Encouraging a Social Contribution Benefiting from the Location of Our Head Office
The Optex Group has been sponsoring numerous events associated with Shiga Prefecture, where it is headquartered, and with Lake Biwa. It also carries out many different social contribution activities, including support for local sports and culture promotion and exchange with local communities.
In addition, it engages in activities that help children, who will play central roles in tomorrow’s society, to learn the importance of nature and to acquire social skills for building good relationships with society and other people.
Lake Biwa Environmental Experience Learning Program
Our Group views social contribution activities as one mission of corporate management, and based on our policy on investment in local communities, we designate “fostering the next generation through environmental education and raising awareness of environmental conservation” as one of our priority areas.
As a concrete initiative, at O'PAL OPTEX, a Group company with its base on the shores of Lake Biwa, we have been developing the Lake Biwa Environmental Experience Learning Program on a full-scale basis since 2002.
As an indicator of the outcomes of this activity, we annually disclose the number of participants in our environmental experience learning program. In fiscal year 2025, we provided opportunities for environmental experience learning to 14,812 next-generation participants (260,874 participants on a cumulative basis).
This initiative is implemented with the objective of utilizing the location of O'PAL OPTEX, which is situated on the shores of Lake Biwa and offers a variety of scenery throughout the four seasons, to continuously provide children with opportunities for environmental experience learning at Lake Biwa and to foster awareness of the environment. The program activities include sports-based experience learning (such as canoeing, dragon-boat racing, and raft building) and water environment experience learning (including surveys of lakeside organisms, making whistles using reed paper, studies of the lakeside water environment, surveys of invasive fish species, and plankton observation).
In particular, environmental experience learning at this educational facility is carried out in cooperation with school coursework (such as science, social studies, and physical education), school trips, and off-campus learning programs. By providing many children with the opportunity to interact directly with nature, we have helped foster resilience, improved their motivation to learn, built strong bodies, and contributed to the development of an environmental perspective that promotes coexistence with nature.
In addition, as an example of environmental education through hands-on experience, this initiative was featured in a junior high school science textbook in 2025.
Number of participants in Lake Biwa Environmental Experience Learning Program (Total)
- 205,069 2021
- 221,104 2022
- 233,529 2023
- 246,062 2024
- 260,874 2025
Number of participants in Lake Biwa Environmental Experience Learning Program (Annual)
| Year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 11,150 | 16,035 | 12,425 | 12,533 | 14,812 |
Sponsorship of the O’PAL OPTEX Canoe Team
The canoe team operated by our Group company O’PAL OPTEX Co., Ltd. is a high-profile team of approximately 60 athletes ranging from kindergarten to university age, and has produced junior Japanese national team members for eleven consecutive years.
In 2025, the O’PAL OPTEX Canoe Team was able to win top prizes for each generation in major domestic competitions.
They also achieved numerous top finishes, including runner-up placements in the National Sports Festival held in Shiga Prefecture.
Furthermore, the Shiga Prefecture team, primarily composed of athletes from O'PAL, achieved the overall championship for the second consecutive year.
In addition, five members were selected to represent Japan, and for the fourth consecutive year, they reached the semifinals of the CANOE SPRINT OLYMPIC HOPES REGATTA (commonly called "Olympic Hopes"), the world's top junior championship.
The athletes' tireless efforts bore fruit, and their performances competing against top domestic and international rivals on the grand stage inspired courage in many people.
This significantly contributes to the improvement of the overall competitive level of canoeing and production of athletes who will lead the next generation.
We will continue to promote and develop canoeing so that the sport as a whole will be revitalized and energize the local communities through the sport's influence.
The Group continues to support the O’PAL OPTEX Canoe Team and the challenge of young athletes as they train in Shiga and aim for the world.
Sponsoring for Peron Festival and Dragon Boat Race Championship
We have been serving as sponsor of the Biwako Peron and Dragon Boat race since 1991, launched to commemorate the 10th anniversary of friendship between Shiga Prefecture and the Chinese province of Hunan to promote local sporting and cultural activities. In addition to promoting international goodwill, the event produces opportunities for people to experience the environmental issues facing Lake Biwa in the prefecture firsthand with some of the world’s most advanced environmental initiatives.
The events include a Peron Dragon Boat race in which teams of around 20 members each compete in boats decorated with dragon heads and tails that originated from China.
The Peron race features at least sixty teams, and the small Dragon Boat Championship and the Biwako Dragon Kids Championship feature at least forty teams from inside and outside the prefecture. It is now a major midsummer event on the lake.
Agreements to provide university courses
We have agreements with Ritsumeikan University to provide courses at those universities about business activities. We aim to cultivate next-generation human resources who will play active roles in the world, thereby contributing to communities and society.
From 2018 to 2025, 169 lectures were given, and attended by a total of 28,000 students (including repeat attendees).
Participation in local associations
・Shiga Prefecture Certified Security System Expert Association
We give crime-control diagnoses and lectures as the CSR activities of a company engaging in business activities related to crime-control in cooperation with the Shiga Prefectural Police Department and the Shiga Prefecture Crime Prevention Association. We contribute to realizing safe communities to achieve our goal: Shiga Prefecture will be known as the safest prefecture. The chairperson is from OPTEX CO., LTD. The company runs the administrative office of the association.
・OHMI Philanthropy Net
We participate in this organization as a member of the steering committee. The organization aims to promote more attractive and effective social contribution activities for local companies and communities by conducting research and studies and exchanging information with companies and related organizations operating mainly in Shiga Prefecture (OPTEX GROUP CO., LTD.).
Volunteer Activities
• Nursing Home Visits
At the OPTEX Group’s manufacturing facility in China, employees visit nearby Nursing Homes as part of the Group’s local community engagement initiatives.
• Environmental Conservation Activities
In addition to its competitive activities, the O'PAL OPTEX Canoe Team engages in community contribution and environmental conservation initiatives, including litter collection and the removal of aquatic weeds along the shores of Lake Biwa.
Furthermore, the OPTEX Group’s manufacturing facility in China continuously carries out cleanup activities not only in the surrounding factory area but also in neighboring communities, contributing to the preservation and improvement of the local environment.