Japan Co-operative Alliance (JCA) and Cooperatives Japan jointly held the 97th International Day of Co-operatives on July 9, 2019 in Tokyo. About 450 people from about 100 organizations including cooperative officials and members, academicians, and media representatives participated.

The theme of this year's International Day of Cooperatives was “COOPS 4 DECENT WORK”. At the forum in Tokyo, two lectures and a panel discussion were held on decent work.

The first lecture was given by Ms. TAGUCHI Akiko, Director, ILO Office for Japan under the theme “descent work and cooperatives". After commenting on the history of ILO's decent and productive work, she talked about the deep collaboration between the ILO and the Co-ops by giving concrete examples of activities.

Next, was a lecture by Project Assist. Prof. OKA Mayumi, Research Center for Medical and Health Data Science of Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS) on the theme "think about community improvement that is comfortable to live” based on the results of her four-year survey on “the city with the least committed suicide in Japan”. She raised issues about what each and everyone can do to realize a comfortable society, with the keywords "emphasis on diversity" and "personal relationships that are not too close".

Subsequently, with Ms. TANAKA Natsuko, President of the Japanese Society for Co-operative Studies acting as a coordinator, and the above two speakers as commentators, a panel discussion was held on the theme” Contribution to local communities through decent work” with four panelists from consumer co-op, an NPO which originates from Agricultural Co-op, and a workers' co-op, making mention of what is being practiced by their own organizations.

It was followed by questions and answers and opinion exchanges from the viewpoint of Goal 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” on the secret of success in each practiced case and on future issues.

Lastly, Mr. NAGASHIMA Toshiyuki, Managing Director of Japan Actors Union, a co-operative which joined JCA this year gave a short speech.