I recently finished reading our good friend John Restakis book Humanizing the Economy. It has an excellent chapter on social cooperatives in Japan and goes into detail on the spectacular emergence of the Seikatsu Consumer Cooperative movement which has more than 300,000 members. The Seikatsu are an inspiring example of how consumers are organising for better quality of food for a healthier life.
The following information leaflet on Seikatsu was produced by the Policy Research Institute for Civil Sector.
See Also – http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-solidarity-economy-in-japan-a-status-report/2011/01/11