071128-yamaura-tasmania-forest.pdf What is Happening to Tasmanian Forests? Australia is a huge exporter of iron, coal, uranium, and farm products. Timber production is also active, and a large amount of woodchips are exported to Japan to be used as tissue paper or copy paper. Tasmania, an island state, is located southeast of the Australian continent. Its [...]

Michiyo Koketsu from Consumers Union of Japan participated in Consumers International’s Congress in Australia, October 29-November 1, 2007. CI announced the winners of the International Bad Products Awards, as 400 delegates from national consumer organisations and governments convened in Sydney. The awards aim to highlight failings of corporate responsibility and the abuse of consumer trust [...]

Saturday Nov. 3, 2007: Plastic Incineration Rise Draws Ire Environmentalists unswayed by limited tests, fears risks (Quote:) Yasuko Ueda, a writer and outspoken activist with the Tokyo-based Consumers Union of Japan, a nongovernmental organization, noted that the government has invoked the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law to require that plastics be re-used as “resources” to [...]

FTA and the food on our tables (pdf) Free Trade Agreements and the Food on our Tables Report by Yasuaki Yamaura Consumers Union of Japan/Food Action 21 The purpose of Free Trade Agreements (FTA) is to lower tariffs and reduce other barriers for products traded between two countries. Since 2002, Japan has concluded FTAs with [...]