Japan's foray into developing a sharing economy has been different compared to other countries. For one, it’s been slower. It’s also being built from the ground up. Freelance reporter Nithin Coca explored the reasons behind this in his latest feature story. "The sparsity of multinational, corporate sharing platforms in Japan has given room for local sharing projects, startups, and cooperatives across the country to sprout up in both urban and rural areas," Coca wrote. "The emergence of these new initiatives across the archipelago could herald a new sharing model that places emphasis on solving social problems instead of just turning a profit." We hosted a Twitter chat this week to discuss some of the ideas that Coca brought forth in the piece.

Thank you to participants Coca, Iris Wang of the Sharing Economy Association of Japan, Keiko Tanaka of The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics, and Neal Gorenflo of Shareable for the lively discussion. Here's a recap:

Twitter chat recap: Sharing Cities Japan

Do you have any story ideas about the sharing economy around the world? Please submit them to our Collaborative Storytelling Project.