Category Archives: Booklet

【Booklet】Trace the origin of cooperative in JAPAN (Jan 1, 2015) <Toyohiko Kagawa and Masayo Oba>Build the prototype of the mutual aid / Medical mutual aid

Toyohiko Kagawa (1888-1960) was the person of “anyway, action”. At the age of 21, while studying as a Christian God student, he moved into the slums of Kobe city. While leading the labor movement in the Kansai region, he established consumption cooperatives in Osaka city and Kobe city. At first he started “movement of poverty relief”, and gradually he transfered the emphasis on “movement of poverty prevention”. When the Great Kanto Earthquake occured, he rushed to the site and provided soup kitchen for the next day. After the earthquake, he transferred his activities to Tokyo, and established consumption cooperatives and credit cooperatives in downtown and also fonded University Co-op. He … Continue reading

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【Booklet】Trace the origin of cooperative in JAPAN (Jan 1, 2015) <Mr. Yuichiro Nakagawa, Professor of Meiji University> Life defense and social contribution Anglo-Japanese comparison Top priority to trust with the local community

When considering the headwaters of the cooperative, it is difficult to compare Japan and Europe, especially Japan and UK. Because the era background is totally different. The Industrial Revolution, which began in around 1760 in UK, has promoted economic and social change. As a result, any farmers or any urban workers had to “work and live” as “wage workers”. Progress of the industrial revolution began to cause the wage problems and unemployment problem.Therefore workers established cooperatives to ensure the daily necessities such as groceries, and began the activities to protect their own life spontaneously. However, these cooperatives for “life-defense” could not produce network since they were spontaneous, ended in “isolated experiments”. … Continue reading

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【Booklet】 Learning from European roots – The 110th anniversary of enactment of “Sangyo Kumiai Law”

  PREFACE Two years have passed since financial crisis has threatened the world. Through the experience, people saw the negative side of market fundamentalism and have started to explore the way to switch to new social and economic system based on “co-existence”, from the former style that stands on “the law of the jungle”. In this context, the advantages of cooperative associations built on the spirit of mutual aid are now being re-acknowledged. It was symbolic that the United Nations appointed 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives. However, less is known about the roots of Japanese cooperatives such as Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JA), Japan Fisheries Cooperative, and Consumers’ Cooperatives. … Continue reading

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