The 7th organic film festival will be held in Tokyo on November 23-24, 2013. This will be a great opportunity to catch up with recent trends and watch documentaries from Japan and abroad. The theme this year is “Holding on to the Soil” to refelct the hardships many farmers are experiencing, with special focus on Okinawa and Fukushima. Location: Hosei University, Sotobori Campus (between Iidabashi and Ichigaya stations on the Sobu line) Tickets: 1800 Yen (pre order) 2500 Yen ( at the entrance) For more information please check the official website (J).
TPP: Many Questions Remain
Civil Society Media Release from TPP Negotiation Round, Brunei Darassalam The Civil Society stakeholders for the Brunei round of TPP negotiations are very disappointed that no formal report from the Chief Negotiators was presented, nor the opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions in a forum where all could hear the answers. At this round of TPP negotiations the stakeholder session ended with a mingling of negotiators with stakeholders in a stand-up format. While we found the negotiators to be friendly and open to questions, the setting did not enable many stakeholders to ask their questions and the answers given were not available to everyone. There were a number…
Energy Reform Symposium
What Will Happen With The Electric Utility Law Revision? June 20, 2013 Symposium Japan is debating the future of its electric power system. A special committee at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry made recommendations for reform in February, 2013, and a bill to revise parts of the Electric Utility Law was submitted to the Parliament after a Cabinet decision in April. However, there is concern that the bill has watered down many of the proposals. It is doubtful if the bill can be enacted during the current session of the Parliament and we sense dark clouds gathering over the anticipated reform, which had just started to look promising.…
Japan’s Consumers Say “No” to GM Wheat
Tokyo, Japan June 4, 2013 Press Release: Stronger Inspection System Needed for American Wheat Unapproved genetically modified (GM) wheat has been found in Oregon, U.S. The No! GMO Campaign and Consumers Union of Japan have written to Japan’s Ministry of Health and to the Ministry of Agriculture on June 4, 2013, urging the government to make sure that this GM wheat does not enter Japan. “The GM inspection system at the time of import should be strengthened immediately so that no GM wheat will enter Japan,“ says Amagasa Keisuke, chairperson of the No! GMO Campaign, which was founded in 1996 as the first GM crops were grown in North America,…
Biodiversity Day Event: Paige Tomaselli, Center for Food Safety
We are happy to welcome Paige Tomaselli, senior staff attorney at US-based Center for Food Safety, who will be speaking at 3 events in Tokyo in May. She is invited by Consumers Union of Japan, No! GMO Campaign and Japan Citizens’ Network for Sustainable Food & Agriculture. May 18 is International day of biological diversity and the events will focus on the threat to biodiversity from genetic engineering and GM crops. May 17 (11:00-13:00) Current situtuation in USA, the world’s leading GMO producing country Place: Sangiin Giin Hall B107, Nagatacho station, Tokyo (Please meet in the lobby at 10:40) (500Yen) May 18 (13:30-16:30) Genetically modified organisms, a threat to biological…