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Since the 1890s, Lion has implemented educational activities aimed at spreading the practice of washing with soaps and detergents. Furthermore, since the 1990s, when group infections through food poisoning came to be seen as a social problem in Japan, Lion has advanced the unique concept that washing with antibacterial hand soap can be fun, promoting the formation of proper hand washing habits alongside its products.
We can work together to keep germs and viruses off of us and keep from bringing them into the places we live, work and play. The first step is to wash our hands and gargle as soon as we get home. To help realize healthy living for all, Lion seeks to help firmly establish basic habits like these. Lion has long carried out activities to this end in Japan and across Asia.
To establish cleanliness and hygiene habits, Lion’s policy is to foster proper habits that can be practiced anywhere, anytime. In addition to fostering proper cleanliness and hygiene habits in everyday life with a focus on children, Lion promotes hand cleanliness care that can be practiced when there is insufficient water for washing and the establishment of cleanliness and hygiene practices for food service professionals, such as those working at restaurants and hotels. In doing so, we seek to go to consumers where they are under the KireiKirei banner, partnering with local communities, including government bodies and schools, to advance employee-led activities together.
Lion carries out activities to promote proper handwashing habits as part of junior employee training. Every year, around 100 junior employees work in teams to teach children at kindergartens and preschools around Japan the importance of handwashing.
Furthermore, we are helping increase awareness among employees through activities in coordination with retailers and by incorporating activities to promote proper handwashing habits at kindergartens and preschools into the training of junior employees. We are advancing initiatives with trading partners around the country, such as Sugiyama Drugs Co., Ltd., in Nagoya.
In 2021, we expanded the scope of employees’ activities to promote proper handwashing to include nursery schools, kindergartens and elementary schools.
These activities involved employees teaching classes, the theme of which was “learning proper handwashing to protect our health and the health of those we care about.” In the classes, the employees worked to instill an understanding of handwashing and proper habits by encouraging the participating children to think about why handwashing is important and ways of protecting themselves from viruses and bacteria. To minimize the risk of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic, these classes were conducted as hybrid classes involving online and in-person elements, but since 2022 we have been shifting toward holding the events in person.
From 2012 to 2024 around 1,700 employees participated in activities to promote good handwashing habits. Over this period, approximately 44,300 preschoolers, students and faculty took part in these activities.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. 200 |
Approx. 1,300 |
Approx. 2,360 |
Approx. 2,510 |
Approx. 2,690 |
After tag rugby lessons, players from the Company's rugby team give handwashing presentations to instill proper techniques as well as the habit of washing hands after returning from outside.
In a new initiative, we launched the Student Handwashing Meister program in collaboration with industry, government and academic institutions.
The KireiKirei brand has continued implementing the Kirei Relay Project, which aims to realize a society full of human interaction by encouraging people to practice hygiene habits for the sake of the people they care about. This project seeks to make everyday handwashing a more enjoyable habit through such activities as creating one-of-a-kind personalized KireiKirei hand soap bottles and campaigns at educational facilities promoting proper handwashing and gargling techniques.
Washing for at least 30 seconds is fundamental to the effective removal of viruses and germs from the hands. We are implementing fun activities to help foster proper habits like this even among small children.
In 2022, in support of Global Handwashing Day on October 15, we hosted the Global My Bottle Sticker Drawing Contest with the aim of establishing fun hand washing habits for the whole family. For the contest, children hand-drew designs for their own one-of-a-kind KireiKirei bottles. We received entries from children in Japan and other regions in Asia.
We are promoting proper handwashing habits at kindergartens, preschools, elementary schools and public facilities, mainly in areas across Japan where Lion facilities are located as well as in Ishinomaki City (Miyagi Prefecture), which was affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and an area closely connected to our founder, and Sakaide City (Kagawa Prefecture), where KireiKirei Hand Soap is manufactured.
Specifically, we have been promoting proper handwashing habits at kindergartens and preschools in Ishinomaki City since 2012 as part of support for recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. In addition to this, through a comprehensive collaboration agreement with the city, we have conducted oral healthcare activities for residents since 2019.
![KireiKirei City-Sakaide Project [Japanese]](/ja/sustainability/img/healthy-living-habits/cleanliness_activity/thumb_2024_02.png)
KireiKirei City-Sakaide Project [Japanese]
Lion’s initiatives to promote recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake
Lion began marketing KireiKirei hand soaps overseas in 2005. Today, the brand is sold by Lion Corporation (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Lion Corporation (Thailand) Ltd., Southern Lion Sdn. Bhd., Lion Corporation (Korea), Lion Daily Necessities Chemicals (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., Lion Corporation (Hong Kong) Ltd. and Lion Home Products (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. Each company, alongside the provision of products, carries out activities to promote the formation of cleanliness and hygiene habits, aiming to increase awareness of cleanliness and hygiene. In Bangladesh, a new market for the Group, we will also contribute to the development of cleanliness and hygiene habits by providing educational materials through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a means of supporting children’s hygiene education.
* Ai! Kekute (literally, Oh! Clean!) is a hand soap brand marketed by Lion Corporation (Korea).
In times of disaster, living in evacuation shelters, a limited water supply and other factors can increase hygiene-related risks in daily life, so keeping clean and taking care to stay healthy are extra important. In particular, maintaining oral hygiene and health—which is connected to one’s overall health—is crucial.
ILion has published a pamphlet covering oral and hand hygiene and health care in times of disaster as well as ways of preparing for such situations. In addition to providing information about hygiene and health in times of disaster, Lion participates in disaster readiness and other events around Japan to promote awareness and good practices.
Professionals who handle food, be it in restaurants, hotels, food product factories or other industries, all want to provide the best service possible so that their customers will enjoy their food with peace of mind, have a good time and make great memories.
Lion Hygiene Co., Ltd., as a comprehensive hygiene management company, helps create clean, safe and hygienic environments through products, hygiene assessments and other forms of support based on scientific insights in order to help food service professionals make their vision a reality. In particular, the foundation of hygiene management for professionals who handle food is thorough handwashing. As part of support efforts, Lion Hygiene provides hygiene management information that is important for such professionals, including not only handwashing techniques, but key points about hand washing timing and facilities, among other topics, through “Hygiene Tayori” fliers issued four times a year.
