The International Cooperative Alliance is gathering and maintaining updates on the impact of the disaster on cooperatives of all types in Japan. You can find the updates here: http://www.ica.coop/activities/tsunami/japan2011.html
NASCO has sent a letter expressing solidarity to the National Federation of University Cooperatives in Japan, with which we've maintained strong relations since their inception in 1947. Updates on the status of student cooperatives in Japan will be posted here as reports roll in. NFUCA's membership inclues ~1,480,000 students throughout Japan, and pools purchasing power for books, supplies, food, and other services at every university and college. The Japanese Consumer Cooperatives Union (JCCU) will also post updates on their site here: http://jccu.coop/eng/news/ns_20110313_01.php
For details on the JCCU's Earthquake Task Force and Earthquake Relief Fund Raising, check out their link here: http://jccu.coop/eng/news/ns_20110315_01.php
On Friday, March 11th, NASCO worked with the Cooperative Development Foundation to ensure the Co-op Emergency Fund will be available as a conduit for cooperative-to-cooperative aid in response to damage from the earthquakes and resulting tsunami. Please pass this message along within your local cooperative networks:
The Cooperative Development Foundation is accepting contributions to aid in the recovery from the tsunami that struck Japan on March 10, 2011 and has done major damage in Japan and throughout Southeast Asia. Japan is home to the Japanese Consumers Cooperative Union and to many other cooperatives, including student housing cooperatives. It was the Japanese Consumers Cooperative Union that donated the seed money for the Kagawa Fund, which has made over $800,000 in loans to expand student housing co-ops across the United States, enabling many students to afford college while teaching them leadership, financial, and management skills. The relationship between NASCO and the Japanese cooperatives reaches back to the 1930's through the cooperative missionary Toyohiko Kagawa, who inspired a generation of cooperators across the world in consumer, worker, and farmer cooperatives.
If you would like to make a contribution to assist in the cooperatives throughout the affected area recover from this devastating tsunami, you can do so through the Cooperative Development Foundation. The Foundation will work with the Japanese Consumer Cooperatives Union and other national bodies to ensure the funds are directed to rebuilding efforts for their cooperative movement.
Please visit www.cdf.coop and use the Google Checkout Cart on the right-hand column.
You may also send your donation to the Cooperative Development Foundation at 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22202 (please make sure to note that it is for Tsunami Recovery in Japan). 100% of your donation will go toward recovery. Thanks to a generous grant given to the Cooperative Development Foundation by Google, Inc, all donations made through Google Checkout are FEE FREE.
We thank you for your support and cooperation during these difficult times.
For more on the history of cooperatives in Japan and Japanese-North American cooperation between cooperatives, check out this article: http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/articles/2008-04-22/japan-land-cooperatives
The National Cooperative Business Association is maintaining a news page on the crisis here: http://www.ncba.coop/ncba/what-we-do/publications/news/851-japan-disaster-co-op-roundup