Providing Capital to the Michinori Holdings Group

Michinori Holdings, Inc. (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), is a holding company mainly with bus operators under its auspices. The company contributes to the sustainability and development of local public transportation services by leveraging the benefits of its wide-range collaborations, including the cross-development of best practices of the companies it oversees, and by pursuing economies of scale.

Among Michinori Holdings' group companies are Northern Iwate Transportation Inc. (headquarters: Morioka, Iwate Prefecture), a bus company that operates in the region north of Morioka in Iwate, and the Park Hotel Jodogahama (headquarters: Miyako, Iwate Prefecture), a tourism operator that manages the Park Hotel Jodogahama, which is located in the Sanriku Fukko National Park, also in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture.

Owing to changes in the social environment in the Tohoku region--namely, the advancing low-birth, aging population phenomenon and the increase in inbound visitors--Michinori Holdings has been introducing cargo/passenger buses and electric buses and conducting proof of concept for autonomous driving. The company is hammering out a solution for sustaining the local transportation system amid a declining population.

DBJ is providing financing to Michinori Holdings and its group company Northern Iwate Transportation to support their measures. DBJ also provided financial support to the Park Hotel Jodogahama in 2016 during its large-scale renovation as a part of its restoration from the Great East Japan Earthquake.