Japanese City Accepts Bitcoin Donations

Ever since the new digital currency legislation was implemented in Japan, Bitcoin has become a hot topic within the region. Now the famous city of Hirosaki is accepting donations for its well known Cherry Blossom Festival that gathers millions of visitors each year.

Also read: Japan Declares Sale of Bitcoin Exempt from Consumption Tax

City of Hirosaki Accepts Bitcoin Donations to Help Preserve Thousands of Cherry Blossom Trees

On April 20 the city of Hirosaki has announced it will be collecting bitcoin donations to help preserve its 2600 cherry blossom trees and the annual festival held at the end of the month. The news of Hirosaki city officials choosing to accept bitcoin donations was also reported on by the national Japanese broadcast NHK. The Japanese city is well known for the tree festival conducted around the Hirosaki Castle Park.

The festival has over 2 million visitors every year who observe the fifty types of cherry blossom trees in the city. However according to city officials taking care of the trees is costly and Hirosaki city officials have partnered with the Japanese exchange Coincheck to accept bitcoin donations.

“We expect bitcoin donations to be an effective approach to promote Hirosaki’s cherry blossoms and a castle especially to people living outside of Japan,” explains Hirosaki’s city committee. “We also expect bitcoin donations to be a unique tourism promotion. When it comes to more practical benefits, bitcoin donations require much lower initial cost and running cost compared to traditional methods.”

A Great Opportunity to Attract Tourists from Overseas

City officials detail donations have always gone towards taking care of the thousands of trees alongside maintaining the 400-year-old Hirosaki Castle for future visitors. Bitcoin contributions will help preserve the trees and repair broken stone on the castle walls explains the Hirosaki city committee. Furthermore, the city said they will further investigate both positives and negatives concerning using bitcoin to facilitate donations.

As Hirosaki-city, we consider bitcoin donations a great opportunity to attract tourists from overseas. On the other hand, we are also going to conduct a search on disadvantages and discuss further possibilities.

The Japanese trading platform Coincheck who helped facilitate the deal with the city of Hirosaki has been on a mission promoting bitcoin in Japan since 2012. The firm has made headway in the region, and quite a few merchants use the service to accept bitcoin in their stores and restaurants.

Borderless Donations

Just recently Coincheck and the popular Japanese exchange Bitflyer announced both firms would help thousands of merchants in Japan accept bitcoin this summer. Coincheck is pleased to assist the city of Hirosaki to begin accepting bitcoin for the Cherry Blossom Festival donations and hopes other local Japanese city officials adopt the payment method.

“Bitcoin allows accepting donations regardless of regions due to its borderlessness. As one of the largest bitcoin company, Coincheck will continue to promote bitcoin donation around the world,” the Japanese exchange stated.

What do you think about the city of Hirosaki accepting bitcoin payments to help preserve the cherry blossom trees? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, Coincheck blog, NHK, and the city of Hirosaki.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check Bitcoin.com’s tools section.