Life In Japan: JA

JA stands for Japan Agriculture.

JA is a huge, sprawling organization, with hundreds of stores, facilities, and offices across the entire country. But . . .

It’s not a corporation.

It’s not a government facility, branch, or department.

It’s a cooperative — or more accurately, this from an article on Wikipedia, a “national group of 694 regional co-ops in Japan that supply members with input for production, undertake packaging, transportation, and marketing of agricultural products, and provide financial services.”

They of course have commercial outlets which make available local farm products. Here is our main store in town.

But because JA provides so many services within the hundreds of communities it serves, it also has numerous offices, some large and imposing complexes. The ‘JA’ logo adorns quite a few buildings right here in Tambasasayama.

Did I mention that JA is a cooperative? Of course I did!

Why is this important?

Because it’s set up as a cooperative, it’s not subject to government bureaucracy, political influences, or the whims and wishes of whoever is politically in power at any given time. Even more importantly, it doesn’t have to answer to a corporate board of directors, it isn’t beholden to shareholders, and doesn’t measure its success in terms of “profitability”.

JA is there exclusively to serve its members and the needs of the community.

What a concept!