COMMUNITY CURRENCIES IN JAPAN

When not surfing or studying, he works part-time as a barista at a coffee stand in CO Blue Center, a beachside complex that also houses a sauna, an ecologically oriented library and information clearinghouse, a marine agri-tech company and spaces for art exhibitions, satellite offices and co-working. Hamamura lauds CO Blue for its flexible working conditions, but he was also drawn to the center by its eco-friendly ethos of addressing problems such as ocean plastics, deforestation and the looming food crisis.

One initiative that particularly excites him is Re:COIN, a program that upcycles plastic beach trash into coins, which can then be redeemed at nearby businesses. The more beach trash you bring to CO Blue, the more coins you can get in return.

 

The myahk, a community currency implemented on Okinawa Prefecture's Miyako Island in 2018, is intimately tied to local efforts for environmental preservation.

Known in Japanese as chi'iki tsuka (local or community currencies), numerous initiatives of this kind have been implemented across the country in recent decades, and CO Blue's version embodies the spirit of these earlier ventures upon whose shoulders it sits.

Local currencies circulate community resources by strengthening healthy relationships among people and with the surrounding nature, Sawyer says, adding that such currencies need not be antithetical to the central economy. But since people might not understand money and how it works, it feels empowering to create a local currency wherein resources are cycled to go where the needs are. That is what a truly healthy economy does.

Japan's first community currency appeared in 1973, when Teruko Mizushima established the Volunteer Labor Bank in Osaka. Mizushima envisioned community members helping one another through service, with the VLB's unit of exchange being the number of hours spent engaged in labor. This spawned numerous other systems that in turn paved the way for the Sawayaka Welfare Foundation's fureai kippu (literally, human connection tickets) in 1995, issued primarily in exchange for elderly, disabled and child care work, whereby credits were either kept for one's own use or transferred to others in need.

To read the complete article, see:
Japanese communities are creating currencies to educate and empower citizens (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2024/02/10/lifestyle/community-local-currency-japan-sustainability/)

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