Open letter: Our demands regarding mad cow disease in Brazil To: Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi From: Food Safety Citizens’ Watch January 9, 2013 Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced on December 8, 2012 on its homepage that beef from Brazil was infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and that import of beef [...]
Updates about GMOs from the Convention of Biological Diversity It is not always easy to follow the details of the discussions and negotiations of international agreements… Media pays scant attention or ignores important concerns. Governments provide a massive amount of information but it is not easy to find or digest. Fortunately, NGOs are usually present [...]
On the first Tuesday of every month, demonstrations will be held in front of the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Tokyo. Together we can stop the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)! Consumers Union of Japan has joined together with other organizations to strongly voice our opposition to TPP. Starting in August, 2012, a new campaign strategy [...]
At the 11th meeting of the Ramsar Convention for wetlands, a draft resolution was introduced that came dangerously close to open a back door to genetically modified rice. Rice paddy fields in many countries are supporting wildlife such as migratory birds and marine species. The use of pesticides have caused much damage to such sensitive [...]
An Appeal from the NO! GMO Campaign in Japan As part of our participation in Collective Rice Action (CORA) 2012 June 1, 2012 Protect life and biological diversity; oppose genetically modified food and TPP! We are very concerned about the efforts by the government, business interests, and mass media to get Japan to join the [...]
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an economic forum promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investments, economic and technical cooperation, and related issues. Many NGOs from Japan and other coutries participated in the No! APEC Yokohama People’s Forum. Yokohama People’s Declaration (Summary) November 14,2010 The No! APEC Yokohama People’s Forum gathered on November 13-14, 2010 [...]
The Problems of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement Yamaura Yasuaki Secretary General of Consumers Union of Japan November 3, 2010 (1) The Problems of FTA/EPA Currently, the participation in TPP is a very large political issue for Japan. We regard TPP as simply a part of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) that have come into [...]
Consumers Union of Japan works closely with a number of local groups around the country and abroad, to promote consumer rights, peace, food safety and food security and many other issues. Here are some recent stories from our office in Nishi-Waseda. Read more in Japanese in CUJ’s newsletter, Consumers Report. To receive the newsletter, please [...]
10 years have passed since the failed World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. Soon after that, activists and experts, along with the many representatives of different non-governmental organizations that had participated in Seattle, both in the demonstrations and inside the conference halls, created the World Social Forum. This was an effort to change the debate [...]
Mizuhara Hiroko writes: Ms. Urano Hisako, who supported the international activities over the past 20 years at Consumers Union of Japan, has passed away on 2009 December 14. She was only 60 year old. I first met Urano-san as Consumers Union of Japan planned its 20th anniversary in August 1989: When we started the work [...]
