Sustainability

The World According to Takuwa

At the heart of the spirituality of “learn from rivers and become familiar with water,” which was the attitude that Takuwa's founder, Masaji Okuda, maintained throughout his life, is always “the spirit of altruism.” Takuwa aims to “create a society where people and water can coexist” by tackling social issues with the spirit of altruism.
That's why Takuwa always thinks about “what is best for water?” First, consider water. Think about what is best for water, and do everything in a way you can make water happy. By repeatedly the practices, the Earth will become “a world where people and water can coexist,” or a sustainable world.

Takuwa believes that the world is made up of systems, and that the day-to-day world we live in is a world where systems are functioning properly. Therefore, all social issues are regarded as caused by systems that have temporarily become dysfunctional.
This means that when dysfunction of a system is resolved, the system will start to function again. That is, it is possible to think that all social issues are “solvable”. Thus, in order to solve a problem, by looking carefully and closely at what is happening, establishing a countermeasure against it through sufficient examination, and then repeating PDCA-based verification, regarding the countermeasure as a hypothesis, it is possible to restore a dysfunctional system to a state that it was in before it became dysfunctional or bring it closer to a desirable state.

The key to solving a problem is “altruism”. Takuwa is determined to take measures to resolve such system malfunctions with an altruistic mindset. Takuwa can never compromise until the measures it takes increase its social value. By following a procedure based on altruism, you can arrive at a true solution to a problem.

Takuwa sees natural disasters as social issues. Takuwa believes that climate change is a phenomenon in which the weather system is dysfunctional. Also, as the term “man-made disaster” suggests, Takuwa believes that disasters occur because there were problems in the way people lived.
For example, if damage was greater because something was missing, one of possible solutions is “preparedness.” This includes measures such as personal stockpiling, disaster-conscious life, and relocation to safer land.
In Japan, the conventional concept of disaster prevention measures that the government takes the lead in protecting the nation, which was based on physical and logical measures, has been overturned.
As the weather system, known as climate change, is currently malfunctioning, the nation is now in an era where each and every citizen must take the initiative to think, judge, and act for themselves against natural disasters, rather than fully depending on the government, in order to protect lives and property.
In that sense, “preparedness” means disaster prevention companies. Do countries where natural disasters occur frequently have companies that take on the task of disaster prevention in their own country??
For example, if Takuwa installs water level gauges in poor countries, it may be possible to temporarily protect the people of those countries from flooding. However, all factors, including the time, number of people that can be protected, and area, will be limited, and the people of those countries will not truly be able to escape the danger of disaster. This is because you never know when or where a disaster will occur.
If Takuwa keeps being called out to the scene of disaster whenever it occurs, it will never be a fundamental solution. The true solution with social value is for impoverished countries to develop their own strength and be able to deal with disasters. In other words, Takuwa's “problem solving through altruism” is to help people think for themselves and take action.

Our Approach to Problem Solving

People who have worked at Takuwa for a certain period of time become seeds that carry the minds and skills they have acquired at Takuwa, and they are scattered around the world on the wind, sprouting, growing, and blooming in the places where they end up. They will become trees and plants, and eventually become a magnificent forest. The land, which was once barren and desolate, will be reborn and create a rich natural environment.
It is a world full of altruism, where all the people living there are enveloped in a sense of happiness.
Specifically, people who have acquired the mind and skills at Takuwa over a period of five to ten years will eventually retire from Takuwa and return to their home countries, where they will set up disaster prevention companies in their hometowns.
These newly established companies will create new employment in those countries. This sequence will lead to a solution to the social problem of poverty in these countries. When the sequence begins to work as a cyclical sequence, it will help solve another social problem, or the lack of an environment for children to receive an education; as these countries will become prosperous and children who were previously unable to receive an education will be able to attend school.
Takuwa believes that this is true disaster prevention and international contribution.
This is the “solving social problems through altruism” strategy that Takuwa aims for. When this concept develops, Takuwa will be able to reconnect with people who have achieved results in those countries, and together Takuwa will be able to create new innovations with them. Takuwa aims to make this a reality.
If this kind of sequence becomes a business model, Takuwa believes that a chain of innovation will occur around the world, and that social issues caused by selfishness, such as poverty, will be solved, and a sustainable world based on altruism will be created.
When children who are educated in altruism grow up, they will not choose violence as an easy solution to problems, but will choose to solve problems through dialogue, not based on a calculation of profit and loss.
Such children will create new values and ethical standards for the world of the future, and will keep on making updates... Our mission and sustainability strategy is to create this process in many places around the world.
Rather than being an idealistic or optimistic approach, Takuwa truly believes that the only way to solve real problems is through altruism, and that altruism is the only way to create social value and a sustainable world.