Background

After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the national attention to seek alternative and sustainable energy has been increasing rapidly with the demand for social economy to solve the high-income disparity.

After GSEF2013, the majority of people who participated in the event and agreed with “The Seoul Declaration,” which was adopted by eight local governments and nine civil networks during GSEF2013, were gathered to organize meetings to discuss the declaration in various regions across Japan.

As a result of such recognition, the Association of “The Seoul Declaration” of Japan (ASDJ) launched in the spring of 2014.

Activities

Before the GSEF2014 inaugural meeting, ASDJ held a pre-forum titled “Pre-GSEF” at Meiji University in Tokyo on November 2, 2014.

There were over 200 participants such as leaders, activists of cooperatives, credit unions, farmers and representatives of local governments. Also, representatives of the Seoul Metropolitan Government and GSEF staff participated in the meeting as invited speakers.

After the GSEF events, ASDJ also organized two report meetings at different cities in Japan to build the social consensus on the importance of social and solidarity economy.

Expectations

Unfortunately, the term “Social Economy” is not recognized politically and legally in Japan yet. Despite this, there are many movements and civil organizations that aim to activate social economy activities in Japan.

Although some local governments are also joining such social movements and organizations, the social network is not enough to promote the social and solidarity economy.

Alongside the GSEF’s global network, ASDJ could be one of the crucial actors for the social economy network in the world as well as in Japan.