Japanese Consumers’ Cooperative Union has reported that 57 consumers’ cooperatives in 31 prefectures have signed an agreement with 396 municipalities by the end of July this year to watch over the safety of children and elderly people in local communities. The number of agreement increased 70% in the last four months, the union said. As the staffs of consumers’ cooperatives regularly visit their members’ homes to deliver meals and commodities, many of the cooperatives engage in activities to confirm the safety of people, and the union hopes to further expand the activities for local communities by utilizing cooperatives’ home delivery services. The first such agreement was signed in 2007 … Continue reading →

  200 people participated in a sled race held on an eight-are rice field in Ogizone district of Misato, Miyagi Prefecture, earlier this month. The participants pulled a sled made of a tray of a wheelbarrow and competed in a 40-meter course on puddled rice paddies filled with shin-deep muddy water. They competed in pairs, pulling a sled with a 60-kilogram weight, 20 kilograms for elementary school children. There was also a race for parents each pulling a sled with a child on it. In the bicycle race category in which contestants on bicycles crossed a narrow bridge over the rice field, five pairs of young people working for JA … Continue reading →

  The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (JA Zen-noh), Norinchukin Bank – the central bank for agricultural, forestry and fishery cooperatives – and Mizuho Bank have announced that they will jointly set up a study group to work on strengthening Japan’s agricultural industry. As the nation’s agricultural sector is facing difficulties, such as the aging and decline of farm population and the increase in agricultural imports, the JA group judged that Mizuho’s business insight and expertise can help foster higher value added agriculture and boost sales potential of Japanese farm products. The project is the JA group’s first attempt to formally cooperate with a company unrelated to agriculture concerning … Continue reading →