About Palsystem
Palsystem Consumers' Co-operative Union is a federation consisting of local co-ops and the Palsystem Insurance Consumers' Co-operative Federation, located mainly in the capital region. Based on consumer co-op's spirit of mutual help, Palsystem Consumers' Co-operative Union works with Palsystem Group's member co-ops and subsidiaries to promote essential businesses that support people’s lives, including merchandise delivery, mutual-aid and insurance, welfare services, and electric power supply.
Origin of the name
The name Palsystem derives from the English words "pal" (friend or companion) and "system" (institution or organization).
It was chosen to mean "participation of individuals in building a large-scale collaborative operation."
Overview of Palsystem (As of March 31, 2025)
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Date Founded
February 9th, 1990
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Members of Group Co-ops
13
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Group Co-ops' total revenue
260.42 billion yen
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Union's revenue
181.1 billion yen
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Share capital
15.87 billion yen
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Workers
418 (excluding part-time workers)
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Area
Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano, and Shizuoka Pref.
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Head office
2-2-6, Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8527, Japan
Phone: +81(3)6233-7200
Fax: +81(3)3232-6540 -
Total members
1.762 million members
Principles of the Palsystem
Create a spiritually rich lifestyle and a society of co-existence.
Spiritually Rich Lifestyle
This refers to a lifestyle whereby people pursue generosity and peace of mind, good quality of life as well as strong interpersonal relationships as important values, never remaining content with mere materialistic wealth.
Society of Co-existence
This refers to a society in which people help their neighbors by pursuing a symbiotic coexistence between nature and human beings, a peaceful coexistence of people that transcends regionalism and any conventions, creating an organic relationship between the present and the future.
Message from Our Leaders
Representative Director
The United Nations has proclaimed 2025 as the second International Year of Cooperatives (IYC). It is extremely rare to have an international year under the same name twice; the second IYC therefore reflects the global community’s great expectations for cooperatives. Our role as cooperatives is once again drawing global attention in addressing numerous challenges in various fields.
August 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. In recent years, we have been witnessing a series of threats to the peace across the world, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine conflict, with growing concerns about the use of nuclear weapons. In December 2024, Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) received the Nobel Peace Prize. We must raise our voice to call for peace more broadly across the world.
The growing uncertainty in international affairs, together with climate change leading to severe disaster, has been casting a dark shadow on our lives. We are faced with financial instability due to such issues as the U.S. tariff policy and poor harvests caused by a series of extreme weather events. These challenges have led to price hikes, causing millions of families to struggle financially. In particular, rice prices remain high and unpredictable despite the government’s release of stockpiled rice.
There are many other urgent issues we must address without passing on to the next generation, including climate change leading to natural disasters, environmental issues such as reducing plastic use, as well as poverty, gender, and other human rights issues.
These problems cannot be solved solely by government interventions and the profit-oriented market mechanism. Cooperatives, which connect people and work together with each individual facing difficulties, can play a unique role in addressing issues while respecting everyone. To ensure a stable and peaceful life for the next generation, we must build a sustainable society through the power of mutual help.
To achieve this, it is essential that we further strengthen our collaboration with all of you and build trust. We look forward to working together with you to help build a safe and comfortable society for all.
Palsystem Group's Vision for 2030
Building inclusive communities through eating, producing and supporting each other
Individual action will build sustainable communities and lead to world peace
Eating＜Food＞
We will share the importance of eating and promote safe and spiritually rich food throughout our communities.
- We will address various needs in everyday life by developing safe and reliable products to provide food and healthy living throughout the life of each individual, as well as by communicating that information properly.
- The concept of ethical consumption is that people choose products with an understanding of the issues surrounding production and distribution while emphasizing the importance of enjoying tasty food, passing the food culture on to future generations, and food education. We will promote this concept throughout our communities.
- Through collaboration with governments and various other organizations, we will address social issues surrounding food, including its safety and self-sufficiency rate.
Producing＜Agriculture, Sanchoku *＞
We will create communities together and ensure sustainable production and consumption.
- We will create new mechanisms and opportunities to support producers in various forms, in order to further strengthen relationships between co-op members and producers through promotion of their interactions and deeper mutual understanding.
- We will promote the development of attractive agriculture, forestry, fishery, and manufacturing by incorporating co-op members' wishes in our product development. We will create a mechanism that enables producers to feel proud, attracts more potential successors into production and manufacturing fields, and revitalizes local economy and communities.
- We will support the development of Japanese agriculture, forestry, fishery, and manufacturing as well as international Sanchoku* production areas through the establishment of sustainable production, processing, and distribution. We will achieve this by expanding our domestic and international collaboration with organizations and groups that develop innovative production and manufacturing.
Supporting each other＜Welfare, mutual help＞
We will promote comfortable communities for all through mutual support in everyday life.
- We will provide support in everyday life so that people can live their lives in their own ways, by enhancing our products, services, mutual aid, and welfare businesses that accommodate their needs throughout their lives.
- We will actively engage in community welfare by creating and promoting mechanisms and hubs for everyone in our communities to support each other through whatever they can contribute.
- We will build human resource networks in collaboration with governments and various community action groups. Through this effort, we will develop business and activity models of mutual support that can be utilized in solving issues such as poverty and inequalities as well as in disaster relief.
Changing＜Environment＞
We will change individual lifestyles and promote the nurturing environment for diverse forms of life.
- We will reduce plastic and other waste, CO2 emissions, and food loss through product development and improvement, thereby accelerating the shift towards more environmentally friendly consumption.
- We will cooperate with production areas and business partners to expand the environmentally sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fishery as well as to promote the shift towards environmentally friendly manufacturing and distribution facilities, thereby contributing to the better local environment.
- We will give the highest priority to the measures against global warming and urge society to change our values. Meanwhile, we will collaborate with various organizations that promote renewable energy to build a society not dependent on nuclear power generation.
Understanding each other＜Peace＞
We will promote mutual understanding and build an inclusive and peaceful society where everyone is valued.
- By paying attention to the issues surrounding all groups of people and communicating with each other, we will build an inclusive society where people respect diversity and value each other.
- We will create more opportunities to pass the importance of peace on to the next generation by learning the meaning of peace and the Constitution as well as by sharing the experiences of the atomic bombings and the war.
- Aiming to build a society without threats to peace, such as wars and nuclear weapons, or poverty, we will collaborate with other co-operatives and various other organizations within and outside Japan to promote activities and policy recommendations to end hunger, exploitation, discrimination, and violence.
* Sanchoku: Direct producer-market channeling based on traceability, standardization and communication.
