Coexistence with local community

As a corporate group operating in a community-based manner, the Daigas Group believes that its good relationships with local communities is an indispensable foundation for its management. To help local residents better understand our business, we are pro-actively disclosing information and increasing the transparency of our company operations, as well as communicating with the general public.

We have also been making proposals for and cooperating in local governments’ activities and working on joint efforts and activities with communities to create value of communities by taking full advantage of knowledge and resources which the Daigas Group has acquired through its business operations.

As an energy service provider focusing on businesses closely related to people’s day-to-day lives as well as addressing environmental preservation with a great sense of mission, the Daigas Group is working on giving the public greater safety and security by cooperating and making proposals in fields related to daily lives, such as community building with the local environment and disaster management and health.

In FY2022, the Daigas Group held seminars, encouraged local governments to promote the SDGs, and collaborated with groups toward solving issues in the super-aging society.

The Daigas Group helps to build vibrant local communities in a unique way, by revitalizing local culture and history. Between 1985 and 2003, the Group operated Ogimachi Museum Square (OMS), a multicultural facility housed in a former company building. A core part of the facility was a theater that promoted youth culture. In 1994, on the tenth anniversary of OMS, we established the “OMS Drama Award” as part of a commemorative project. Today, the annual award program continues to help discover and support young and more established playwrights, with 50 to 60 entries each year. In FY2022, in light of the situation where it was difficult to perform a play due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new OMS Drama Award-winning play befitting the era of new normal was selected from among 45 works, including applications of works which had not yet been performed.

In 2010, the drama series Histoire was started, where reading plays about past leading figures in the Kansai region, written by OMS Drama Award-winning playwrights, are performed in the areas related to their protagonists.

In FY2022, Roshu-no-hito (lit. “People in Roshu”), a play produced as the sixth episode of Histoire, and Wasureji-no-ashita (lit. “An unforgettable morning”), a theatrical play performed while strolling around town depicting the life of Yosano Akiko (an extra edition), were performed again at Sakai Risho no Mori in Sakai City.

Through a series of efforts, the Daigas Group fosters and supports playwrights and promotes the theatrical culture in Kansai in order to facilitate community building and revitalize local communities and help rediscover attractive local features.

The Research Institute for Culture, Energy and Life (CEL) the in-house research institute of the Daigas Group, established in 1986 as one of the projects commemorating the 80th anniversary of the founding of Osaka Gas. The CEL currently focuses on the research fields of “consumers,” “regions and communities,” “economy and industry” and “urban infrastructure,” being engaged in research, practice and proposals to conduct structural analysis of society and solve social issues. The CEL presents findings from its research activities in publications, symposiums, and seminars, lectures on them at universities, and publishes them in newspapers and magazines. It also makes good use of them in outside activities undertaken in cooperation with government agencies, business committees and NPOs. In addition, efforts have been made to disseminate information through media, including the CEL magazine, its website, and its official Facebook page. Furthermore, the CEL is taking advantage of a laboratory set up at the Knowledge Capital facility at Grand Front Osaka on the north side of JR Osaka Station for the purpose of studying the attraction of cities. Seminars and study sessions are being held on various themes, such as region/community and super-ageing society.

Storytellers’ Theater aims to discover the historical and cultural resources of a city, organize them into stories, and show them with narrations, music and videos. It has performed in the Kinki region, mainly in Osaka, and in September 2019, the project had its first overseas performance in Singapore. In FY2022, “Osaka Midosuji Story,” a video for online streaming (including the English version), was produced and released on the official YouTube website (Kataribe Theatre).

Lectures and seminars were held with local governments and local groups to make cities more attractive and create mechanisms to support senior citizens in finding jobs.

Also launched was the U-CoRo Project, aimed at developing new networks through the effective use of local resources. Specifically, the Project periodically publishes a wall newspaper, “Uemachi Plateau Konjaku Times.” Through the newspaper, it is hoped that local people will think deeply about their communities both their past and future. Other events held under the U-CoRo Project include the regular holding of a forum on various topics.

At the Research Institute for Culture, Energy and Life (CEL), researchers have been taking up active roles in various fields by taking advantage of their knowledge acquired through research and other activities. In FY2022, it started to help build communities where senior citizens can take up active roles in collaboration with SPICE WORKS Lab, an NPO corporation.

A working program was organized on a trial basis to create a community mechanism that enables senior citizens to work comfortably and engage in activities. It started from collaboration between the local government and citizens in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture.
Thorough this working program, a mechanism for short-time working was established based on the theme of “healthy because of working = working for health.” In June 2021, planning and operation of smartphone classes for beginners started. In the classes, senior citizens served as tutors to respond to the needs of several students. They worked through the short-time working program and gave classes from the viewpoint of senior citizens. The classes were well received by participants.

“Petit-katsu,” a matching service, is under development to promote community activities. The service will enable users to check the status of solicitation of applications for short-time working, volunteer activities, and events and to apply on LINE.

The Research Institute for Culture, Energy and Life develops the matching service above and conducts research and analysis of collaboration with local governments and NPO corporations and releases the research results in and outside the company in order to help build communities where senior citizens support younger generations and take up active roles.

In order to incorporate the views of as many people as possible to improve business and operations, Osaka Gas creates opportunities to gather the opinions of people, such as members of consumer groups.

Once a year, there is a direct exchange of opinions between Osaka Gas’s management and representatives of the Kansai Consumer’s Association Liaison Commission, an organization of local consumer groups throughout the Kansai region. This exchange has been taking place for over 30 years, beginning in 1986. At the meeting in FY2022, Osaka Gas reported its efforts toward carbon neutrality based on the theme of “Daigas Group Medium-Term Management Plan 2023.” In a recent example, the company introduced an outline of the “technology development project aimed at the practical application of a methanation system” in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture. We received various questions and opinions from the participants, including an outlook of the expansion of renewable energy and lifting of gas rates that have been set based on rate regulations applied as transitional measures.

On a regular basis, Osaka Gas actively conducts educational activities, targeting consumer groups and consumer centers. In FY2021, we gave a lecture on the “Selection of Energy Resources Leading to Ethical Consumption” at a symposium sponsored by the Consumer Affairs Agency. In FY2022, we refrained from promoting educational activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are gradually resuming activities by implementing measures to prevent infection.

We will also continue to undertake public relations activities as part of our efforts to promote consumer-oriented business operations.

Osaka Gas has joined the following business/industry groups as a member to work with other companies in improving and solving social issues and problems.