Meisho Co., Ltd. Signs Health Promotion Agreement with Toyama City
A New Challenge Inspired by the Corporate Philosophy:
“Contributing to the Health and Happiness of Local Residents”

On February 18, 2025, Meisho Co., Ltd. (“Meisho”), an Alfresa Group company, signed the Agreement on Promoting the Health of Toyama City Residents^*1 with Toyama City in Toyama Prefecture to create a sustainable society in which all Toyama City residents can lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Meisho, based in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, is a wholesaler of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, reagents, and raw materials for chemical products among other products. With the goal of enhancing the health promotion measures for Toyama City residents, Meisho will work with Toyama City to hold health-related events and raise public awareness of correct information on vaccination and dementia. It will also explore effective measures for early detection and diagnosis of dementia and make proposals to Toyama City.
“This agreement was made possible only with the trust we have built up over the years with Toyama City,” said Hiroshi Kitano, Executive Officer and Manager of the Regional Collaboration Unit, Sales Promotion Division, Pharmaceutical Sales Department of Meisho. According to him, the path to concluding the agreement was not easy; he spent a lot of effort in collaborating with relevant government divisions and approaching many officials. He shared his experience in detail.

*1. Reference: Conclusion of an Agreement Between Meisho Co., Ltd., and Toyama City to Promote the Health of Toyama City Residents

Where It All Began

In April 2024, Kenji Takinami, Director of the Toyama City Health Center asked Hiroshi Kitano how he could organize a vaccination seminar for medical professionals and residents in Toyama. That was when he learned that the Department of Community Health and the Department of Preventive Health Services of the Toyama City Health Center were hosting health classes to disseminate knowledge on health and lifestyle disease prevention. He proposed Director Takinami jointly host not only the vaccination seminar but also the Health Fair, an event Meisho had been holding in the Hokuriku Region using health monitoring devices. Director Takinami agreed with the proposal, and he and Hiroshi Kitano quickly consulted the Planning and Administration Division of Toyama City government about the joint event. In addition, Hiroshi Kitano met those involved in the Toyama City Council and introduced Meisho’s past activities and the underlying corporate philosophy of “contributing to the health and happiness of local residents.” As a result, he successfully gained agreement for cooperation on the proposal.
To strengthen the city’s community healthcare system and to ensure smooth implementation of health promotion activities for city residents, discussions began toward concluding the agreement with relevant divisions of the city government and those involved in the City Council. In the end, it became a project of 16 members including Toyama City Mayor, Hirohisa Fujii.

Trust Grew Through the Extraordinary COVID-19 Vaccination Program

The Meisho-Toyama City collaboration dates back to the time of the Extraordinary COVID-19 Vaccination Program. According Hiroshi Kitano, “The close collaboration with Toyama City began when we, Meisho, undertook management and transportation of vaccines.” In February 2021, the Department of Community Health of the Toyama City Health Center (the department in charge of COVID-19 vaccination at that time) began examining the vaccination management and transportation scheme. Operations at local sites were in confusion due to issues with vaccine supply and demand. Vaccine management and transportation required strict temperature control. As a result of repeated discussions with Tomoaki Aikawa, Manager of the Department of Community Health, Toyama City Health Center, an efficient scheme that would minimize management errors was created.
The Toyama Health Center, Toyama City Medical Association, and Meisho jointly held an online briefing for medical institutions that carried out vaccination. In it, they secured cooperation of the medical institutions for fast, accurate, safe, and secure vaccine transportation, provided vaccine information, and described in detail the distribution and delivery plan. Meisho explained how to place vaccine orders, when to do so, the transportation schedule, and rules applied to the time of vaccine delivery. To eliminate order errors due, for example, to order placement via phone, alf-web, a pharmaceutical order placement system by Alfresa Group, was designated as the single platform for vaccine order placement. The user manual was created and distributed to those involved. Important points were additionally explained in lectures.

Meticulous Simulations of the Two-Hour Vaccine Transportation Process

Meanwhile, MS^*1of Meisho, assigned to deliver important vaccines, also received thorough explanations on vaccine management and transportation rules and carried out detailed work simulations.
The vaccine storage temperature was strictly controlled to a freezing temperature range as low as -80°C. Therefore, detailed rules were created for the timing of removing vaccines from the deep freezer^*2. As for the transportation process, more than 200 medical institutions in Toyama City that carried out vaccination were first geographically divided into three. MS then divided vaccines to match the delivery route of each group in the refrigerator installed in the Toyama Branch while ensuring the proper temperature control. Finally, vaccines were placed in the vial holder^*3. The vial holder was uniquely developed by Meisho and was prepared for each medical institution to allow quick handling of the vaccines after delivery. The whole process was carefully simulated, and Meisho successfully delivered vaccines within two hours after removing them from the deep freezer as required by the vaccination management and transportation scheme.
Shun Tsuchida, an MS in charge of the Toyama area, Toyama Branch, Meisho, was involved in vaccine management and transportation at that time. Looking back on his experience, he commented, “When I divided and delivered the vaccines, I wore thermal protective clothing when in the refrigeration temperature range of 2 to 8ºC. On top of that, there was a time limit for the work. I felt unsure and struggled at first.” Then he described the sense of fulfilment saying “Being thanked by staff of the medical institutions has made my work worthwhile.”

*1. MS: stands for marketing specialist

*2. Deep freezer: an ultra-low temperature freezer for vaccine storage

*3. Vial holder: a tool uniquely developed by Meisho that is designed exclusively for safe and efficient storage and transportation of vaccination vials (containers)

Trust and Proven Results Led to the Health Promotion Agreement

During the period of the Extraordinary COVID-19 Vaccination Program, which lasted about three years until the end of March 2024, Meisho placed vaccine orders while monitoring the inoculation progress at each medical institution together with the Toyama City Health Center. When there was a nationwide vaccine shortage, too, it continued the collaborative effort by allocating vaccines based on the inoculation progress at each medical institution. There was no vaccination transportation error or vaccine disposal until the end of the Extraordinary COVID-19 Vaccination Program. The company’s efforts were highly commended by the Toyama City government, Toyama City Health Center, and medical institutions. “The past close collaboration with the Toyama City Health Center and the evaluation of our recent performance made possible the signing of the Agreement on Promoting the Health of Toyama City Residents,” Hiroshi Kitano commented looking back.
It was his first experience to make an agreement in such a way and spent a lot of time preparing for it by for example collecting information. He also took advantage of Alfresa Group’s knowledge by working with and receiving advice from Alfresa Suita Branch that had experience with signing a comprehensive partnership agreement with Minoh City, Osaka Prefecture.
He interviewed representatives of the Departments of Preventive Health Services and Community Health of the Toyama City Health Center, the Senior Welfare Division of the Toyama City Office, and the Machinaka Sogo Care Center, all of whom played important roles in Toyama City promoting residents’ health, preventing lifestyle diseases, managing senior welfare, and providing community-based integrated care. There he asked about their tasks and issues. He then described the contributions that Meisho could make for the needs they had. With the help of the trust Meisho gained through vaccine management and transportation, Meisho and Toyama City reached the Agreement on Promoting the Health of Toyama City Residents in February 2025 after numerous conversations between the two exploring new possible initiatives.
Hiroshi Kitano said he always had Meisho’s corporate philosophy of “using its business to contribute to the health and happiness of local residents“ in mind. He continued, “I was reminded once again that our work is not just about selling pharmaceuticals as a business, and what is important is that we continue to think about what we can do to support the health of people in the community.”

Looking Ahead to the Future of Community Health

In April 2025, Meisho founded the Regional Collaboration Unit with Hiroshi Kitano as Manager and became equipped to promote further collaboration with local municipalities. Under the leadership of Tomohiro Maekawa, Manager of the Meisho Toyama Branch, the unit assigned employees to the seven Health and Welfare Centers in Toyama City and the Machinaka Sogo Care Center. Tomohiro Maekawa visits each center with the assigned employees to directly grasp the needs at the operational level and work to carefully crystallize the details of the agreement one by one. He commented, “My goal is to create a program in collaboration with local schools, companies, the Toyama City Medical Association, and the local municipalities to communicate the importance of health and raise awareness of the health of children and young people who will create the future of Toyama City. I hope to play an important role in maintaining and enhancing the community health.”

Dementia Awareness Events Using VR

A new initiative is also underway. Hirohiko Tanaka and Akira Matsuura from the Sales Promotion Division of Meisho proposed to the Senior Welfare Division a dementia awareness scheme using virtual reality (VR) to create a system that enables early detection and diagnosis. They are now holding events at Community-based Integrated Care Centers in 32 locations in the city. At the event, participants take part in training by wearing VR goggles and experiencing behaviors of people with dementia. Comments from participants include “I have a better understanding of dementia now” and, from the family of a person with dementia, “I appreciate the opportunity for the experience” and “It gave me a chance to rethink how to interact (with a person with dementia).” Hirohiko Tanaka and Akira Matsuura showed their enthusiasm saying “We would like to continue our efforts so that residents of Toyama City will deepen their understanding of dementia even a little.”

Valuing a Proactive Approach to Making Proposals

Hiroshi Kitano said he valued one thing while working toward conclusion of the agreement. It was for Meisho to take a proactive approach, not a passive one, in making proposals. Based on this notion, he tells the members of the Toyama Branch to place utmost importance on “daily communication,” “insight and actions to take the initiative without being passive” and “collaboration and cooperation with parties inside and outside the company.” As an indication of this commitment, the agreement includes the phrase “make proposals to Toyama City.”
The challenge for Meisho is practical embodiment of Alfresa Group’s philosophy of “contributing to local communities through our business operations” and Meisho’s corporate philosophy of “using its business to contribute to the health and happiness of local residents.“ The endeavor of Meisho members will continue with the aspiration to “promote more collaboration and strengthen the relationship of trust with Toyama City and the local community, create a sustainable society, establish a model health promotion case for other local governments, and share our knowledge within the Alfresa Group.”

Notice: This document is a translation of the original Japanese document and is for reference purposes only. In the event of any discrepancy between this translated document and the original Japanese document, the latter shall prevail.