First V500 Case Study Sharing Event Held at Kokuyo’s ‘Diversity Office’More than 10 companies participate, activities include hands-on inclusive design product workshop

The Nippon Foundation has endorsed the objectives of the Valuable 500 (V500), the world’s largest corporate network promoting business inclusion for people with disabilities, and has been supporting the project as a Global Impact Partner since 2021. Business inclusion for people with disabilities refers not only to hiring, but also means changing the ways businesses operate to include disabled people in all of their activities, like developing products and services so that they are easy for anyone to use, regardless of whether or not they have a disability. This leads to an environment in which people, who because of a disability have not previously been able to be employed or participate fully in consumer activities, can demonstrate their unrealized value.

V500 has decided to hold a Valuable 500 Accountability Summit under the name SYNC25 in Japan in December 2025. To create momentum for this event in the host country, an event organized by V500 and major Japanese stationary and business supply company Kokuyo was held on May 30 to allow companies to share examples and issues. This first event was held at Hows Park, a diversity office on the first floor of Kokuyo’s head office. Of the 53 V500 companies headquartered in Japan, more than 10 participated.

The first part of the program featured presentations by Kokuyo on Kokuyo’s approach to sustainability, and by homebuilder Sekisui House on its initiatives related to universal design and Japan’s revised Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities. The second part included a tour of Kokuyo’s head office including Hows Park, which was set up as part of an inclusive design project being carried out with Kokuyo K Heart, a special-purpose subsidiary that promotes inclusion of people with disabilities, and a workshop giving a hands-on demonstration of the company’s inclusive product design process.

In addition to incorporating the perspective of people with disabilities in product development at existing businesses, there were also lively discussions about hiring people with disabilities and their career paths. A representative from Kokuyo explained that even at Kokuyo, the parent company still needs to make more progress in its hiring of disabled employees, and that management is deliberating how to promote the hiring of people with disabilities groupwide, and not just leaving this to a designated subsidiary. K Heart also discussed how it is overhauling its human resources structure and working to facilitate the promotion of employees whose individual skills are recognized as contributing to results even if they lack the management capabilities that have been required in the past.

V500 plans to continue holding similar events in the future.