75-Year-Old Construction Company Sawamura Streamlines Invitation Management for 200 Guests with Yobunara

Kokochie Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kyuichi Itoshima), which operates the web invitation service Yobunara, announced that its service was adopted by Sawamura Co., Ltd. for its internal awards ceremony and entrance ceremony, the 'SAWAMURA AWARD 2026'.

This event invited not only employees but also prospective employees and their families, as well as external companies such as business partners and stakeholders. For this formal event hosting a diverse range of guests, the company moved away from traditional spreadsheet management, achieving organization and efficiency across the entire invitation process.

Challenges Before Introducing Yobunara: Limits of Analog Management with Scale Expansion

As part of its rebranding efforts, Sawamura Co., Ltd. has been holding a ceremony embodying its unique corporate culture for the past three years at the nationally registered tangible cultural property 'Minamiza'. The first year was limited to employees only, but in recent years, the company has expanded invitations to external guests, including business partners, leading to three key challenges.

Challenge 1: Operational burden and risk of missed notifications due to manual management.

Previously, the company used spreadsheets for attendance management. As the number of invitees grew, it became difficult to track the status of invitations sent and replies received in real-time.

Furthermore, sending individual reminders to non-respondents and tallying responses required significant man-hours, increasing the operational burden on staff and posing risks of missed notifications and confirmation errors.

Challenge 2: Courteous reception suitable for a formal setting.

In business events, the reception is the first point of contact for attendees. Especially for formal ceremonies with external guests, hospitality that conveys corporate trustworthiness and attentiveness is required, beyond just checking attendance.

However, using traditional paper lists for name confirmation often caused delays for guests during peak arrival times, making it difficult to balance smooth guidance with courteous service.

Challenge 3: Brand identity and invitation formality that generic tools cannot express.

When inviting external guests, the company sought an invitation method that not only conveyed information but also communicated the company's stance and the spirit behind the ceremony.

Generic form-creation tools focused on data collection could not adequately express the company's valued atmosphere or the dignity befitting the Minamiza venue.

They needed a highly designed invitation that reflected Sawamura's brand image while conveying attentiveness and a sense of specialness to the guests.

Results After Introduction: Improving the Consistent 'Experience Value' from Invitation to Reception

By introducing Yobunara, the processes of creating and sending invitations, managing attendance, and QR code reception were unified, achieving organization and efficiency across the entire invitation workflow.

Compared to manual spreadsheet management, it became easier to consolidate information and track response status, reducing the risk of missed notifications and confirmation errors. Operations during the preparation period also became smoother.

Result 1: Automation of attendance management reduced the burden of invitation tasks and the risk of missed notifications.

The manual confirmation and tallying work previously done in spreadsheets was significantly streamlined with Yobunara.

Attendance status could now be checked and tallied in real-time on the management screen, reducing the operational load when inviting a large number of external guests. Furthermore, by centrally utilizing necessary functions for invitation tasks, such as sending reminders to non-respondents, the risk of missed notifications and confirmations in large-scale invitation operations was eliminated.

Result 2: QR code reception enabled smart, wait-free check-in for guests.

On the day of the event, the reception for approximately 200 guests was handled using the 'QR Code Reception System', which completes check-in simply by scanning a QR code. Compared to the previous method of checking against paper lists, this allowed for smooth guidance even during peak arrival times without congestion.

This smart approach received positive feedback from guests, who described it as a 'cutting-edge event', and proved highly effective in enhancing the ceremony's overall presentation.

Result 3: Easy, high-quality brand expression using design templates.

Using Yobunara's design templates, Sawamura was able to quickly create invitations tailored to its brand image.

Even without specialized design knowledge, the company could complete invitations reflecting its own worldview by simply replacing images and main visuals.

This allowed the company to digitally express the corporate identity, the formality of the invitation, and even the atmosphere of the special Minamiza venue—elements that a simple form-creation tool could not convey—creating a courteous impression on the guests.

Through the introduction of Yobunara, Sawamura successfully digitized its complex invitation processes, achieving both a reduction in operational man-hours and courteous treatment of guests.

Yobunara will continue to contribute to improving operational efficiency in corporate event management and enhancing the value of the invitation experience.

About Sawamura Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1950, Sawamura is a general construction company operating primarily in the Shiga, Kyoto, and Fukui areas, handling a wide range of projects from custom homes to offices, public facilities, and civil engineering. It has also contributed to creating regional landmarks, such as the construction of 'Biwako Terrace'. In 2025, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary and is focused on passing on its traditions and building an innovative organization through events like the internal awards ceremony 'SAWAMURA AWARD'.

- Company Name: Sawamura Co., Ltd.
- Representative: Representative Director and President Koichiro Sawamura
- Headquarters: 1108-3 Katsuno, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture
- Founded: 1950
- Business: General construction (residential environment business, facility/factory/civil engineering solutions)
- Official Website: https://www.sawamura-shiga.co.jp/

About Yobunara

Yobunara is a web service that digitizes traditional paper invitations and streamlines the guest invitation process. It eliminates the need for paper and allows all steps related to invitations to be completed on an online management screen. It significantly reduces the time and cost associated with paper invitations, enabling organizers to host events and parties more efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner. The service is used for a variety of occasions, from personal events like class reunions and birthday parties to corporate events such as golf competitions, reception parties, and general shareholder meetings.

- Product Name: Yobunara
- Official Website: https://yobunara.com
- X: https://x.com/yobunara_com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yobunara
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yobunara_com/

Company Profile

- Company Name: Kokochie Co., Ltd.
- Address: Prefas Minami-Aoyama 3F, 5-13-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Representative: Kyuichi Itoshima
- Founded: 2013
- Company Website: https://kokochie.co.jp/
- Service: Yobunara