Crypto Village Newsletter #37 - 5/15
Welcome back to our News Letter!
A huge thank you to all our new subscribers! This newsletter is brought to you by Crypto Village, where we share the latest updates on the Nishikigoi NFT project, Japanese local NFT initiatives, and much more.
The News of the Week:
Rethinking Local Self-Governance: A New Way of Living Through the Local Coop (Part.1)
This is Part 1 of a blog post series originally published in a Japanese magazine.
Rethinking Local Self-Governance: A New Way of Living Through Local Coop
For this piece, we sat down with Hideki Honma, a member of Crypto Village and an active participant in a unique community initiative called the "Local Coop." While deeply engaged in projects in the Web3 space, Honma also dedicates his time and energy to fostering local collaboration and self-sustaining lifestyles in rural areas. His ability to move seamlessly between the world of blockchain technology and the grounded, everyday life of local communities is what truly sets him apart.
That said, Honma’s approach is far from loud or self-promotional. What stands out most is his quiet presence and careful, respectful engagement with the people and places he works with. He builds relationships naturally, stays attuned to subtle shifts in the local environment, and steps in to support only when the moment feels right. It’s this thoughtful, understated style that has earned him the trust of so many communities.
In this interview, we explore the path that led Honma to stand at the intersection of local life and digital innovation. We also dive into the moments that have left a lasting impression on him—and the themes that continue to shape his thinking and his work today.
Local Coop and What Connects Yamakoshi and Tsukigase
Crypto Village: To start off, could you tell us what exactly Local Coop is? What challenges gave rise to this initiative?
Honma: Put simply, Local Coop is a system designed to help people continue living in a community—even as the population declines. You could also think of it as a way to preserve small but valuable aspects of rural life: the freedom to choose where you live, local traditions, and natural environments that are deeply rooted in place.
The core issue behind Local Coop is the fear that public services may no longer be sustainable in depopulating areas, making it harder for people to continue living there. For example, we turn on the tap and water comes out. Our trash gets picked up. Potholes in the road are fixed. These are things we often take for granted—I know I do.
But of course, these services are funded by taxes. And as local governments face shrinking tax revenue due to population decline, maintaining public services becomes more and more difficult. In some remote areas, we’re already seeing signs of this: bus routes being canceled, municipal offices downsized, and other public functions scaled back.
Private sector services are also impacted. When there's not enough population to justify a business model, companies are forced to pull out. We’ve seen supermarkets close down, leaving residents with no easy way to buy groceries—a phenomenon now commonly referred to as "shopping refugees."
It’s important to note that this isn’t about blaming municipalities for cutting back, or businesses for pulling out. These are consequences of structural issues like demographic decline. But it does mean that the freedom to choose where you live—and to stay there—could soon be in jeopardy.
That’s why I believe we need to reclaim some form of self-governance—to protect the communities we want to keep living in. Local Coop is a framework for supporting that.
Crypto Village: You’re also involved with the Nishikigoi NFT project in Yamakoshi. From your experience, what similarities—or differences—have you noticed between Yamakoshi in Niigata and Tsukigase in Nara, where Local Coop is based? Are there any unique characteristics about Tsukigase you'd like to share?
Honma: Tsukigase, where I currently live, is actually one of the first places where we’re trying to implement the ideas behind Local Coop. I refer to it as the former village of Tsukigase, because—just like Yamakoshi—it was merged into a larger municipality during Japan’s “Heisei municipal mergers” in the early 2000s.
Both Tsukigase and Yamakoshi are home to people who truly love where they live and take pride in their way of life. That sense of rootedness is something I see as a strong common thread between the two.
Stay tuned for the second half of the interview in our next newsletter, where we’ll dive deeper into the unique character of Tsukigase, how Local Coop is being put into action on the ground, and the future of community-led living in Japan.
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