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- Announcement of Winners of the Third Nihon Service Award
Announcement of Winners of the Third Nihon Service Award
October 27, 2020
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) hereby announces the winners of the third Nihon Service Award, an award program honoring outstanding service providers.
On October 27, 2020, an awards ceremony was held at the Okura Hotel Tokyo (Toranomon, Minato Ward, Tokyo). At the ceremony, Prime Minister Suga, METI Minister Kajiyama and other related ministers presented the winners with certificates of merit.
1. Outline of the program
The Nihon Service Award is a program, targeting all service providers in Japan, to assess a variety of services according to the predetermined criteria, and selects and honors outstanding providers as beacons of excellence. The service industry accounts for approximately 70% of both GDP and employment in Japan and thus it is an important sector that holds the key to Japan’s future economic growth. This program aims to honor providers of outstanding services that other companies in the service industry, or important players in Japan, should emulate as role models to bring about more value added to their services.
In response to a call for applicants for the third award program, the Service Productivity & Innovation for Growth (SPRING), as the organizer of the program, received 762 applications from across Japan and the examination committee established by the organizer strictly screened them and selected 30 winners of the related ministers’ and other awards, including one winner for the Prime Minister’s Prize and four for the METI Minister’s Prize.
2. Winners
| Title of prize | Winner | Title of recognized service |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister’s Prize | Komatsu Ltd. (Tokyo) | “Smart Construction”: Innovative digital business model for the entire services of civil engineering and construction |
| METI Minister’s Prize | Secoma Company, Ltd. (Hokkaido Prefecture) | “Seicomart”: Essential supply chain for daily necessities in Hokkaido Prefecture placing customer satisfaction as the top priority |
| SPRIX Corporation (Niigata Prefecture) | “RED as Supporter of Individual Learning”: New business model for learning in supplementary tutorial schools at which AI provide instruction instead of human teachers | |
| GANKO Food Service Co., Ltd. (Osaka Prefecture) | “Yashiki Series”: Business model for serving traditional Japanese food, combining Omotenashi (hospitality) and service engineering | |
| Tokutake Industries Co., Ltd. (Kagawa Prefecture) | Shoes for nursing care receivers: Providing joy of walking through sincere and impressive service |
Note: In addition to these companies, 25 companies were selected as winners of related ministers’ prizes, prizes of excellence and examiner special prizes. For further details, see the Japanese language press release.
Division in Charge
Service Affairs Policy Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group