SHIRAOI, Hokkaido part art project, a community center, a bank where people exchange their unique talents rather than use money, held a tape-cutting ceremony to mark its opening in this northern Japan town last month.
Naoka Tamura, 48, owns Cafe Yui, which provided space for the Tokui no ginko, which means bank of special abilities. She said her aim is to create a way for people to help each other. People register or deposit their special skills in the bank and withdraw skills that others have registered for their special skills in exchange. Some 60 skills have been deposited by users from 2 to 70 s, including how to discipline cats, how to make delicious oden Japanese hot pot dish photography, and more.
In 2011 the idea was brought up by Sapporo-based artist Takafumi Fukasawa, 38, as an art project. The talent bank was open for a limited time at the Sapporo International Art Festival 2014, but it only has a permanent headquarters in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, that Fukasawa helped establish and now has a branch in Shiraoi.
President Fukasawa, Tamura and others presided over a tape-cutting ceremony at the branch opening of Shiraoi on January 19. After presentations by some of the bank's account holders, some of the bank's account holders gave advice on everything from massage, to fortune-telling, to a nurse's sage advice on how to painlessly swallow a gastroscopic camera. The first presenter, 65-year-old disaster management expert Satoshi Nakamura, said that when residents share each other's special skills, it strengthens their lateral cooperation, which is tied together with disaster management. To make a withdrawal of someone's special skill, users can fill out a form in a mock ATM in the cafe, or apply online. Tamura said the special ability people offer can be anything. I'd like to hold talent-matching events every couple of months. Further information on Cafe Yui can be found in Japanese at their website, https: yui.noor.