摘要：The consumer cooperative movement is the largest mass organisation in Japan, with more members than the agricultural cooperatives and trade unions. With the opening of the Japanese market to food imports, consumer cooperatives will play an increasingly important role. They will form relationships with foreign suppliers that will give these suppliers access to their members - a group of consumers who are perhaps the most affluent and discerning of Japanese consumers. They will require that their foreign suppliers produce products with residue levels lower than those the Japanese government sets. They may also apply pressure to foreign suppliers to adopt practices that are environmentally friendly.
