"Acorn Bank" in Kagawa Prefecture

The Acorn Bank is a bank that handles not the normal notes and coins, but actual acorns. The unique currency unit used is one "D" (for "donguri," the Japanese word for acorn). The head office is located in the Forestry Affairs Section of the Kagawa Prefecture government.

At the Acorn Bank, customers deposit the acorns they have gathered in the mountains. Savings of 100 D can be exchanged for a young oak tree, and 500 D will purchase a young Japanese cedar or Japanese cypress tree. The acorns deposited in the bank will be grown into young trees at the prefectural forestry center.

The program started in 1992 to add a little fun to tree-planting activities.



Posted: 2002/08/26 05:29:11 PM
Japanese version