2023 New Year's message by TSUCHIYA Toshio, President of JCCU
2023.01.01
A happy new year to you all.
Three years have passed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 infection, and although restrictions on movement and other measures have been minimized, consumers' household budgets have been hit by soaring energy and food prices at unprecedented levels. The role of co-ops as community-based mutual aid organization is becoming increasingly important.
In addition, the problems of declining birthrate, super-aging society, and declining population are approaching faster than expected at an accelerated pace. Co-ops must take on new challenges to continue to meet the changing lifestyles of co-op members and the expectations of the community.
In June 2022, "Co-op Welfare Business Federation" was established and started to strengthen the care and welfare business of co-ops nationwide based on the "10 Basic Care by Co-op." In the age of 100 years of life, while staying close to people's lives and learning from each other, we will further expand our range of services to the community.
Russia's prolonged military invasion of Ukraine has once again strongly confronted the international community with the threat of nuclear weapons. Against this backdrop, we believe that the holding of the NPT Review Conference, which was held after repeated postponements, and of the first meeting of the Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a clear statement of intent toward a world without nuclear weapons and multilateral disarmament. For the sake of peace and a better life for the people of the world, let us steadily carry forward the reality of the war and the atomic bombings, and spread the wish for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
We will expand our consumer voice into a society where food and energy security are threatened. We will further develop diverse initiatives such as responding to rising energy prices, reducing food loss, and expanding products for ethical consumption.
We will take the first step toward the realization of the SDGs, which have become the common language of the society, by making a leap forward from the foothold on the issues and paving the way for the future together with our co-op members.
I extend my best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.
January 2023
Tsuchiya Toshio
President, Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union
