Our Approach

LIXIL has established Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) as one of the three core pillars of its Impact Strategy. As a key part of this commitment, we contribute to creating an inclusive society through our business by developing and providing water and housing products and services that incorporate universal design (UD), making them easy for everyone to use.

LIXIL also creates a positive impact on society that extends beyond meeting the needs of end-users. We actively engage in initiatives including disseminating information about the UD and public toilets, conducting awareness-raising activities to promote understanding of people with disabilities, and participating in joint research with universities.

Learn more about Diversity & Inclusion >
Learn more about LIXIL Universal Design (UD) Policies (Japanese only, opens new window) >

The features of LIXIL Universal Design (UD)

Promoting Universal Design in Housing

The Body Hug Shower to Suit All Lifestyles

The Body Hug Shower offers a new sensation in the showering experience–surrounding the body in a gentle embrace of warm water that provides the ultimate full-body bathing comfort and warmth. In fact, just five minutes of use warms the entire body more effectively than a conventional shower.

Today, as family structures, work styles, and lifestyles diversify, bathing habits have also evolved, and more people are choosing showers over traditional baths, regardless of the season. A LIXIL survey revealed that while those who prioritize showers over baths value the convenience and time-saving benefits, many also desire the relaxing warmth typically associated with a bath.

In developing the Body Hug Shower, we interviewed employees of various ages and genders, including wheelchair users, to pursue a product that satisfies the needs of those who enjoy the ease of showering but also want to warm their bodies thoroughly. The ten precisely-positioned nozzles, carefully structured water flow, and adjustable arm angle are all engineered to deliver the optimal experience for a wide range of users.

The Body Hug Shower also supports comfortable bathing for individuals who have difficulty stepping into a bathtub and requires assistance, while also reducing the burden on caregivers. Today, the product has already been adopted at many welfare facilities and hospitals.

Learn more about Body Hug Shower (Japanese only, opens new window) >

DOAC: Front Door Electric Opener System

KINUAMI Care: Foam Shower Meeting the Bathing Assistance Needs of Medical and Nursing Care Facilities

Other example products and services (Japanese only, opens new window) >

Promoting Inclusive Public Toilets

Public toilets remain one of the greatest barriers to creating a truly inclusive society. To address this, LIXIL is committed to creating safe, comfortable, and dignified public toilet facilities that are accessible to everyone. Public toilets reflect the values of a society, continuously evolving with the times, while also embodying the universal principle of human dignity. At LIXIL, we view public toilets as essential public infrastructure and are committed to ongoing research to develop solutions that allow every individual—regardless of age, gender, or ability—to use them with confidence.

Examples of our initiatives to date include:

• Toward Toilets for All: Envisioning a Diverse Society Through Inclusive Toilets^* (Japanese only, opens new window).

• Implementation of an inclusive, dementia-friendly toilet at the Maiya Senboku store in Iwate Prefecture (Japanese only, opens new window)

*Inclusive Toilet: A new concept of public restrooms designed for diverse needs and all-gender use, encouraging individuals to “choose the stall that best suits you.”

A-SPEC: Public Toilet Auto-Design Service

Strengthening Communication Regarding UD Concepts

The UD Website and LIXIL Public Toilet Lab

Providing Captions for TV Commercials and Our Online Showroom

All TV commercials of LIXIL Corporation (excluding those aired on Broadcasting Satellites^*1) have subtitles in Japan.

Subtitled TV commercials, where viewers can press the subtitle button on their remote control to display captions of the audio, are considered an effective means of conveying information to people with hearing impairments. While over 90% of TV programs are available with subtitles, very few companies provide subtitles for their commercials. According to the Council for the Promotion of Subtitled Commercials, as of June 2021, only 1.02% of commercials in Japan were estimated to have subtitles.

LIXIL has pioneered the use of subtitles for its content to realize an inclusive society. Initially, implementation was a challenge because TV stations were not yet equipped to handle it, and LIXIL did not yet have closed caption^*2 production capability. However, after interviewing employees with hearing impairments, we were convinced that the captions were effective and found a way to implement them. As a result, in the first half of FYE2023, our subtitled commercials reached 135,000 people with hearing impairments, part of a wider audience of 2.6 million people, including senior citizens with age-related hearing loss.^*3

Furthermore, among our employees with hearing impairments, some have decided to join the company after seeing its subtitled commercials. This demonstrates how such initiatives also contribute to advancing diversity and inclusion within the organization.

Since December 2022, LIXIL has also been providing customer service in its Online Showrooms in Japan using AmiVoice ScribeAssist, an AI speech recognition-based transcription app. The coordinator's spoken words are displayed as text, enabling customers with hearing impairments, those with age-related hearing loss, as well as multilingual speakers who need assistance with understanding Japanese, to enjoy a more comfortable online consultation experience.

In developing these services, employees with hearing impairments participated in the trial phase and played an active role in the development of the service. At LIXIL, we continue to harness the perspectives and insights of our diverse workforce to create products and services that respond to a wide range of customer 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.

Promoting Understanding of D&I

Universal Design Training for Employees

In Japan, LIXIL provides training for employees in sales departments to help them deepen their understanding of LIXIL UD and enable them to offer customer-centric services and proposals. In FYE2025, we conducted training sessions designed to enhance our employees’ ability to propose ways to create safe and reliable housing for older people and wheelchair users. One such initiative was conducting 24 in-person training sessions for showroom coordinators and other staff who guide customers around our showrooms. Attended by approximately 300 employees, these sessions covered key considerations for space design in residential toilets, bathrooms, and kitchens as well as the products we offer, and methods for presenting and proposing UD ideas using the products on display.

Furthermore, to enhance our proposal capabilities for residential homes and facilities for older adults, we created educational videos featuring individuals with varying levels of physical fitness and specific characteristics using plumbing fixtures (10 videos on toilets and 12 on bathrooms), which are utilized in employee training.

We also manage an intranet site that hosts 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

Universal Run

UD Classes for Kyorin University Students