[asia-apec 1330] Corporate Watch in Japanese Launched

[Amit Srivastava]

Corporate Watch Launches Sister Website in Japanese

October 5, 1999 San Francisco - Corporate Watch, the US-based Internet
magazine and resource center has just launched a unique, ground-breaking
partnership between Japanese and US social movements.  Corporate Watch in
Japanese (CWJ) -- http://www.corpwatch-jp.org -- is designed to use the
Internet as a medium for information exchange, and linking like minded
citizens across borders.

An in-depth English outline of CWJ can be found on Corporate Watch at
http://www.corpwatch.org/japan

At a moment when Japan has just suffered the worst nuclear accident in its
history at the Sumitomo-owned Tokaimura uranium processing plant, CWJ aims
to provide the Japanese public with timely and valuable information on
corporate accountability and economic globalization issues in Japan and
from around the world.

"Language and cultural barriers have been serious impediments to building
effective and sustained partnerships between Japanese and US social
movements," said CWJ coordinator Amit Srivastava.

"CWJ bridges those barriers by providing a common platform for discussing
international concerns that affect us locally in very similar ways. We are
using the Internet to build a bridge of friendship and cooperation," said
Srivastava, who has created the website together with colleagues in Japan.

CWJ, together with its sister website Corporate Watch document how global
corporations, from the US, Japan and elsewhere play an increasingly
powerful role in all areas of the world economy. The websites show how the
pursuit of profit comes at a staggering cost to human rights, labor and the
environment.

CWJ profiles over 30 campaigns against corporations including Shell, Union
Carbide, The Gap, Kajima Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical and Shin-etsu
Chemical. In each of these cases corporate policies threaten traditional
forms of livelihood, uproot families, increase the gap between the rich and
the poor, and destroy communities.

"Citizens in Japan and around the world have to educate themselves about
corporate led globalization, and begin to join people from around the world
to mobilize for greater democratic control over these transnational
giants," said Yoichi Kuroda, an adviser to CWJ, the founder of the Japan
Tropical Forest Action Network and 1991 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner.

"Corporations, government agencies and global financial institutions have
to be monitored, regulated and held accountable for their actions. Japanese
citizens have to hold Japanese corporations accountable for their actions
both at home and overseas," said Kuroda.

"This," says Srivastava, "fits into Corporate Watch's global work which
envisions replacing the current structures of the global economy which
favors corporate profits over community needs, with a system that respects
human rights, ensures labor rights and preserves the environment. Citizens
have to be involved in all stages of a transparent and democratic decision
making process."

"CWJ provides a tremendous opportunity for citizens to network globally and
strengthen their local movements. By highlighting citizens' initiatives to
hold corporations accountable, CWJ will encourage people in Japan to take
action for social change," said Motoyama Hisako of the Asia-Japan Women's
Resource Center, a human rights organization.

CWJ plans to work regularly with movements in Japan, the US and elsewhere
in the world.

Corporate Watch is a project of TRAC--the Transnational Resource & Action
Center, based in San Francisco, USA.

===================================
Amit Srivastava
International Programs
TRAC- Transnational Resource and Action Center 
P.O. Box 29344, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA
Tel: 1 415 561 6472  Fax: 1 415 561 6493
Email:  amit at corpwatch.org
Web: http://www.corpwatch.org
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