A 34-year-old Japanese woman has been tasked with studying cooperative unions' medical care and welfare businesses in Asian countries, through a position at the International Labor Organization.

"I think connections with people can produce some great power," said Satoko Horiuch, an official with the Japanese Consumers' Cooperative Union, in an interview before she left Tokyo to begin her new post.

Horiuchi was dispatched to the Switzerland-headquartered organization in April to support the operation of cooperative unions, which are nonprofit mutual support entities, in Asia for the next two years.