Overview

A spirit of enjoying nature was the starting point for the Shizen Energy Group, and this initiative, which started in 2017, takes the crew who work for the Shizen Energy Group back to this starting point.

Founders Ken Isono and Masaya Hasegawa are genuine outdoor lovers, and in the past they would go to the sea to surf in summer while taking to the mountains for days at a time in the winter in search of powder snow. One of the cues for them to take the plunge into the wind power industry was that wherever they found good waves they would also find a good wind. They are very passionate about ensuring that future generations are also able to enjoy not only nature in Japan, but around the whole world.
The three founders, who include Kenji Kawado, visited the island of Yakushima once every few months where they discuss the form the company should take henceforth and business policy. To reconfirm to themselves why they are here and what they wanted to do, they say that putting themselves in the natural environment that they love is essential.
So activities called “Umibu-Yamabu” were started in order to share such time with more crew members.

In Umibu-Yamabu, crew members undertake an activity in a natural setting around once every two months with an expert in the relevant field. Participants undertook activities such as crossing the sea at Hayama with ocean athlete Kenny Kaneko in an outrigger canoe, navigating in a boat using only the stars in Fukuoka with the first Japanese crew member of the Hokulea (a canoe that uses traditional Hawaiian seafaring techniques) Kanako Uchino, and slept and ate in the Shirakami-Sanchi mountainous area with the Matagi traditional winter hunters of the Tohoku region of northern Japan.

Crew members who like the sea end up going to the mountains and then later go back with their family and friends, so this initiatives is gradually demonstrating its growth. We also believe that for each crew member, their relationship with nature will become an important axis for their activities and the decisions they make in the Shizen Energy Group.
We will create opportunities for as many people as possible to come into contact with nature that leads them to have a true desire to create a future in which the natural world and people can coexist.