University of Tokyo x After-School Hotel ESD Program to be Held at Hotel Setre Kobe Maiko in April 2026! "Morichara x LABO" Vol. 3 Learns from Cows!

Toho Leo Corporation (Headquarters: Osaka City) (*1), which engages in urban greening and community creation, will hold the 3rd installment of the ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) program "Morichara x LABO," which fuses specialized knowledge and the nurturing of the next generation, in collaboration with Holonic Association (*2) on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at Hotel Setre Kobe Maiko. This program is an experience-based learning program for elementary school students, conducted as a joint research project between Toho Leo Corporation and the Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo. It involves touching "living teaching materials," feeling with the five senses, thinking for oneself, and giving shape to ideas. **** Toho Leo has continued initiatives to connect the expertise cultivated in the urban greening and architecture fields to nurturing the next generation. As part of this, since last year, they have collaborated with the University of Tokyo to jointly develop an ESD program that attempts to verify changes in children's six ESD competencies. In the first "Morichara x LABO" held in the summer of 2025, a 5-day program was implemented at Kudan House, where children faced nature alongside gardeners and arborists to create their own "Morichara" (original characters created by children with nature motifs). It drew over 100 applications from across the country and received a great response as an educational program that fosters creativity and attachment to nature. In the second "Morichara x LABO" held on March 28, 2026, Toho Leo's long-cultivated craftsman knowledge, plastering techniques, spatial editing abilities, and urban greening expertise were combined with the University of Tokyo's educational theories and academic evaluation methods. This created a program where children living in the city could practically learn the process of how natural materials and human activities shape urban spaces. **** The 3rd installment of "Morichara x LABO," to be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, will be implemented in collaboration with the "After-School Hotel" (*3) operated by the Holonic Association. Inviting Mr. Shinnosuke Kunugiza of Daizo Chikusan, who raises the branded "Kunugiza Beef" on Awaji Island, as a lecturer, an "Experience-based ESD program learning from cows: Let's observe, taste, and think about cows" will be held. Children will learn about the life of cows and the flow of meat until it reaches the dining table. It is an experience-based ESD program where children actually taste, move their bodies, and think about the relationship between food and the global environment. Through the meaning of "Itadakimasu" (I humbly receive) and efforts not to waste, they will realize the importance of life and that their choices are connected to the future of the earth. Children will listen to stories from the lecturer about "Kunugiza Beef," which is nurtured with a commitment to the blessings of nature and life, experience the difference in taste, and learn through experience. We will deliver an ESD program that makes them realize the relationship with nature through livestock farming and think about sustainability. **** The implementation of "Morichara x LABO," an ESD program through corporate collaboration this time, is an important step toward expanding it to society. By transforming experiences and challenges in corporate activities into the form of an ESD program and disseminating it, we provide authentic experiences using living teaching materials.