| Popis: |
This study investigates the historical transition of diversifyingcommunity currencies (CCs) in Japan. We searched for papers, reports,newspaper articles, and websites about Japanese CCs to acquire allavailable information on CCs issued in Japan. We classify the types ofCCs by purpose and examine their development process by organizing thepurposes, issuing forms, and starting year for each CC.Our survey results show that 792 CCs were issued in Japan. The largestnumber of CCs was 130 issued in 2002. New CCs have gradually decreasedsince 2002, and approximately 15-20 CCs were issued annually since2008. The purpose of issuing CCs also changed; CCs aiming to “createconnections among people” were the most frequent, though this changedin 2002 to “revitalizing the regional economy.” The number of issuedCCs to “create connections among people” was in third place in 2011,while “promoting resource recycling” was second.To classify CCs in Japan, we conduct a cluster analysis using samplescores obtained by Hayashi’s quantification method type III as adependent variable for the issuing purpose. Many CCs issued in thefirst half of 2000 belonged to Cluster 4, “formation of people’sconnection and regional economic revitalization;” however, thoseissued in recent years belonged to Cluster 3, “forestry and regionaleconomic revitalization.” Although the number of new CCs decreaseddrastically in the past 15 years, CCs are clearly evolving as a toolfor solving social problems with changing issuing purposes. |
