Sustainability Activities

The Avex Building employs a whole host of cutting-edge technologies designed to reduce environmental impacts and running costs. First of all, the windows on the southern end, which receive the full brunt of the sun’s rays, are quite small so as to prevent excessive increases in room temperature. On the eastern and western sides of the building, windows extend from the floor up to the ceiling, but low-emissivity double-glazed glass is used because it lets the sunlight penetrate through whilst shielding the building interior from the heat. This glass, which is coated with a special metallic film, enhances air conditioning efficiency because the air space between the sheets of glass prevent the transfer of heat. Moreover, air barrier fans are installed around the windows to push the hot air upwards above the ceiling to a high-temperature sensible heat unit, thereby improving the building’s energy-saving performance. The HelionetAdvance energy management system of the Tokyo Gas Group has also been installed. HelionetAdvance is a service that can remotely and automatically operate equipment too difficult and complex for manual operation, thus enabling energy equipment to conserve even more energy. This service was awarded the ECCJ Chairman’s Prize in the products & business models category as part of the 2019 Energy Conservation Grand Prize.

After moving in to the Avex Building, we have minimized personal and departmental storage space and encouraged the conversion of documents into data files. In particular, we have focused on transitioning to a paperless office with almost all employees doing their work on notebook computers, while during meetings, all materials can be displayed on monitors. The situation is similar for the Board of Directors and other executive meetings—the actual meetings are convened as a teleconference, materials are in digital format, and even the approval process is completed electronically. As a result, we have managed to nearly halve our in-house consumption of paper over the four-year period 2016 through 2019. We intend to ramp up our initiatives in this area and engage in environmentally friendly activities—for example, we have plans to launch a carbon offset product.

To coincide with International Childhood Cancer Day on February 15, 2020, Empower Children—a childhood cancer fund whose social activities are supported by AVEX & HIROTSU BIO EMPOWER LLC.—teamed up with The Asahi Shimbun Company to jointly host the LIVE EMPOWER CHILDREN 2020 charity event. LIVE EMPOWER CHILDREN 2020 is a charity event through which performing artists use the power of music to bring happiness to children suffering from cancer. On the day of the event, 11 artists performed in front of approximately 3,500 people. The event was also streamed live for public viewing at some childhood cancer hospitals for the enjoyment of children unable to travel to the venue.

Avex Management artists Marie Iitoyo and Rina Kawaei joined other celebrities in a project team for a public campaign run by the National Police Agency to raise awareness and prevent people of all ages from falling victim to phone scams and other forms of fraud. They featured in campaign posters and videos, and took part in various events held across Japan.

The “ Prevent Hepatitis: It’s Up to You” national campaign aims to encourage people from all walks of life to be more proactively involved in the early detection and early treatment of hepatitis by providing easy-to-understand, factually correct information about the disease and the importance of hepatitis virus testing. Despite the fact that hepatitis has an alarmingly detrimental effect on health, it is a disease that goes largely undiagnosed and untreated because public awareness remains low. In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared July 28 as World Hepatitis Day. Observed every year, World Hepatitis Day is focused on preventing chronic viral hepatitis worldwide, ending discrimination and prejudice against people with the hepatitis virus, and stopping the spread of infection. To coincide with World Hepatitis Day, Japan holds its own hepatitis awareness day on July 28. As part of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s comprehensive program to tackle hepatitis, Avex artist Ryotaro Sugi works as the campaign figurehead with many celebrity campaign ambassadors and supporters to raise awareness about the condition. The Avex Group is doing its part by supporting a range of projects, such as producing buzzworthy campaign videos, posters, pamphlets, and reusable shopping bags, hosting PR events, making courtesy calls, promoting awareness with special campaign supporters, and keeping its website up to date.