THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

to be higher than those obtained From yen-paid social service
workers. One of the names of this currency Hureai Kippu ('Caring
Relationship Ticket') spells out the agenda. It also provides a more
comfortable emotional space for the elderly, who might otherwise be
embarrassed to ask for free services.
The Japanese also report a significant increase in volunteer help,
even by people who do not bother to open their own Time Accounts.
The reason may be that with this system, all volunteers feel more
acknowledged. This precedent should put to rest concerns that
paying volunteers with complementary currency might inhibit those
not getting paid from volunteering.
As of end 1998 there are over 300 municipal level healthcare time
credit systems in Japan, mostly run by private initiatives such as the
Sawayaka Welfare Institute, or the 'Wac Ar' (Wonderful Ageing Club,
Active Club) and the Japan Care System (a non-profit with some
governmental funding). In summary, the Japanese Healthcare
Currency has proved both more cost effective and compassionate
than the system, which prevails in the West. As the US and Europe
embark on an identical trend of an ageing population, why not learn
from the Japanese experience?
6. Tlaloc
Tlaloc is the old Aztec rain god, important in the pre-Hispanic
pantheon. It is also the name of a street in a populous neighbourhood
of Colonia Tlaxpana in today's Mexican capital city. This street is the
home of a co-operative development centre Promocoin del Desarollo
Popular A.C. which, in 1987 under the impulse of the Architect Luis
Lopezllera started its own currency system to which the name Tlaloc
was given. What is particularly interesting in the Tlaloc example is its
mixing of high-tech and low-tech operation, given that it does not
require access to a computer or even a telephone to operate