January 29, 2026 Human Rights/DE&I

As part of our “DE&I Month,” IHI held various events both inside and outside the company throughout December.

The IHI Group designates December each year as “DE&I Month,” intensifying efforts to encourage every employee to personally consider and act on DE&I. In 2025, we primarily implemented the following four initiatives:

Employee Message Relay for International Human Rights Day

To coincide with International Human Rights Day on December 10, we held a message relay project conveying the importance of respecting human rights from an employee perspective. This initiative aimed to create opportunities for each employee to personally consider human rights as their own responsibility.
Here are some messages submitted in response to the prompt: “How do you consciously show respect to colleagues, partners, customers, local communities, and everyone involved?”

• In my daily work, I value transforming differences in nationality, religion, culture, and values into strengths, ensuring everyone respects and understands each other while growing together.

• First, I strive to treat myself with care and respect. By respecting myself, I naturally learned to interact with others around me with respect.

• I always aim to be sincere toward the person in front of me, the person on the other end of the phone or email, anyone beyond them, and toward myself. I want to correctly carry out what I believe to be right.

Cross-Cultural Understanding Training & Networking Event for Foreign Employees

On December 12, we held a cross-cultural understanding training session and networking event for foreign employees at IHI Headquarters (Koto-ku, Tokyo). The training curriculum was designed to overcome cultural and language barriers, promoting smooth communication and collaboration in the workplace. The post-training networking event provided a valuable opportunity for participants to interact and expand their networks, including cultural introduction sessions from participants’ home countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Mongolia). We will continue supporting foreign employees within the IHI Group so they can approach their work with greater confidence.

Special Lecture: “Challenge and Growth: Building an Inclusive Society Together”

On December 16, we held a special lecture for employees by Izumi Zaima, a member of the Japanese women’s wheelchair basketball team who joined IHI in April of the same year.
During the lecture, Ms. Zaima shared her experiences and insights gained from becoming wheelchair-bound in sixth grade, the challenges she faced in transforming her environment to become a top wheelchair basketball player, and the growth she achieved through these experiences. Her talk covered experiences of receiving support from others throughout her wheelchair life, insights gained from those experiences, ways she can contribute to realizing an inclusive society that leverages diverse individual strengths, and her future dreams. This provided IHI employees with an opportunity to consider how they can practice DE&I in the workplace. Feedback from participating employees included: “I want to actively communicate without judging based on preconceptions or assumptions,” and “I hope we can create an environment where it’s natural to rely on others when in need without hesitation, and conversely, to be relied upon.”

Speaker: Izumi Zaima
Born in 1996. Began wheelchair basketball in junior high school, competing in the World Championships, Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, and Paris 2024 Paralympics. Awarded All-Star honors at Japan’s premier domestic tournament. Alongside her athletic career, she dedicates herself to building a society where everyone can pursue challenges authentically through lectures and outreach activities. Currently affiliated with IHI.

Film Screening Event

On December 18, in collaboration with Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, we held a film screening event at Toyosu Sail Park (Koto-ku, Tokyo) for employees of the Fujifilm Group and IHI Group to explore human rights and sustainability.
Titled “Cinema × Talk: Changing the Future,” the event featured a screening of the sustainability-themed documentary film 2040: Join The Regeneration, followed by participant discussions and a dialogue with guest speakers.
During the post-screening discussion session, participants shared their impressions and deepened their understanding by discussing sustainable technologies and initiatives that stood out in the film, as well as actions they could take in their daily lives and work.
For the dialogue session with guest speakers, we welcomed Mr. Shigeru Tanaka, Secretary General and Director of the Asia Pacific Resource Center. Mr. Tanaka commented, “There are limits to individuals thinking about and acting on these social issues alone; systems and institutions are necessary.” Participants shared challenges and the importance of scaling individual change to the collective level. One person noted, “When I tried to change company policies, my ideas weren’t understood and faced opposition.” To encourage participants to tackle these difficulties, Mr. Tanaka offered practical advice: “Please talk to your boss or colleagues tomorrow—about the film, or about sustainability.”

<Featured Film>
Documentary Film: 2040: Join The Regeneration
https://unitedpeople.jp/2040/about


The IHI Group will continue advancing its DE&I initiatives, embedding DE&I principles into the Group’s culture while fostering an organizational climate where every employee can leverage their unique strengths and thrive.

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