Working to Realize an Inclusive Society

Our Approach

Based on our Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) strategy, one of LIXIL’s three strategic pillars, we offer products and services that are built around our concept of universal design (UD) to help create an inclusive society in which diverse people can live exciting and rewarding lives while also respecting each other. In addition to providing UD products and services, we also engage in awareness-raising activities to promote greater D&I and joint research with relevant organizations.

Learn more about D&I strategy >
Learn more about LIXIL universal design (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

LIXIL UD Concepts
“Good for One, Good for All, Good for a Lifetime”

LIXIL UD Policies

The features of LIXIL UD

Promoting UD in Housing

The Body Hug Shower to Suit All Lifestyles

The Body Hug Shower offers a new sensation of being gently enveloped in hot water and warmed throughout your body. It offers ultimate full-body bathing comfort and warmth, and just five minutes in the shower will warm your whole body much more effectively than a conventional shower.

As families, workstyles, and lifestyles have diversified in today’s world, the way in which we wash our bodies differs from person to person. Now, more people are opting to just take a shower rather than get in the bathtub, whatever the season. Our survey suggests that people who choose to shower rather than take a bath prioritize easy-use, time-saving bathing, but also seek optimal warmth.

When we developed the Body Hug Shower, we interviewed employees of various ages and genders and employees who use wheelchairs to help create a product that satisfies the needs of those who enjoy the ease of showering but also want to thoroughly warm their bodies. We have sought to provide ultimate comfort for a diverse range of people by carefully positioning the shower’s 10 nozzles and considering the way in which the water ejects from the nozzles, as well as the volume of water released and the range of motion of the shower arm.

The Body Hug Shower is currently being introduced into many welfare facilities and hospitals because it enables care recipients who find it hard to step into the bathtub to enjoy comfortable bathing and reduces the burden on caregivers.

Learn more about Body Hug Shower (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

DOAC Front Door Electric Opening System

The DOAC front door electric opening system enables people to lock and unlock and open and close their front door without touching it using a remote control. This will help enhance the independence and mobility of people with physical disabilities or elderly people in their daily lives.

We achieved the world’s first “hands-free operation” of a front door with tap control and voice control using a smartphone, Apple Watch^* or other devices.

* Apple Watch is a trademark of Apple Inc. that is registered in the United States and other countries.

Learn more about DOAC (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

DOAC achieved the world’s first “hands-free operation” of a front door

KINUAMI: Bathing Assistance Foam Shower

The KINUAMI foam shower sold by NITTO CERA Corporation, a LIXIL subsidiary, covers the body with fine, warm foam, enabling the user to wash their body with simple gentle strokes and offering a perfect bathing experience for all generations from adults to children. KINUAMI can also reduce the stress on the caregiver and the bather by gently yet thoroughly washing hard to reach areas with foam from the shower. The shower is also being introduced into medical and nursing care facilities and, in December 2023, we released a new model called KINUAMI Care featuring certain specifications incorporated based on the feedback of care recipients and caregivers.

Learn more about KINUAMI (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

The KINUAMI foam shower makes bathing easier

Other example products and services (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

Promoting Inclusive Public Toilets

LIXIL aims to realize a public toilet system that everyone can use comfortably and with peace of mind to help solve one of the biggest barriers to achieving an inclusive society, namely public toilets.

Initiatives

Developed and proposed public toilets that enable everyone to choose the specific cubicle they want to use depending on their purpose irrespective of whether they are male, female, adults, children, able-bodied people or people with disabilities.
Installed all-gender universal toilets designed for people with dementia.

More details on the initiatives (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

A-SPEC Automated Public Toilet Design Service

LIXIL provides a free, cloud-based automated public toilet design service called A-SPEC. Users access the website and input information about the toilet space (width, depth, etc.) and equipment and fixtures (type of toilet, hand rails, etc.), and the program performs a number of simulations to provide the best plans.

Users can view 3D models and compare the positions of fixtures, required space for use, and overall usability to choose the optimal plan, then download the data for free.

A screen from the A-SPEC automated public toilet design service

LIXIL aims to help increase the availability of safe and easy-to-use toilets by approaching many troublesome issues for public toilet designers from the standpoint of users and applying our know-how and planning experience to support the designing of convenient toilet spaces.

In FYE2024, LIXIL won the Semi Grand Prix award in the Co-Creation Category at the CEATEC AWARD 2023. These awards were presented at the CEATEC2023 Toward Society 5.0 Exhibition for products that were deemed excellent and highly innovative. Public toilet needs have grown increasingly diverse in recent years but many of the processes for designing those toilets have to be done by hand, and given the labor shortage, people are concerned about the individualized nature of the work, segregation of expertise, and other issues. A-SPEC is a service that can help solve these issues using digital technology, a point that was recognized in the granting of the above award.

Learn more about A-SPEC (Japanese only, a new page will open) >
A-SPEC wins the Semi Grand Prix award in the Co-Creation Category at CEATEC AWARD (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

Stronger Communication of UD Concepts

The UD Website: LIXIL Public Toilet Lab

LIXIL has set up its UD website to provide customers and business partners with appropriate information about UD concepts and products. We are also enhancing digital communication with the launch of the LIXIL Public Toilet Lab information site about public toilets.

We are making the UD website easier to navigate for a broader range of people including people with disabilities or older people by introducing intuitive design.

UD website

The LIXIL Public Toilet Lab website, which specializes in information on public toilets, digs deep into the issue of toilet access from the perspectives of human rights and the SDGs. We use it as a tool for conveying LIXIL’s ideas and proposals relating to public toilets and considering the best options together with specific toilet users.

In FYE2024, we changed some of the website’s design elements to make it easier to read and digest. New content that allows viewers to experience some virtual 3D examples of inclusive toilet^*1 construction has been added as people can no longer check out the toilets installed at our former headquarters now that it has moved.

According to an online survey that we conducted in December 2023^*2, all respondents said their perception of LIXIL changed significantly after visiting the Public Toilet Lab site. For example, the number of respondents who considered LIXIL to be a company that actively pursued initiatives relating to diversity and inclusion, UD development, and upholding human rights increased from between under 10% and 20% before they viewed the site to roughly 20% to 60% after reading the site.

*1 Inclusive toilets: A new kind of toilet proposal inspired by the concept of “choosing a cubicle that best suits you” and based on assumed diverse needs and all-gender usage.
*2 n= 1,236 (survey panel: a group of people aged 15 to 69 excluding junior high school students, equal gender and age distribution)

Virtual construction examples and photos of inclusive toilets

Learn more about LIXIL universal design (Japanese only, a new page will open) >
Learn more about LIXIL Public Toilet Lab (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

Revising Public Toilet and Elderly Facility Planning Books

Following revisions made to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Architectural Design Standards Taking into Consideration Smooth Use by Elderly People and Persons with Disabilities, we revised our Public Toilet Planning Book and ELDERLY FACILITY PLANNING BOOK, and are conducting internal and external education based on these revised guidelines. We then utilize the knowledge gained through this education to propose public toilet spaces that are expected to be used by people with disabilities such as wheelchair users and caregivers.

Subtitles for TV Commercials and Our Online Showroom

All of LIXIL Corporation’s TV commercials (excluding those on Broadcasting Satellites^*1) include subtitles.

Commercials with subtitles that can be activated via the TV remote control are considered one of the most effective means of conveying information to people with hearing disabilities, and while over 90% of TV shows are now available subtitled, the majority of companies do not make their commercials subtitle compatible, with just 1.02% estimated to have subtitles in Japan (as of June 2021, according to the Council for the Promotion of Subtitled Commercials).

Long committed to promoting D&I, we were ahead of other companies by several years in offering subtitles. At first, it was not at all easy to achieve this because the systems for broadcasting commercials with subtitles had not yet been fully established at the TV stations and we also had a difficulty in finding out how to produce our closed caption.^*2 However, after talking directly with employees with hearing disabilities, we were convinced that the captions were effective and so we found a way to make it a reality. As a result, in the first half of FYE2023, our subtitled commercials reached 135,000 people with hearing disabilities, part of a wider audience of 2.6 million people including senior citizens with difficulty in hearing.^*3

Some employees with hearing disabilities decided to join LIXIL after seeing our subtitled commercials, which is a result of this initiative that drives diversity and inclusion across the organization.

In Japan, we also began providing customer service at the LIXIL Online Showroom using AmiVoice ScribeAssist, a speech-to-text app powered by AI voice recognition in December 2022. This service provides subtitles for what the coordinator says, which helps people with hearing disabilities, older people who have difficulty in hearing, and non-native Japanese speakers understand and comfortably use our online customer service.

Our employees with hearing disabilities participated in the trial phase and played an active role in developing the service. By leveraging the knowledge and perspectives of our diverse workforce, we are committed to creating products and services that meet a wide variety of needs.

*1 As of July 2024.

*2 Subtitles that viewers can choose to display or not display.

*3 Estimated from the actual numbers of LIXIL TV commercial broadcasts from April to September 2022.

Learn more about subtitles in our Online Showroom (Japanese only) >

Promoting Broader Understanding of D&I

UD Training for Employees

In Japan, we provide training for sales departments to help employees deepen their understanding of UD-related issues and formulate a response and make proposals that illustrate a more intimate understanding of our customers’ needs. In FYE2024, we conducted training sessions designed to improve our employees’ ability to propose ways to create safe and reliable housing for older people and wheelchair users. For example, we held a total of 10 face-to-face training sessions for coordinators and other staff who guide customers around our showrooms. Roughly 500 people participated in the sessions, where they learned about the key considerations for designing toilet, bathroom, or kitchen spaces in the home and the products we can offer, as well as the key points about UD and how best to propose UD ideas using the products on display.

Furthermore, in order to improve our ability to make proposals for residential homes and facilities for older people, we produced videos of people with different levels of physical fitness and specific characteristics using plumbing fixtures (10 videos on toilets and 12 on bathrooms), and used those videos to educate employees.

We also have an internal website that offers a wide range of UD-related information and content that we use to provide information and conduct training for our sales departments.

Education for Future Generations

LIXIL offers various education programs in Japan, aiming to create an inclusive society that enables diverse groups of people to live invigorating lives while respecting those around them.

Universal Run Conducted: 700 times
in cumulative total, participated by: 19,818

Universal Run

The Universal Run, which is held at elementary schools throughout Japan, helps children learn about and understand diversity by interacting with para-athletes, experiencing parasports, listening to lectures, and participating in other activities. In FYE2024, not only did we offer participatory classes with athletes who use prosthetic limbs, but we also offered children the chance to experience wheelchair basketball and para-badminton (wheelchair). The children who participated in the classes got to actually experience parasports by sitting in competition-style wheelchairs and learn about disabilities through classroom talks.

The program is run in partnership with schools, community governments and local LIXIL employees, and has been joined by 19,818 children over 700 sessions so far.

Learn more about Universal Run (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

Universal run activity
Chie Yamashita, a sprinter in athletics (SMBC Nikko Securities)

Universal Design: Good for One, Good for All, Good for a Lifetime outreach classes

We hold our Universal Design: Good for One, Good for All, Good for a Lifetime program, where our employees create their own teaching materials and visit elementary schools to conduct lessons on UD for children. So far, a total of 132 sessions have been held at schools, events, and other venues for 4,462 participants.

The program is designed to highlight examples of UD in nearby streets and individual homes to deepen students’ understanding of diversity in terms of gender, age, nationality, and ability and disability, and encourage them to think what they can do and how they can act on it.

Students taking part in an outreach class

UD class for Kyorin University students

At the LIXIL Showroom, we are also holding UD classes for students in the Department of Physical Therapy of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Kyorin University. In FYE2024, we held classes for 60 junior students and teaching staff.

As part of the study of improving living environments, the classes provided explanations of LIXIL’s UD concepts and policies, and key points of product design and production with a focus on water-related products. We also introduced the products on display at our Tokyo showroom while explaining them from a UD perspective. Many of the students will go on to become occupational therapists in health, medical, and welfare facilities, so we hope that LIXIL's UD know-how will be utilized in rehabilitation work (the acquisition and recovery of movement for daily living) at their places of employment, and in water-related planning for home renovations as part of municipal support for care recipients.

A class for students from Kyorin University

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