1.1 Billion Yen Regional Economic Measure Against Rising Prices: Marugame City's Digital Gift Card Project
Marugame City in Kagawa Prefecture will distribute 10,000 yen worth of digital gift cards to all residents to combat inflation. Operated by Scitech-I Co., Ltd., the project uses a hybrid card and app design to ensure accessibility and stimulate local consumption.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 1, 2026 at 20:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 1, 2026 at 16:47
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 21, 2026 at 18:17 (481h 29m after Collected)
Scitech-I Co., Ltd. (HQ: Takamatsu, Kagawa; CEO: Yoshika Osawa) announces that the 'Marugame Life Support Gift Card Distribution Project,' implemented by Marugame City using national 'Priority Support Regional Grants,' will commence usage on April 1, 2026.
### Overview of the Project
This project is a 'push-type' economic support measure that directly distributes gift cards worth 10,000 yen per person (totaling over 1.1 billion yen) to all residents without requiring an application. To overcome the challenge of cash handouts being saved rather than spent, the project incorporates an expiration date (September 30, 2026) and limits usage to registered merchants within the city, ensuring that the funds circulate back into the local economy.
### Background and Social Significance
Prolonged price increases have severely impacted residents' lives. Previous cash handout measures faced issues where a portion of the funds accumulated as savings. Traditional paper voucher programs also faced challenges such as high printing and shipping costs, forgery risks, complex redemption processes, and slow digitalization. Marugame City designed this project as an advanced model to solve these issues simultaneously.
### Key Points of the Project
1. **Distribution without Application Procedures**: By distributing gift cards to all residents (as of December 1, 2025) without requiring application procedures, the burden on citizens is removed, ensuring support reaches everyone easily.
2. **Support Method with Defined Expiration and Usage**: By setting a usage period (April 1 to September 30, 2026) and limiting usage to participating stores within the city, the measure encourages consumption within a set period, leading to local economic revitalization.
3. **Design Considering the Digital Divide**: Residents without smartphones can use the physical card as is. Smartphone users can transfer their balance to the 'Maidigi' app for 2D code payments in units of 1 yen. It also features the convenience of merging family members' balances into a single app, catering to digital divide countermeasures.
4. **Lower Cost and Safer Operation Compared to Paper Vouchers**: Compared to physical paper vouchers, the project suppresses costs for printing, shipping, and merchant redemption tasks. Digital management also reduces risks of unauthorized use and forgery.
### Overview of the Project
This project is a 'push-type' economic support measure that directly distributes gift cards worth 10,000 yen per person (totaling over 1.1 billion yen) to all residents without requiring an application. To overcome the challenge of cash handouts being saved rather than spent, the project incorporates an expiration date (September 30, 2026) and limits usage to registered merchants within the city, ensuring that the funds circulate back into the local economy.
### Background and Social Significance
Prolonged price increases have severely impacted residents' lives. Previous cash handout measures faced issues where a portion of the funds accumulated as savings. Traditional paper voucher programs also faced challenges such as high printing and shipping costs, forgery risks, complex redemption processes, and slow digitalization. Marugame City designed this project as an advanced model to solve these issues simultaneously.
### Key Points of the Project
1. **Distribution without Application Procedures**: By distributing gift cards to all residents (as of December 1, 2025) without requiring application procedures, the burden on citizens is removed, ensuring support reaches everyone easily.
2. **Support Method with Defined Expiration and Usage**: By setting a usage period (April 1 to September 30, 2026) and limiting usage to participating stores within the city, the measure encourages consumption within a set period, leading to local economic revitalization.
3. **Design Considering the Digital Divide**: Residents without smartphones can use the physical card as is. Smartphone users can transfer their balance to the 'Maidigi' app for 2D code payments in units of 1 yen. It also features the convenience of merging family members' balances into a single app, catering to digital divide countermeasures.
4. **Lower Cost and Safer Operation Compared to Paper Vouchers**: Compared to physical paper vouchers, the project suppresses costs for printing, shipping, and merchant redemption tasks. Digital management also reduces risks of unauthorized use and forgery.