On August 29, Co-op officials in the Kinki area and the Local Government held a joint meeting at the Hyogo Prefecture Citizens’ Hall on the theme “Community Development in which citizens can live in with the sense of security”.

It was participated by Mr. HONMA Takashi from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare who expressed his appreciation to the rapid and ad hoc support to the Kumamoto earthquake by consumer co-ops. He also mentioned that he expects Co-op to continue to demonstrate their role as organization responsible for safety networking in the Japanese society where there is acceleration of demographic aging.

Taken turns, Professor WAKABAYASHI Yasunaga, President and Professor of Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University gave a special report with the title "Community initiative in 2050 super-aged society". He stated that with the significant changes in the human relations prevailing in the consumption society and the family, it is necessary to create a new value of co-op." He therefore suggested how co-op should be in the future by proposing a business model (House of Gathering) that could support the day-to-day life in the community by the bond created by healthy elderly.

Other topics discussed include “the efforts of consumer education of the University Co-op”, “the electric power industry of the Co-op” followed by exchanges in questions and opinions.