Now that the importance of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is being highlighted, our company - Shouei Project Co., Ltd. - is fulfilling its social responsibilities through a variety of activities. Since the establishment of this company, we have been striving to improve our services so that our customers can say, “I'm glad we have Eagle here.” The entire company is committed to achieving the final goal which is to be “a company needed by society” - our corporate philosophy. While making efforts throughout our daily business to have the honor of hearing “thank you” from our customers, we also promote social contribution activities in the hope of serving society to the best of our abilities.
In particular, our support for organ transplantation, which we began in August 2003, has been attracting attention as an unprecedented attempt to invite customers playing at our pachinko parlors to donate pachinko balls. We intend to keep promoting our social contribution activities in the future, while striving to win social recognition through the support of organizations and groups conducting social contribution projects and thereby achieving our goal of being “a company needed by society.”
Supporting organ transplantation
This is a typical example of our company's contribution to society.
It started when Professor Satoru Todo of the Hokkaido University School of Medicine, who is an internationally respected authority of organ transplantation, suggested to our company president Masahiro Miyama the possibility of using balls that had fallen on the floors of pachinko parlors to support organ transplantation. Based on his suggestion Mr. Miyama came up with the idea of supporting this cause together with our customers by inviting them to donate spare pachinko balls and coins.
Our support for organ transplantation began in August 2003 when we placed “ai-no-hitotama” (Balls of Love) boxes in our parlors. The amount of money which is equivalent to the value of balls and coins collected from our customers is donated once a month to the Hokkaido Transplant Promotion Council from parlors in Hokkaido and to the Japan Organ Transplant Network from parlors in the Kanto district. An additional fixed donation is also made annually to the Hokkaido Transplant Promotion Council.
As of the end of October 2007, the total value of balls and coins donated by our customers since August 2003 has reached the equivalent of approximately 7.7 million yen. The money collected by the “Eagle Group Cup Sapporo Open Charity Golf Tournament” charity auction held every August by our company as the title sponsor, is also donated to the host municipality of the event and the Hokkaido Transplant Promotion Council.
In addition to the “ai-no-hitotama” boxes, there are boards at our parlors containing organ donor cards, informative pamphlets produced by our company and summary sheets of donated balls and posters. To attract the interest of as many people as possible in medical transplantation, we also have an organ transplant campaign booth during the Eagle Group Cup Sapporo Open Charity Golf Tournament. And, during the Sapporo Snow Festival, we build an ice statue featuring the motif of medical transplantation where we hand out special wristbands and Japan Organ Transplant Network pamphlets to the visitors to the Susukino Site.
Fundraising campaign for 24-Hour Television “Love Saves the Earth”
Our company serves as a sponsor and conducts a fundraising campaign at our parlors for the 24-Hour Television “Love Saves the Earth” campaign, which is broadcast every August by the Nippon Television Network (STV in the Hokkaido area). This is our fifth year as sponsor. The total amount of donations collected at our parlors in 2007 reached 672,320 yen, which was unusually large for a single company. We believe that this was partly due to the enthusiasm of those who wore the original T-shirts of the program during opening hours. The amount raised is used by the local broadcasting station STV for social welfare, environmental conservation, disaster assistance and other purposes.
Collection/donation of ring-pulls
We have been collecting ring-pulls at all our parlors since September 2006. We ask our customers to put the ring-pulls of cans they used in the containers with “Ring-pulls with Love” written on them. Ring-pulls are sent to the secretariat of Pullnet), which donates wheelchairs to social welfare organizations and individuals. The system is the same as that of the support for organ transplantation, and requires the understanding and cooperation of our customers. It is necessary to collect 510kg of ring-pulls for a wheelchair for an adult and 890kg for one for a child. The amount is equivalent of between seven to nine oil drums full of ring-pulls. As the weight of a ring-pull is only 0.5 g, we need 1.02 million of them to reach 510 kg.
When the designated collection bags (30 kg) at all of the thirty-four parlors and the head office of the Eagle Group have been filled, we have just enough to donate a really good wheelchair for a child. Although it is a long-term approach, we intend to continue these steady efforts to help those in need of wheelchairs.
Support for Hokkaido International School (HIS)
HIS was established as an American school certified by the WASC in the United States. Its students consist mainly of non-Japanese and Japanese returnees from abroad. It has been registered as an educational corporation accredited by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Our company sponsors the Hokkaido International School Scholarship Fund Concert, which is held to provide scholarship to non-Japanese children who need financial support to study at HIS. This year's concert was held at Sapporo Concert Hall on Saturday May 26th.
Besides the above activities, our company supports the “Niseko Business School Promotion Council” - an academic research collaboration group with Professor Yasuyuki Hamada of Hokkaido University Faculty of Economics as its core member, and climber Mr. Fumikazu Kuriki, who has single-handedly scaled the highest mountains in five out of seven continents, while making efforts to nurture young people through mountain climbing.
Workers in our parlors are also engaged in volunteer activities, such as community clean-ups and promotion of traffic safety for elementary school children going home from school – acts which we recognize as respectable efforts to contribute to society.
Shouei Project Co., Ltd. intends to be a company that contributes to and is needed by society by concentrating its efforts to make all of its parlors the top establishments in each community and by playing an active role in contributing to society, so that our customers can say “I'm glad we have Eagle here.”
