There was an unexpected moment at Canon's shareholder meeting held in March.

The camera and medical equipment maker proposed its longtime chief...

87-year-old Mitarai Fujio... be reappointed to the board.

To the surprise of many, a large number of stockholders voted "no."

Mitarai squeezed through with just a little over 50 percent but it was a clear message of protest.

Some major institutional investors said they opposed the makeup of the company's board, which has no women.

Diversity is still lacking among Japan's corporations.

Research shows more than one fifth of nearly 2,000 companies listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange

did not have a single female on their board as of July last year.

That's drawing increased scrutiny from investors.

Japan lags behind Western countries when it comes to promoting women to director's positions.

There are also some countries in Asia that are ahead in numbers.

Some businesses are rushing to respond.

This casual clothing retailer plans to propose the first female director in its over 40-year history at its shareholders meeting this month.

"Hello, everyone!"

Hamaya Risa is a Youtuber who posts videos about camping.

She recently became involved in the firm's product development... now it wants her on the board.

"I was asked to give my opinion as a consumer, homemaker and a camper."

One reason the company chose Hamaya is that it's expanding its line of items targeting female customers.

She is a woman, and she knows how to sell products using social networking which is a new marketing tool.

She is an expert on that.

So we have lots to learn from her.

An expert says having more diversity is not just about gender equality, it can also help business.

In many older industries with fewer female workers typically have problems like insufficient workforce and low working productivity and low stock valuation.

I think it's time for companies to restructure.

With the rapid influx of foreign capital into the stock market, calls will likely grow for Japanese businesses to rethink their male-dominated corporate culture.

This is "Glen Clyde," a sock manufacturer in Tokyo.

Its high-end hosiery goes for about 19 dollars.

The company says it has already sold 90,000 pairs.

They are marketed as socks built to last.

The fabric is made from strong thread that normally goes into tents.

It's said to be 6 to 10 times stronger than standard nylon.

"They're durable, so they'll last longer.

It will reduce the number of socks that are thrown away."

The company also sells socks with toes.

They have no heel and are shaped like a glove, so both sides can be used.

The idea is to alternate the foot you wear the sock on.

Flip it over and the section that was under your heel - which tends to wear the most - fits over the top of your ankle.

Some of the socks feature a silk inner lining for added comfort.

They cost around 28 dollars, but have seen strong demand.

The company has plans to expand into the US and European markets this fall.

It sees the popularity of eco-friendly products there as a plus.

"If you wear durable socks like these, the result is less garbage in the end.

If we can get this message across globally, this business model can really catch on."

The next stop is Ehime Prefecture... where the city of Imabari is the center of Japan's towel manufacturing industry.

New efforts are underway there to keep used towels from going into landfills or incinerators.

A drop box to collect them was set up at this retail outlet in April.

The towels are sent to a manufacturer that turns them into thread.

This recycling technology is also being applied to address a longstanding problem in the towel industry - scrap material produced by the weaving process.

It's estimated that Imabari's factories discard several hundred tons of it each year.

In a pilot project, the scrap is being turned into thread for new towels.

The finished product is a different shade each time as a result of recycling towels of various colors.

"By collecting and reusing the towels, it turns into a sustainable initiative that consumers can take part in.

We are going to promote our Imabari towels as a quality product made in an environmentally friendly way."

Getting consumers to look beyond price is a big challenge to sustainability.

Manufacturers that offer products with longer lifespans at a reasonable cost are taking a step in the right direction.

A company that produces hand-woven kimono fabric, has set its sights on a new target - high fashion.

And a decorative braided cord usually used with kimono has been turned into a shoelace that is becoming popular with athletes.

Today's On-Site Report shows how traditional manufacturers are reaching beyond the kimono industry to find new customers.

Nestled in the mountains of Central Japan, this small village is home to just under 700 people.

The craftspeople in this workshop are producing a silk fabric called "Ushikubi Tsumugi" that dates back nearly 800 years.

From silk reeling to dying and weaving the threads, the entire process is done in-house by 20 skilled workers.

Still made entirely by hand, one of Ushikubi Tsumugi's stand out features are small clumps of entangled silk fibers that add to the fabric's texture.

A single roll (enough to make one kimono) starts at just over $2,000.

Nearly century ago, there were 9 workshops here, which together sold about 20,000 rolls a year.

Now, however, there are just two workshops that together sell only about 2,000 rolls per year.

"For those who aren't interested in traditional fabrics, just mentioning the word kimono is usually enough to turn them off."

To find new sales channels, Nishiyama Hiroyuki has been taking his products to overseas fabric exhibitions since 2009.

However, the standard sizing of kimono fabric proved to be a major barrier for working with most clothing manufacturers.

At just 38 cm across, it's about one-third the width of typical fabrics used by most clothing makers.

Nishiyama's luck turned for the better in 2016, when he met Teranishi Shunsuke, who was working as a designer for French luxury design house, Hermes.

I was immediately struck by the rich colors and unique texture of his fabric.

The thought of being able to use it in modern designs got me really excited!

First, however, Teranishi asked for a plaid pattern as he felt the fabric's traditional vertical stripes wouldn't go well with his designs.

Nishiyama's son, Mikito, accepted the request, but knew he had his work cut out for him.

"We had never done a plaid pattern before, so we had no idea where to start from."

After seven months of trial and error, including changes in everything from the dyeing process to weaving methods,

they finally succeeded in creating a plaid fabric.

The next challenge was for Teranishi -

he felt that the only way to make western clothes with such a narrow fabric was to incorporate far more seams than usual.

To make the process smoother, he came up with a special pattern that would allow him to work with long narrow strips of fabric on both the front and back of the design at the same time.

Here is are 2 of his first creations.

The bright look of the plaid is achieved by combining 6 different hand-dyed shades of blue.

The unique texture of the fabric also shows through.

Teranishi is selling his designs in a Tokyo boutique that sits among some of city's trendiest high-end apparel stores.

On this day, 2 young men were visiting the shop - trying on a long jacket made of "Ushikubi Tsumugi" that the shop was selling for about $6,000.

It's so light!

Shorts and a long jacket like this usually don't go well together, but with this, it totally works!

In the 3 years since Teranishi first began offering western style clothes made from "Ushikubi Tsumugi" fabric, he's sold 60 of his designs.

I realized it's okay try new things and have the courage to take that first step.

In order to be discovered by a broad range of consumers, we need to continue to trying out all sorts of different ways to use our fabrics.

This is a professional women's soccer team.

During a soccer match, no one will wait for you if your shoe laces come untied.

2 years ago, midfielder Nishibayashi Rie switched to a new type of shoelace, and since then she's hardly had to worry about them coming undone.

"Worrying about your laces can impact your play - so I really like these new laces."

While the laces are new, they are actually made using a traditional Japanese cord-making method.

Kumihimo is made by braiding together several strands of silk thread of different thicknesses - resulting in a strong chord with un-even surface.

When tied together, this creates friction between the laces, which gives them extra grip and makes it much harder for them to come undone.

From its inception, the combination of beauty and practically offered by kumihimo,

made it a key component used in samurai armor and it's still commonly used to this day to secure the obi,

a decorative belt worn over a kimono.

The shoelaces were created by a company that has been making kumihimo for over 70 years.

During the pandemic, a majority of the formal events kimono are usually worn for were cancelled across Japan.

This caused the company to see a steady decline in sales that dropped to as low as 30% below average.

To secure a new, more reliable source of revenue, company CEO Matsuda Tomoyuki decided to try making shoe laces.

"I thought - if we could use kumihimo to make shoe laces,

we could have a product that is used by both men and women, as well as by people of all ages."

To make as durable of a product as possible, the development team first tried creating a prototype made with polyester instead of silk.

However, they quickly ran into a major issue.

The standard braiding method resulted in laces that didn't have enough stretch.

When athletes used them for extended periods of time, would find the laces (to be) too stiff and unforgiving.

"Just when we thought we had everything right - we were told they didn't have enough stretch to them.

Making shoe laces turned out to be way harder than we imagined!"

Saeki Atsuko's team decided to change the braiding process and went as far as to make alterations to the machinery itself.

They also increased the number of threads used to 140.

This is double the amount used in standard shoe laces and helped add even more area to the laces' uneven surfaces.

After a year and half of testing and development, the team finally achieved a product they were happy with in February of 2021.

When compared with standard laces... the difference in grip is unmistakable.

The kumihimo laces are sold for between $15 to $30 and have steadily grown in popularity, now making up 5% of the company's total sales.

The laces have also started to catch on with blind soccer players, who must always focus on the sound of the ball.

Watanabe Akifumi has also become a fan of the laces.

He says that when shoelaces come untied, it can be a major distraction

making it difficult to keep track of the ball or where other players on the field.

"Because they give me some added confidence, I feel I can play a little faster and get step ahead of my competition."