It has been over 2 years since the devastating disasters and nuclear plant accident on March 11th, 2011. Yet, the reconstruction work has been making little progress, which also has kept the whole Japanese society in uncertainty and fear. Facing these disasters, most people have felt a strong urge to change our lives and society, that is, to build "voluntary and altruistic new communities."

As one of the key players in building such communities, the United Nations has recognized the contribution by the cooperative sector and declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC). In Japan, various cooperative sectors have come together and formed Japan National Planning Committee for IYC 2012 to increase public awareness about significant values of cooperatives. We have been one of its active members.

Meanwhile, Japanese worker cooperatives' "Associated Work" has also been receiving growing attention. A documentary film on Japanese worker cooperatives "Workers" and a 30-minute TV program by the national TV station (NHK) on Associated Work, both of which became available in February 2013, were extremely well received with voices of support coming from all over the country. What would be the sources of such support? The answers would be the facts that Associated Work is a humane way of working and that our work directly supports and enhances people's lives and communities.

In order to create inclusive communities and to rebuild our society, Associated Worker Cooperatives regard "work, capital and management" as one unified concept and aim to create meaningful jobs, so that citizens can manage the community as their own and build a better world. We will make every endeavor to accomplish this goal.

(March, 2013)