Customer Dialogue. Alpen Co., Ltd. and Leopalace21 Corporation. Trust deepened by coming through the construction defects problem. Toward becoming strategic partners. Junji Kojima, Executive Officer, General Manager, Property Management Division - West Japan, Leopalace21 Corporation and Naoki Shimizu, Operation Officer and Head of Administration, Alpen Co., Ltd.

Supplying company housing without regional disparities — essential to a nationwide store network

Kojima
It was in 2004, wasn’t it, that Alpen first began using apartments under our management as company housing? Today, you use more than 1,000 units, and I understand that before that, several employees would share a single unit in a company housing.
Shimizu
That’s how it used to be. If you were lucky, you had a 3LDK unit — three rooms plus a living-dining-kitchen area — to yourself. If you weren’t, three of you shared it. That was quite a gap. I started out in a dormitory myself, with no private space at all, so when I was able to move into a Leopalace21 apartment leased as company housing, it felt like heaven on earth. Having private space, even in company housing, matters enormously, and we want to keep it a priority.
Kojima
At the time, were many of your employees beginning to say the same thing: that they would rather not live in a dormitory?
Shimizu
It was less that they disliked dormitories as such, and more that we had real issues to address around privacy and security. Between roughly 2004 and 2007, we gradually shifted over to leased company housing from Leopalace21. Speaking from my own experience, moving into company housing changed my daily life completely. I could finally relax at home and, as a result, concentrate on work better than before.
Kojima
We’ve put a lot of effort into making the living area, the tenant’s private space, feel as spacious as possible. When you made the switch to company housing, what conditions were you looking for?
Shimizu
First, safety and peace of mind. That is an absolutely indispensable condition. Second, standardized size and specifications, so that we could offer an equal living environment without regional disparities. Since we operate stores nationwide, that point is essential for us as well. When we assessed the options against those criteria, Leopalace21’s apartments met all our conditions, so we decided to use them extensively.
We also have sudden transfers to other stores, so it helps us greatly that the units come with furniture and appliances. An employee can move in with nothing but their personal belongings. You provide the volume we need nationwide, and because Leopalace21 covers all of Japan, we regard you as an important partner in reliably securing company housing.
Kojima
What kind of feedback do you hear from employees actually living in our apartments?
Shimizu
Recently, the smart locks that let you unlock the front door with a smartphone have been extremely well received.
Kojima
Thank you. Smart locks are not only convenient but also enhance security, allowing tenants to live safely and with peace of mind. We have also worked hard on layout design, so that tenants can live as comfortably as possible in units of around 20 square meters. We’ve long promoted the loft as one of our strengths.
Shimizu
I lived in a room with a loft myself, and it also had a small storage unit, which was very convenient. Our employees tend to own a lot of gear — golf clubs, skis, snow tires — so we want to keep looking at rooms with lofts and storage units. We also hear requests for a separate washbasin unit and for better-equipped kitchens. For employees who care about such things, more room choices would further raise satisfaction.
Kojima
We have been gradually increasing the number of units with a separate washbasin. As for kitchen facilities, some apartments now come with a portable tabletop induction cooktop so that tenants can enjoy hot pots and similar dishes at home. We are expanding the options to match tenants’ lifestyles.
Shimizu
Our new graduate intake is now roughly half men and half women, so we expect requests around kitchen and bathroom facilities to grow. Thinking about future recruitment and retention, better kitchen and bathroom facilities, and further improvements to security are all themes we would like you to consider.

The construction defects problem and the effort to restore trust

Kojima
When our construction defects problem came to light in 2018, we caused Alpen enormous worry and inconvenience.
Shimizu
It was a deeply disappointing matter. To be honest, voices inside the company asked, “Is it really safe to leave our company housing with Leopalace21?” and there was a move to consider switching to another provider. But I heard from the person handling it at the time that your sales representative responded with genuine sincerity and integrity, speaking honestly with us about the problem. I think that strong impression — that here was someone we could trust — is what led to the relationship we still have today. And of course, it was not only at that time. You have made great efforts on our behalf since then as well, so in terms of trust, I would say you have more than recovered it. Your business performance has improved, too, so we do business with you with complete confidence.
Kojima
Your department manager at the time, and everyone else, listened to our explanations and checked the situation with us in detail. And when I later learned that they had gone around the company making the case that Leopalace21 could be trusted, I felt a sense of gratitude I could never fully express. I am truly grateful, and it has stayed with me.
Shimizu
It was the trust built up over more than 10 years before that which made it possible, and today we regard you as a partner unlike any other.

Toward collaboration that supports each other’s business, unconstrained by conventional boundaries

Shimizu
Nationwide store expansion is our growth driver, and securing company housing is a precondition for it. You already supply us with apartments across the country, but rather than simply finding apartments for us, you bring us all sorts of proposals on employee benefits, which is why I see you as a strategic partner. That is what I mean by a partner unlike any other. Going forward, I hope we can collaborate in many ways so that Leopalace21 and Alpen both come out ahead… In fact, I’m confident we will.
Kojima
Alpen is very active in contributing to local communities, including by supporting sports promotion. We supply housing infrastructure to roughly 540,000 households nationwide, and every unit comes with an internet connection as standard, giving access to our LEONET video streaming service. It is a tool that connects our tenants, so we would like to use it to help draw people to your local events by, for instance, announcing them. I believe I heard that, as part of your health and productivity management, Alpen has been encouraging employees at locations across the country to take on a full marathon.
Shimizu
Our purpose is to bring sports closer to everyone. Realizing it depends, above all, on cultivating a culture in which every one of our own employees enjoys sports. That is the thinking behind our 1,000-Person Full Marathon Project. Getting about 40% of all employees to take part was a considerable undertaking, but a running culture has visibly taken root. I can feel it. Promoting sports through alliances — with companies, of course, but also with local governments and communities — is a key strategic pillar for us going forward, so linking that with your housing network could be really exciting.
Kojima
Health and productivity management is a topic of broad social interest, and it sits very naturally alongside sports. My understanding is that Alpen positions its nationwide stores as places that offer services which raise lifetime value (LTV) beyond products. We too want to work with you actively, without being confined to the conventional boundaries of simply providing housing.
Shimizu
For example, it would be valuable if you could act as a hub connecting the companies you do business with. If you gave us opportunities to build closer ties between companies, I think we’d learn a great deal from it.
Kojima
We have taken part in and helped run a forum on promoting women’s empowerment, which brought together around 70 women in management positions. Participants exchanged views energetically on how to develop more people who can thrive both inside and outside their organizations.
Shimizu
I see. If you have that kind of track record, all the more reason to ask: could you also create a forum for the people who handle employee benefits in HR and general affairs? I think we’d find that really stimulating. Administrative departments like ours know very little about what goes on outside our own company. I would love to exchange views on how people in HR and general affairs at other companies approach their work, how they operate, and what occupies their thinking day to day. Health checkups, for instance. We have no real picture of what other companies actually do — which employees are screened for what. If a network of HR and general affairs departments could be formed, I think it would lead to productive discussions.
Kojima
Within the same industry, it is one thing, but across different industries, you just don’t have the connections, and it is hard to know what others are really doing. Because we deal in company housing, we are fortunate to have points of contact with customers across a wide range of industries. Building communities on a regional basis, for example, would work well. We’d be delighted to organize a forum where different industries can exchange views.
Shimizu
I hope we can deepen our relationship with Leopalace21 further, through the reliable supply of company housing, of course, but also through ties with local communities and company-to-company collaboration. I look forward to continuing to work with you.
Kojima
Reliably providing safe, secure company housing is a mission we take as a matter of course. But having met that responsibility, we want to put into practice forms of collaboration that support Alpen’s store expansion and help strengthen its product appeal. Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to share such valuable thoughts with us today.
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