City of Ono to donate abacuses overseas

excerpted from an Asahi Shimbun article byJiro Tsutsui

ONO, Hyogo Prefecture—Ono city officials are collecting used soroban abacuses from across the nation to donate abroad in a bid to promote its key traditional product and help local people foster calculation skills.

City officials say they want their Banshu soroban to be better known abroad for its high quality. (Banshu is an old name for the region.)

The collection drive started in late August and the city has received about 150 units so far. The city set an initial target of 500 by next summer.

Many developing countries and emerging economies that teach calculations with soroban produce them domestically because Japanese imports are too expensive.

Ono has been a major production center for the traditional manual calculator for centuries. It now has a 70% share in the Japanese market.

“Most foreign-made abacuses are plastic, but Ono’s products, made with quality wood, are durable and elaborately made,” one city official said. “If their high quality is better known, it could someday lead to its export.”

The International Soroban Diffusion Foundation, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization, has agreed to cooperate with the city’s efforts. The foundation has donated Japanese-made soroban to the South Pacific country of Tonga, where the skill is taught in primary school. However, more are needed for distribution to small, remote islands. Hungary, Tunisia and other countries also teach use of the soroban, the foundation said.

“Many families probably have an unused soroban, maybe one sitting in a closet. We hope people will send them to us,” a city official said.