On August 4, Mr. NAKATA Kazuyoshi, the President of Tochigi Co-op paid a visit to Mr.TAKAHASHI Bunkichi, the President of the East Japan Guide Dog Association in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture and presented a donation on behalf of the co-op for the support of guide dog training. Guide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind and visually impaired people to walk safely when they go out alone.

The East Japan Guide Dog Association is currently training about 30 dogs to become guide dogs. The basic training includes how to lead a person, walk in a store, board, and alight from a bus or train. Only dogs that pass the tests at least four times during the year begin joint training with visually impaired people and those that are certified through the training become official guide dogs. But the standards are strict, thus only 30% of trained dogs become guide dogs.

On the other hand, according to the survey by the association, as of the end of March 2019, there are 310,000 visually impaired people who are registered legally disabled. It is estimated that of those, a potential 3,000 are waiting for guide dogs. However, there are currently only 928 guide dogs active in Japan as against about 5,000 and 10,000 in Britain and the United States respectively. Compared to overseas, the number of guide dogs in Japan remains very small.

It is estimated that about 5 million yen per dog is needed to develop a guide dog. However, there are few public subsidies and subsidy systems to support guide dogs' training. More than 90% of the cost is covered by donations and other support.

Tochigi Co-op has been engaged in fundraising to support guide dog training for 20 years since March 2000. In fiscal 2019, they donated 3.6 million yen.