The rapid ageing of Japan’s population is occurring in the midst of accelerating social change, causing a rethinking about what it means to grow old. Some older Japanese are pioneering new models for ageing through their involvement in groups known as time banks. These are non-profit organisations which trade time, a universal possession, rather than conventional currency for services. Time given in volunteering is banked for future redemption as assistance for the giver, with points paid per hour. This first study of the impact of time banks on the lives of older Japanese members aims to chart how such groups can help both their senior members and society as a whole.¶ Time banks now exist across the globe but the world’s first time bank was established in 1973 by a Japanese woman. She aspired to create a new form of currency that could give people greater control of their lives and foster warmer community links. The benefits that older time bank members derive include formation of new friendship networks to replace those lost by retirement and the chance to use old skills and learn new ones. Time banks can generate a new form of social capital that fosters traditional Japanese reciprocity and has ikigai or ‘sense of meaning in life’ as one of its main pillars.¶ This research is based on both three-months of fieldwork in Japan and an extensive literature review in Japanese, English and Chinese. It has been by aided by accessibility to the thoughts of the founders of four major time banks through their books and also by their group web sites. My study follows on from an MPhil thesis that compared ageing in China and Japan and draws on my experience living in Japan for 10 years between 1979 and 1991 in both Kansai and Kanto.¶ The literature indicates that social participation is a crucial component for maintaining both psychological and physical health in the later years. While this is a qualitative study and there is yet to be a qualitative review of the effects of time banks in Japan, feedback I received from older members of the first time bank shows that time banks can foster a meaningful later life. ¶ The 21st century has been dubbed that of the aged as greater mass longevity boosts their numbers to unprecedented levels. This thesis questions whether organizations such as time banks can make a significant difference to the quality of life that older people enjoy in this new era. The theoretical framework examines whether the social exchange that these groups nurture can enhance the social capital of their communities, creating a positive image for ageing.

This study aims to investigate learning practices within Time Banks in Spain. Time Banking is a community currency concerned with the exchange of services between members using time as the currency. Parallels can be drawn with Ivan Illich’s ‘Skills Exchange’ model in Deschooling Society (1971b) and this provides the initial motivation for the study of Time Banks from an educational perspective, which is identified as a gap in the literature. Moving on from Illich, the investigation of Time Banks is considered in relation to the wider context of Lifelong Learning and the Learning Society. The heterogeneity of Time Bank models in Spain motivates a comparative research design based on differing organisational logics, whilst the exploratory nature of investigating Time Banks as spaces of learning motivates a case study methodology in order to gain a contextualised understanding of the problem. The study finds that the Time Banks are built on principles of Mutual Aid (Kropotkin, 1902) and, whilst practices and values resonate somewhat with Illich’s critiques of modernism, a skills exchange model does not best represent the learning that takes place in Time Banks. Furthermore, this research finds that in all three Time Banks, the exchange of services forms only a small part of overall activities. Additional activities provide opportunities for the exchange of skills and knowledge between participants. However, the learning highlighted as more important by TB users is learning to participate. That is, learning solidarity and personal and social skills through active participation in the Time Bank. These findings are then positioned within the context of radical adult education and future lines of inquiry are identified.