YKK AP breeds endangered medaka fish to support environmental education that promotes connections between monozukuri and local communities

In 2010, YKK AP was working to provide environmental information and promote social activities according to its Environmental Policy, "Striving to build a sustainable society." The Kyushu Plant was exploring environmental communication methods in the manufacturing field, such as ways to tell the local community about how the plant was working to carry out environmentally friendly manufacturing. That’s when we started interacting with elementary schools. The Environmental Facility Management Office came up with a plan to carry out environmental communication about water, an environmental issue, through the topic of medaka. This would convey the office’s efforts to reduce water intake in the aluminum product manufacturing process, recycle water, and reduce the environmental impacts of wastewater. We started breeding medaka so we could continue bringing these fish to elementary schools. At first the fish were kept in an indoor aquarium, but it was difficult to regulate the water temperature and their eggs didn’t hatch. We switched to a creek on the premises, where the water temperature rises when the weather turns warm in early spring. The fish hatched, and we’ve raised them successfully ever since.

As we continued donating fish, people started to ask us, "Why is a window manufacturer breeding medaka?" That’s why we began visiting classrooms to introduce the plant’s environmental activities, including how we started raising these fish. At first the Environmental Facility Management Office members were unsure about taking on the unfamiliar role of teacher, but children actively participated in these classes and shared their unique viewpoints. They told us, "We want to protect the beautiful natural world where medaka live." We’ve completed 19 classroom visits so far (as of July 2023).

In addition to the medaka project, the Kyushu Plant does other types of local contribution activities as well. Every year, kindergarten students are invited to pick sweet potatoes from the field at the employee dormitory near the plant. We distribute tree seedlings grown at the plant to local residents and install nets on elementary school balconies to promote "green curtains." We also take part in environmental protection activities led by the Kumamoto Prefecture Environmental Preservation Assembly, including rice planting in June and harvesting in October.

At the Kyushu Plant, Environmental Facility Management Office members raise goats as an eco-friendly way to mow our lawns. They are also lent to daycare centers in Yatsushiro City as therapy animals.