individual sessions.
On Saturday, December 5, 2020, as part of the SDGs Vision category, Kensaku Okubo, Chairman and Representative Director of Kurashiki Mokuzai Co., Ltd., gave a lecture.
- Raising the SDGs flag is not a “silver bullet” that guarantees survival
- Consider not only the usual corporate stakeholders, such as customers, employees, and shareholders, but also “local communities” and “nature” as stakeholders
He shared the thinking behind how to survive as a sustainable local company—a question he has continually considered as a business leader.
Here is a report on the lecture.
The information presented was current when this article was published in February 2021. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Overview of Takahashi River Shijuku
Takahashi River Shijuku is a Kurashiki City-commissioned program run by the Takahashi River Basin School, a general incorporated association. Through the study of history, culture, industry, and fieldwork in the Takahashi River Basin, it aims to foster people who will contribute to community development and take action to build a “sustainable” region.
There are two course options:
- The “SDGs Exploration Course,” which includes practical exercises and presentations
- The “Auditor Course,” which allows participants to attend selected lectures
The opening ceremony was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and 41 lecture sessions will be held through the closing ceremony on Sunday, February 14, 2021.
The topics fall into three categories:
▼SDGs Vision
Lectures that help participants gain a deeper understanding of the Takahashi River Basin’s 2030 vision and current efforts to address its challenges, through talks by practitioners and experts, and discover ideas for taking action.
▼General Education
Lectures that teach the history, culture, industry, and other aspects of the Takahashi River Basin, providing knowledge that serves as a foundation for activities.
▼Skills
Lectures that teach the skills and know-how needed for inquiry-based learning, including presentations, accounting for nonprofit organizations, data analysis (using RESAS), effective use of IT tools, and using blogs and social media.
For more details, visit the special page for “Takahashi River Shijuku.”
SDGs and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Global Education Program Joined by Kuramoku
Lecturer Kensaku Okubo is also the former representative director of the Takahashi River Basin School, a general incorporated association, which runs Takahashi River Shijuku, and has been involved in numerous civic activities.
“I’d say it’s about half and half with businesspeople,” he said, but he has engaged with society through business activities.
- His family’s lumber business, Kurashiki Mokuzai Co., Ltd.
- The community radio station he founded, FM Kurashiki Co., Ltd.
Broadly speaking, through his management of these two companies, he shared his own experiences and thoughts on how companies and businesspeople should engage with local communities.
The lecture covered the following topics:
- Introduction to Kurashiki Mokuzai Co., Ltd.
- Lessons from international internships and global approaches to housing design
- Introduction to FM Kurashiki Co., Ltd.
- The role of community media
- The Takahashi River, the Takahashi River Basin, and Takahashi River Basin School
- What companies should aspire to be in order to earn recognition
Here are three topics that stood out to me as an attendee.
FM Kurashiki Co., Ltd. and the Role of Community Media
Kurashiki’s community FM station, “FM Kurashiki,” was established in 1996.
When the station was established, I was in high school and listened to the radio often. I clearly remember being happy that our hometown had its own FM station.
However, the circumstances facing radio stations in 1996 were different from those in today’s internet-connected world.
I, too, listen to the radio far less often now, and I no longer find myself chatting about radio programs.
So, does that mean radio is no longer needed?
Okubo said that community FM stations have two roles:
- In normal times, “helping residents enjoy a fulfilling life”
- In times of disaster, “protecting residents’ safety and peace of mind as a ‘local expert’”
Even if the role community FM plays in normal times has diminished with the spread of the internet, its role during emergencies such as disasters has not changed.
In normal times, we create a lively town through broadcasting. During disasters, we fulfill a public role by issuing emergency alerts and broadcasting disaster information.
These two responsibilities are the social responsibility of a community broadcasting station.
In fact, radio broadcasts played an important role during the Great East Japan Earthquake and the July 2018 Heavy Rains.
The station has also developed a product specifically for emergency alerts.
It is an emergency radio called “Kokucchi Emergency Alert FM Radio,” which has a built-in battery, turns on automatically in an emergency, and receives broadcasts at high volume.
The Takahashi River, the Takahashi River Basin, and Takahashi River Basin School
After activities such as GREEN DAY, which ran for 10 years from 2003, the Takahashi River Basin School, a general incorporated association, was established.
Taking as its guiding text the Takahashi River Basin League Statement of Purpose, drafted by Soichiro Ohara, its aim is to respect the character of the basin—its nature, culture, and history—and create a system for passing it on to the next generation.
In the past, activities of this kind were carried out as civic movements, while corporate activities were often seen as their opposite.
The priority was conventional economic activity: using resources to make things, investing, and earning profits.
But Okubo believes the time has come for companies to seriously address local challenges.
Companies cannot survive without their communities.
I was struck by the force with which he said this.
Perhaps this perspective came from engaging with “local residents” through community media while also working in business.
Okubo said companies are expected to look across the medium-sized area of a river basin and take action to solve local challenges by drawing on the diversity of its geographically dispersed communities.
What Companies Should Aspire to Be in Order to Earn Recognition
Until the 20th century, society was centered on companies.
As a result, housework, childcare, and community activities were put off and became things in which only some people took part.
But with the decline in population, the relationship between people, companies, and society has changed.
Being a true “member of society” requires more than being a “company person.”
- Providing services and profits as part of a company’s economic responsibilities
- Contributing to the community as part of a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR)
In addition to these, companies are also expected to take responsibility for connecting individuals with the world beyond the company—that is, society as a whole, including families.
By doing this,
individuals become members of society and true “members of society.”
This, he said, is the principle that Kuramoku (Kurashiki Mokuzai Co., Ltd.) established as its “code of conduct.”
From the Writer
If you live in Kurashiki, you’ve probably at least heard of Kuramoku and FM Kurashiki.
A lumber business and community media may seem unrelated at first glance.
But after hearing Okubo speak, I understood how closely connected they are in terms of “engagement with society.”
I believe that it is important to think about people, companies, and society—which are often seen as being in opposition—in terms of their connections, because this is not a perspective one can gain through a single activity alone.
After listening to Okubo’s lecture, I reconsidered the role of this publication, “Kurashiki Tocotoco.”
The “media business” we aspire to is to build relationships in normal times with people and organizations active in the community, including businesses, and introduce them from our own perspective through information such as tourism; in emergencies such as disasters, we aim to serve as a source of information through the internet.
Perhaps we are similar to “FM Kurashiki.”
It was a lecture that helped me see one of our goals for running a media outlet, a task that comes with many challenges.
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