SDGsOur Commitment to SDGs
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- ENGLISH
Keihan Hotels & Resorts is engaged in “BIOSTYLE PROJECT” which aims to contribute to achieving SDGs(Sustainable Development Goals).
“BIOSTYLE PROJECT” is Keihan Group’s initiative towards achievement of SDGs. It is not just about being bound by rules and enduring. It is an activity aiming at realizing a positive recycle-oriented society, making positive changes to people and earth that is fun, not demanding, and easily adaptable in daily lives, through which we will actualize healthy, beautiful, and high-quality lifestyles.
As a tourist accommodation facility, we will continue our efforts in “BIOSTYLE PROJECT” in order to contribute to SDGs, while assuring safe and secure environment for satisfaction of all our valued guests.
- What is BIOSTYLE?
- What are SDGs?
It is ‘a lifestyle to adopt what are healthy and good, while having fun and being true to yourself.’ Keihan Group puts forward this lifestyle and aim at offering products, services and business which contribute to a sustainable society. We believe that these policies are compatible with SDGs and designate “BIOSTYLE” as Keihan’s version of SDGs, promoting it in the whole group. To that end, we established five guidelines (5 GOOD) consisting of ‘wellness and happiness for health, Minds, Locals, Society and Earth.’
They are global common goals to make a sustainable and better world by 2030.
- 1
- GOOD for Health
Is it good for your health?
Projects and initiatives to promote healthy lifestyles and to contribute to realization of vitalized society.
Promoting Wellness Tourism
- BIWAKO HOTEL
- THE THOUSAND KYOTO
[BIWAKO HOTEL]
Enjoy the view of majestic Biwako Lake, Mount Hiei and Mount Hira, or bathe in our natural hot spring, Ruri-Onsen, Ruri-no-Yu with a panoramic view of the lake. Biwako Hotel is a lakeside resort with abundant nature. We offer you a stay to find the wellness of your body and soul through the activities such as yoga, walking and cycling, a stay to discover the local resources of Biwako area and develop yourself, a stay to enhance your wellness in the abundant nature surrounding Biwako.
[THE THOUSAND KYOTO]
In 2021, we organized ‘Thousand Wellness Walking”, an activity focusing on wellness, featuring a walking tour of Kyoto with our instructors, in order to refresh your body and soul. We will continue to offer wellness-oriented hotel experience to enhance the wellness of your body and soul while you enjoy your trip.
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- GOOD for Minds
Is it good for your mind?
Realizing a stress-free society, where people can live with peace of mind and comfort.
Offering enjoyable and comfortable services to our guests, and a motivating workplace to our workforce.
New Diversity Management Selection 100
With economic globalization and aging society gaining their paces, it becomes more and more important and effective to push diversity management strategies, where diverse talents including females, foreigners, aged persons and challenged (disabled) persons can demonstrate their abilities to participate in creating values.
We established a role of Diversity Promotion in our Corporate Planning Office in December 2018. We especially focus on seven areas: ‘empowering women’, ‘hiring challenged persons’, ‘hiring foreigners’, ‘respecting LGBTQ+’, ‘empowering senior workers’, ‘wellness management’, with ‘work-style reform’ as core mission. These efforts were recognized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in the fiscal year 2020, and we were awarded a ministerial award on March 16, 2020. Especially our ‘Project for Hiring Challenged Persons’ to promote an inclusive working environment were highly appreciated. Persons with and without disabilities working together improved mutual independence and creativity, which was highly regarded as a success.
Biwako Hotel was the first in our company to take this initiative and Kyoto Tower Hotel followed.
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- GOOD for Locals
Is it good for the locals?
Vitalization of local lives and development of local industry along Keihan railway,
Our projects and initiatives contributing to the local environment protection.
Satoyama (village vicinity mountains) Food Project
- BIWAKO HOTEL
Eating Is Preserving’ is the keyword for this project involving our guests and local people since 2002. For about 20 years, we have continued this initiative on a trial-and-error basis, and created a system to achieve environment protection such as preservation of ‘tanada’ (terraced rice fields) and local business promotion at the same time. It is attained by offering delicious local food including tanada-rice from Ohgi, Ohtsu City and Hata, Takashima City, Baumkuchen pork, Ohmi black pork and Biwa trout.
As a business entity who runs a hotel on the Biwako lakeside to offer our guest a relaxation experience, we started studying environment protection activities. We sought for an activity combining joy of eating and environment protection.
Wild Grasses and Flowers Project
- BIWAKO HOTEL
We in younger days used to make flower crowns with milk vetches, chase dragonflies on footpaths of rice fields, blow reed pipes, or pick wild strawberries… the grasses and flowers in our ‘Wild Grasse & Flowers Garden’ reminds us of these childhood memories.
It has been modelled after the footpaths between the rice fields, the unspoiled landscape of Shiga area. We planted around 100 species of grasses and flowers, mainly of local variety, in order to recreate the environment of ‘satoyama’ which is a habitat of various creatures. The plants reflect the transition of seasons, bearing buds, flowers, then fruits and seeds. You will find the nature’s cycle of plants, insects and birds.
Growing Futaba-Aoi (species of wild ginger)
Futaba-aoi is used in “Aoi Festival”, one of three main traditional festivals in Kyoto. We participate in ‘Aoi Project’ to grow futaba-aoi. The project not only grows futaba-aoi, but also contributes to realization of a sustainable society by embodying ‘connection of people’ and ‘symbiosis with the global environment.’
Our KYOTO TOWER HOTEL participates in this project since 2014, and BIWAKO HOTEL since 2019. Going forward, we will increase the number of stubs to offer to Kami-Kamo shrine.
OKUTRIP, Our Touristic Program to Experience Deep Kyoto
- THE THOUSAND KYOTO
We invite you to a special program to take you Deep Down into Kyoto.
You will find places an ordinary guide will not show you, things you will not usually see, people you’ll never otherwise meet and stories you’d never normally hear – a ‘Kyoto’ even most locals will never enjoy.
Our concierge will propose an experience of Kyoto tailored to each customer’s needs, introducing the deep local culture of Kyoto and contributing to vitalization of local industry.
Promoting Culture Tourism
- BIWAKO HOTEL
We would like to create a cycle between ‘a stay in BIWAKO HOREL’ and ‘participation to SDGs’, which means enjoying your stay in BIWAKO HOTEL makes you aware of the ways to contribute to environment protection, exposes you to the local culture of Ohmi area, thus helps conserving our traditional culture.
Our offer includes: ‘City Walking Tour’ with the hotel’s staff through the traditional streets around the hotel, such as part of old Tokaido way called Ohtsu Hyakuchou and Sakamoto area, vegetable growing experience in our own vegetable field, Satoyama-Juku, a school to learn about sastoyama, co-hosted by us and a satoyama photographer Mitsuhiko Imamura who works in Shiga. These programs will expose you to the natural environment and culture of Ohmi area.
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- GOOD for Social
Is it good for the society?
Making a society where everyone can live happily.
Projects and initiatives to achieve more beautiful lifestyles.
Social Action Programs of KYOTO TOWER
- KYOTO TOWER
KYOTO TOWER stands at the entrance of the city and has welcomed 3.2 million visitors in total since its opening in 1964. It is loved by the residents and visitors as the landmark of Kyoto. It organizes various events such as ‘Climbing the Stairs’ and ‘Gozan Okuribi (ceremonial bonfire) Viewing’, while actively participating in social action programs. And in 2016, it renewed its illumination lighting to LED to save energy resources.
The city of Kyoto designates every 16th day of the month as “DO YOU KYOTO? Day.” KYOTO TOWER helps gaining awareness by ‘lighting down’ the tower instead of illuminating it. Also the tower illuminates itself in symbol colors of various public activities by request of the administration, NPO and so on.
Examples:
– Blue, to express gratitude towards healthcare workers under COVID-19 situation
– Pink, to gain awareness of Pink Ribbon Action against breast cancer
– Orange, for World Alzheimer’s Day
– Orange, for Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Activity
– Blue, for World Autism Awareness Day
In addition, the voices from citizens saying ‘Let children who seldom have the opportunities to climb KYOTO TOWER to enjoy the view from the observatory’ moved us to organize a Christmas Party every year since 1965, inviting children from child welfare facilities. In 2019, we invited about 50 children to enjoy the view, offered them presents and played games.
KYOTO TOWER, as the landmark of Kyoto, will continue these initiatives to contribute to sustainable development of local society.
(* Due to COVID-19 situation , we are currently suspending the event.)
Empowering Women
Pursuing not only comfortable but also motivating working environment, we organize activities to develop skills and career opportunities for female workers, such as project trainings and career meetings for female candidates for managers, as well as publication of booklets for balancing work and child care.
In 2021, we became a cooperating company of newly opened ‘Company-led Nursery, Kae’ (run by Honganji Foundation) which made it possible for workers to come back from child care whenever they wish to resume working. The nursery is located close to our workplace and facilitates the balance between work and child care.
Also in 2023, as a company that supports its employees in balancing work and raising children, we have implemented ‘the General Business Owner Action Plan’ based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare) and became Kyoto’s first hotel business to obtain the ‘Kurumin’ Certification, which recognizes companies that support raising children.
Participation in Local Clean-Up Activities and Care of Flower Beds in front of the Station.
BIWAKO HOTEL employees pick up rubbish and fallen leaves between the hotel and Ohtsu Station. In addition to this regular clean-up activity around the hotel, we proactively participate in general clean-up organized by the prefecture and try to keep the area around Biwako Lake including the Nagisa Park beautiful.
Our hotels in Kyoto City participate in clean-up activities of the area between Kyoto Station and Higashi Honganji, and in seeding and growing the flower beds in front of Kyoto Station,
preserving bio-diversity by promoting ‘Creating a Space Rich in Flowers and Greenery’ as a company located in front of the station.
Emergency Accommodation in case of a Disaster
We concluded ‘the Agreement on Cooperation for Providing the Use of Facilities to Tourists and Other Persons in Case of Disasters.’
This agreement aims to smoothly support those who have difficulty returning home, in case of suspension of public transportation caused by natural disasters such as big earth quakes, by temporally opening our facilities.
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- GOOD for Earth
Is it good for the Earth?
Projects and initiatives for environment protection in global scale,
including global warming issues and plastic waste issues.
Environmental Initiatives
As one of our environment protection measures, our hotels adopt ‘eco-cleaning’, changing bedclothes every other day if you stay more than one night, and use water-saving shower heads.
The building of THE THOUSAND KYOTO is decorated with greens recreating Kyoto’s beautiful mountainous landscape. It also introduced renewable solar energy and well water system to utilize Kyoto’s abundant underground water. This works as a local disaster protection base, as well as a CO2 reduction measure. These initiatives create values worthy of a hotel at the entrance of Kyoto.
Urban Beekeeping
THE THOUSAND KYOTO in front of Kyoto Station started urban beekeeping on its rooftop in May 2021.
Beekeeping means keeping honey bees in order to collect honey, beeswax and royal jelly. Honey bees have important roles in the ecosystem circulation as a pollinator. By pollinating plants in urban areas, plants that cannot pollinate on their own grow, bear fruit, wild birds carry the seeds, creating more greenery in the area. Then, the honey bees help again with the pollination of new plants, creating a natural circulation.
Beekeeping in an urban area like in front of Kyoto Station allows us to promote greenery and also sell honey we collected as products and serve them in our hotel restaurants. We aim to revitalize the local area through locally consuming locally produced food.
Environment Friendly Amenities
KYOTO CENTURY HOTEL was refurbished under the concept of “BIO-Style” and continually use environment friendly amenities since 2015, seeking to be a selected hotel.
1) ‘IKEUCHI ORGANIC’ towels:
Totally organic towel from Imabari City selected for safety and comfort. It is made of pesticide-free, fair-traded 100% organic cotton, and made with wind generated electricity, which is also environment friendly.
2) ‘Ogawa Coffee’s Bird Friendly® Organic Drip Coffee’
Bird friendly coffee means coffee grown in a forest where migratory birds take rest. KYOTO CENTURY HOTEL offers in its guest rooms coffee roasted in Kyoto’s renowned local coffee shop, Ogawa Coffee.
3) ‘mizutori Wooden Slippers’
We asked a geta (Japanese clog) manufacturer ‘mizutori’, who keeps and evolves tradition to propose new culture of modern lifestyle, to provide wooden slippers. They are comfortable and can contribute to reducing waste by using them alongside existing pile fabric slippers.
Promoting SDGs through Food
We started a workgroup having a mission of ‘promoting SDGs through Food’ in 2021. We aim to achieve SDGs in an important category, food, which is inseparable from the hotel business. Each one of our hotels will make efforts including promotion of ‘culture of non-disposal’ in order to avoid food waste, dissemination of dietary education from hotels, and development of menus using sustainable locally produced ingredients.
Especially, our directly owned restaurant in KYOTO CENTURY HOTEL received ‘the Certification for Restaurants Promoting Zero Leftover’ designated by the city of Kyoto.
* ‘Restaurants Promoting Zero Leftover’ are restaurants and accommodations who endeavor to avoid ‘food waste’ such as leftover or untouched food and reduce garbage. Kyoto City certifies such restaurants and accommodations and publishes certification documents.
We will continue our efforts to contribute to the society and environment, adding different contents to reduce food waste.