TISネットワーク通信vol.37-NEWS

 The International Consumers’ Symposium in TOKUSHIMA was held on June 6th this year. It is usually held in autumn, but this year, it has been delayed to coincide with the National Convention on Shokuiku Promotion. As the symposium was held at the same time as the Osaka-Kansai Expo, participants were able to visit the Expo at the same time.

 This year, the main theme was “Tokushima for the Future ーSustainable AI Land Tokushimaー.” Tokushima’s Governor and the Consumer Affairs Agency’s Vice-Administrative Chief (Director General) of the Strategic Headquarters for Frontiers of Consumer Policy, opened the Symposium with a few greetings. It was followed by the Keynote Speech Session, in which a director from Maruha Nichiro gave his presentation on his companies efforts in achieving the SDGs. As a food company, they have made efforts in making more sustainable food not just for consumption in Japan but for the whole world as well. One standout initiative from their presentation is the innovations in fish farming. Personally, I find their approach to nursing care food very interesting. Japan is already experiencing an aging population, but with the aging of the baby boomer generation from the bubble era, the proportion of the elderly population is expected to increase further in the near future. The company’s approach is based on this situation, and I think it is a very useful initiative.

 In the Global Youth Session that followed, university students from Tokushima Prefecture and overseas (Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand) gave presentations on the handbooks they created in 2024 on the theme of Ethical Consumption in Food. They presented their recommendations in tackling the universal issues we have regarding ethical consumption of food, and even though they were dealing with the same theme, it was very interesting to see how they tackled it from their own unique perspectives as university students from different countries.

The completed handbooks are available for reference on the prefecture’s official website (opens in a new window).

 Lastly, we had the Consumer Policy Session, in which we welcomed consumer policy experts from within Japan and other countries (Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand), to discuss how consumer administraion can move forward in creating a sustainable society through how they view and handle food in their countries. Topics of interest include effective policy making and implementation, culture and its relation to unnecessary overproduction of food, getting people to take action alongside raising awareness, green washing, food banks, etc.

 Currently, countries are having difficulty in achieving behavioral change. To fundamentally solve this problem, it is important to interest consumers, raise their awareness, and encourage them to take effective action. Ms. Christine Lo from Hong Kong, a panelist in the Consumer Policy Session, cited a successful example from Spain, where the local government frequently encouraged consumers to become active community members who contribute to a sustainable society. Hearing that “repetition” by local governments is effective in encouraging consumer participation, I was reminded of the important role that governments play in guiding consumers, and felt that such examples should be more widely known and practiced around the world.

 The next day, some of the symposium participants (including those from overseas) had the opportunity to join The 20th National Convention on Shokuiku Promotion 2025 at Asty Tokushima for a study tour. Divided into two groups, they were able to visit key booths which showcased innovative and meaningful initiatives of different businesses in promoting sustainable and ethical food consumption and education, not just in Tokushima, but from other countries as well. Of course, they also sampled the food products that were the result of these initiatives!

 Once again, I feel that these two events emphasized the need for close cooperation between governments, companies, and individuals to realize a sustainable society through addressing global issues such as food issues. Further, I believe that international cooperation, where countries learn best practices from each other, will become increasingly important in order for humanity to survive. And it is my hope for these events to continue and evolve more in the future.

For more information about the symposium and the convention, please check the following links!
(We plan to broadcast the symposium on a dedicated website at a later date.)
・International Consumer’s Symposium in TOKUSHIMA 2025 (opens a new window) 

・The 20th National Convention on Shokuiku Promotion 2025 (opens a new window)

See you in the next volume!