Category Archives: Cooperatives

TOKYO, Dec. 16 — Suzuki Florist, an established flower shop in Tokyo’s Ginza upscale shopping district, will close down on Dec. 31, bringing down the curtain on its 71 years of history. The florist, which opened its main store in 1953 near the Kabukiza kabuki theater, has been promoting the attractiveness of Japan’s flower culture and Japan-grown flowers. Its branch shop inside Sony Building in Ginza, which shut down in 2017 along with the closing down of the building, had been a place to showcase Japan-grown flowers to customers in the metropolitan area. Akira Suzuki, the late founder and chairman of the company who also served as deputy head and … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Nov. 18 – The United Nations (UN) decided to proclaim 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives to share the roles and values of cooperatives and their contributions to socio-economic development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) internationally and increase public awareness. The UN decision was announced in Japan by the Japan Co-operative Alliance (JCA) on November 17. The UN sets up an “International Year” to highlight critical global themes and encourages its member countries and related parties to strengthen their activities. It’s the second time for the UN to declare the International Year of Cooperatives, following the one in 2012. On November 3, 2023, The … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Aug. 19 – Toru Yamano, chairman of the JA Kagoshima Prefectural Central Association, was appointed as the new and 16th chairman of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) on August 18 at the union’s ordinary general meeting in Tokyo. At the press conference after the meeting, the 67-year-old newly elected pointed out the importance of having a mechanism for ensuring fair prices to improve food security. He said, “I’ll actively participate in future government studies and discussions.” He also underlined the need for thorough discussions with the cooperative members to self-reform the union.His term is three years and continues until August 2026. At the press conference, Yamano signified … Continue reading →

TOKYO, May 19 — Kasumi Ishikawa, who represented Japan in women’s table tennis, expressed gratitude for farmers nationwide who supported her with delicious food. Addressing her retirement during a news conference in Tokyo on May 18, Ishikawa stressed that eating has been the most important and fundamental part of building up her body. “I could hold on as I was able to eat a lot of Japan’s delicious farm and livestock products,” Ishikawa said. Ishikawa began playing table tennis at the age of 7 and won an Olympic women’s team medal three times in a row, starting with the 2012 London Olympic Games. As an athlete belonging to the National … Continue reading →

CHIBA, Feb. 22 – On February 22, 2023, the National Council of Agricultural Cooperative Youth Associations of Japan (JA Zenseikyo) held a panel discussion in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, on the secrets of creating fans of agriculture. Four panelists exchanged ideas on how to boost the number of fans and supporters of domestic agricultural and livestock products to pass domestic agriculture on to the next generation. They all agreed on the importance of using social networking sites (SNS) to encourage direct conversations with consumers. Harumi Sato, a Japanese model having approximately 460,000 followers on her Instagram, joined the discussion as a guest panelist. Three other panelists were Yasuyuki Yagisawa, the … Continue reading →