Transcript Tanomoshi: Financial Secret Societies

Tanomoshi: Financial
Secret Societies
Thesis
• The presence of Tanomoshi in Japanese
communities serves to solidify social bonds
between participants, strengthen morale in
ethnically isolated Japanese enclaves, and
encourage economic growth and individual
financial achievement in the private sector.
What Is Tanomoshi?
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Informal credit and loan associations
Membership usually organized along ethnic lines
Meets monthly
All members contribute the same predetermined
amount at each meeting
Rotating pay-out system
Continues until all members have been paid
Remaining funds allocated amongst members
Peer pressure
Origins
• Meiji Period
• Early 1900s Resurgence
• Practice transplanted to
U.S., other countries
Tanomoshi in Early
Hawaii
• Former laborers had savings
• Lacked funds to buy large appliances and
property or start businesses
• Banks refused immigrants loans
• Tanomoshi instituted by word of mouth
• Became “one-stop” source for desired funds
• Tradition passed from one generation to next
• Exists to present day
Locals Reminisce
• “Tanomoshi was a(n) integral part of family financing.”Katsugo Miho, owner of the Kahului (Miho) Hotel
• “They need money (my parents)… so got to make
tanomoshi to borrow from all the friends.”-Anonymous
interviewee whose parents purchased a boat using the
Tanomoshi system
• “From two tanomoshi I draw $1600. The first time I buy
an electric stove and refrigerator and my neighbor and
I… we’re so happy we cry.”-“Mrs. K”, Korean picture
bride
Locals Reminisce
• “Tanomoshi is where they (members of the
Asian Community) loan money to each other.
They meet once or twice a month and give it
to each other. That’s how Frank (former
husband) got his money. He was Okinawan.
The Okinawans used to do that a lot.”-Kikue
Roumain, former Moiliili resident and past
owner of the Fair Grill restaurant in Nuuanu (a
business started with Tanomoshi funds).
Legacy
• Sueoka’s
• Miura Store
• Preponderance of modern credit unions
Hawaii: America’s Credit
Union Capital
Hawaii Credit Union Membership
A Global Phenomenon
• Exists in most American states with significant
Japanese populations
• California is most notable
• Also in Peru, Brazil, Argentina
• Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and West
Indians all have own systems
Other Areas of Interest
• Percentage of businesses started using
tanomoshi
• Percentage who use(d) tanomoshi
Sources
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http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-23/news/ci-39041_1_traditional-loans/3
http://books.google.com/books?id=butvuwnn0l4C&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=tanomoshi&source=bl&ots=tcguRRPP6L&sig=dzM9nvIs
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=onepage&q=tanomoshi&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=QZg6Ft_jvJ0C&pg=PA326&lpg=PA326&dq=tanomoshi+interview&source=bl&ots=XjY69JQRm7&sig
=GmCbZuLv5zXssHrWUde2DWxT3AA&hl=en&ei=GTTjTJudLJG4sQPo0tRm&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6A
EwAA#v=onepage&q=tanomoshi%20interview&f=false
http://www.courts.state.md.us/opinions/cosa/2009/507s08.pdf
http://d-arch.ide.go.jp/je_archive/society/book_jes4_d06.html
http://www.densho.org/about/enews/enews-201007.asp
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:RswFpEDn1OwJ:www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Periodicals/De/pdf/67_02_03.pdf+Study
+of+%22TANOMOSHI%22+%28Mutual+Financial+Association%29+in+the+Late+Tokugawa+Period&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEES
jMBaLEcpLZyAE9mEL3jH7fiAONMFsJz6Zf9-p2JgxMQKU_tuhq-LG6i5-xSIsFREKouIlESsqUWG1WCXOQB1yyzv5hoJiQpFBxJJB_flgPInBN9AdsAqRES3lYnL_OhHHvxsP&sig=AHIEtbQbuscCESdIXOrKP3hojR7a27NCiQ
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_ur5sCx9Q6gJ:www.womeningovernment.org/files/file/fes/AssetBuilding_Policy_for_Hawaii.pdf+tanomoshi+interview&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjlbhyMBHm_XJ3AGemFe_p0QrjsEEhxcLj3IIQ
J6D6Fi9_by-iX7foQ_kQXSdBHzqqaqhsy6Mh8bnrqjk_R0BCNnKz89Qc4jjP03jAVEyRnyLbu2wQk30oRongTci8Yf5uGAcl&sig=AHIEtbQWAQ8HZT2iITfKB7
VFmbhF9W7WgQ
http://www.evekushner.com/writing/japanese-peruvians-reviled-and-respected/
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http://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10524/637/2/JL35021.pdf
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http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Dec/05/ln/FP512050322.html
http://www.jstor.org.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/stable/25159510?seq=4&Search=yes&term=tanomoshi&list=hide&searchUri=%2F
action%2FdoBasicSearch%3Ffilter%3Diid%253A10.2307%252Fi25159504%26Query%3Dtanomoshi%26wc%3Don%26acc%3Don&item=
1&ttl=1&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null&
http://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/selto/CURISES%202009%20Cost%20Mgt/CURISES%20Readings/Ouchi%20mgt%20control.pdf
http://nisei.hawaii.edu/object/io_1206611924671.html
http://www.sueokastore.com/history.html
Interview with Kikue Roumain. Conducted Dec. 1, 2010.
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