TOKYO —

Getting rid of a ring that signifies a relationship can sometimes be more difficult than leaving your ex once a relationship has ended. What reminds you of your ex-girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or husband the most? It might be the ring they gave you. So how do you get rid of the ring after a break-up or divorce?

Charity Agent Inc in Tokyo helps heartbroken people abandon old rings through its charity project: “good by rings.” The project collects rings from broken-up couples for free and donates the money that is raised, by selling the rings, to non-profit organizations.

The process is very simple. Sign up on the company’s website (www.goodbyrings.com) and send your rings to their P.O. box. The company sends you a thank-you letter or email after your rings have been exchanged into cash and donated to charity organizations. Donors can choose the charity that the money will be donated to, such as education, children, medicine and forest protection, at the time of registration.

“It is not ‘good-bye rings’ but ‘good by rings.’ We thought the rings of divorced couple are worth practically nothing, and we should make use of them for something better in society,” says Emiko Shinjo, who launched Charity Agent and the “good by rings” project in April, with her university classmate. She quit a public relations agency where she worked for three years for the new project to revitalize the “donation market” in Japan.

The company is currently working on the project with NPOs Care International Japan, which supports empowerment of women in developing countries, and Wink for single mothers and fathers in Japan. The profit from collected rings is also donated to other NPOs.

“Many people in Japan are now divorcing and the pension system has been changed so that it provides pensions to individuals instead of couples. We wondered how couples who break up deal with their rings,” Shinjo says.

She conducted an online survey, and it was revealed that about 50% of couples who broke up didn’t know what to do with their rings, 27.9% keep the rings, 24.9% dispose of them, 15.7% return them to their ex, 5.1% sell them, 2% give them to someone else or still use them after altering them, while 22.3% said “other.” The company is now researching what “other” means.

“Currently, most of the ring donors are women in their 20s and 30s who would like to dispose of rings given by ex-boyfriends. We originally target women rather than men. Women want to do something with rings more than men, for some reason. Men say the process of sending rings to a charity like us is bothersome,” says Shinjo.

The company was founded as a “non-profit private corporation” whose stock is owned by the co-founders, rather than as a NPO which often relies on financial support from the public sector. Shinjo says they wanted a new form of organization which is flexible in project management.

The company distributes its leaflets at offices of administrative scriveners and certified social insurance labor consultants as well as community workers’ offices where divorcing or divorced couples gather.

Shinjo says that divorce is still seen in a negative way in Japan, compared to foreign countries like the United States. She thinks the “good by rings” project will be more familiar to Americans, saying, “In the future, we would like to do the project in the U.S. For example, when Hollywood celebrities divorce, it becomes big news all the time. They can make use of our project to improve their image through divorce.”

What she has noticed through the project in the past three months is that the concept of charity in Japan is different from the U.S. and she wants more Japanese to feel familiar with charity as a daily thing.

“I think Japanese people tend to give donations when there is a disaster or tragic event,” Shinjo says. “But they are not involved in charity on a daily basis. It is estimated that the total amount of donations by a typical Japanese family is just 1/60th of a typical American family. When I traveled the United States, I saw that people don’t hesitate to give something to homeless people. Although there are different cultural backgrounds between us, Japanese just ignore them. Homeless people don’t even beg.”

Shinjo is still trying to get the project and the company on track. “Since we deal with valuable items, we must make our project transparent all the time. We report the information on the project, including how the profit from the donated rings is used, which bigger organizations cannot trace. ‘Visible charity’ is the key phrase for us.”

For the project and company management, Shinjo works on B-to-B projects in CSR (corporate social responsibility) areas with other companies so she can use the profit for B-to-C projects like “good by rings.”

For further information on “good by rings,” visit: http://www.goodbyrings.com/

Latest 15 of 17 Total Comments Show All

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  rjd_jr at 07:52 AM JST - 22nd June

  What she has noticed through the project in the past three months is that the concept of charity in Japan is different from the U.S. and she wants more Japanese to feel familiar with charity as a daily thing.

  “I think Japanese people tend to give donations when there is a disaster or tragic event,” Shinjo says. “But they are not involved in charity on a daily basis. It is estimated that the total amount of donations by a typical Japanese family is just 1/60th of a typical American family. When I traveled the United States, I saw that people don’t hesitate to give something to homeless people. Although there are different cultural backgrounds between us, Japanese just ignore them. Homeless people don’t even beg.”

  (Have at it folks.)

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  Terrikus at 08:03 AM JST - 22nd June

  Although there are different cultural backgrounds between us, Japanese just ignore them. Homeless people don’t even beg.”

  Though that didn't stop a guy from begging me for 500yen at Shibuya station :P

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  movieguy at 03:00 PM JST - 22nd June

  I remember being 12 shortly after my parents' divorce was final and as my dad was driving over a bridge over the Mississippi River he took out his wedding band and threw it in the river. Seems like a good way to deal the rings instead of putting the bad luck back into circulation... Drive over Rainbow Bridge and chuck it...

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  Betting at 06:08 PM JST - 22nd June

  "It is estimated that the total amount of donations by a typical Japanese family is just 1/60th of a typical American family".

  It's a good point rjd jr, very much a cultural difference. But having said that, it's good seeing people like group trying as I think, most people will agree, that charity is a good thing. The more groups like this are seen to be active, the more that belief will become more mainstream in Japanese society.

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  lipscombe at 07:06 PM JST - 22nd June

  rjd jr finding a fault with Japan, say it aint so

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  presto345 at 07:40 PM JST - 22nd June

  the total amount of donations by a typical Japanese family is just 1/60th of a typical American family

  Maybe the need for donations is not so great here as in the U.S. of America. Fewer people living on the fringes of society. But this is a different topic. Re-using these rings is a great idea. Throwing them into a river a waste!

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  Youdontknow at 08:44 PM JST - 22nd June

  I laughed so hard at this!! These gold-diggers go through boyfriends half the time JUST for the ring!!

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  jerseyboy at 01:42 PM JST - 23rd June

  rjd_jr...Don't fret, Japan's spending per family on LV is 60 times that of the U.S. -- so it all evens out.

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  thepro at 01:58 PM JST - 23rd June

  rjd_jr...Don't fret, Japan's spending per family on LV is 60 times that >of the U.S. -- so it all evens out.

  lold

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  sarcasm123 at 03:52 PM JST - 23rd June

  "the total amount of donations by a typical Japanese family is just 1/60th of a typical American family"

  Or at least, the volume of the US trumpet is 60 as high as that of its Japanese counterpart.

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  RedMeatKoolAid at 04:00 PM JST - 23rd June

  "Or at least, the volume of the US trumpet is 60 as high as that of its Japanese counterpart."

  Americans are much more generous than Japanese - when it comes to charity. Why do you doubt Ms Shinjo? Are you some kind of Japan-basher?

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  sarcasm123 at 05:01 PM JST - 23rd June

  "Americans are much more generous than Japanese - when it comes to charity."

  Or at least, the volume of the US trumpet is is much higher as that of its Japanese counterpart.

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  usaexpat at 11:41 PM JST - 23rd June

  I'll tell you that if my wife and I hadn't worked out I doubt she would have had any problem pawning the ring. But giving it to to charity, I doubt it....

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  usaexpat at 11:43 PM JST - 23rd June

  As for charitable contributions by Japanese or Americans, remember Americans have a lot more stuff and a lot more space to accumulate that stuff. That average amount given that folks are citing I would assume includes the value of used clothes, toys etc. that Americans donate to Good Will, Purple Heart etc. I doubt Americans are any more generous with cash contributions.

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  KitsuneYoukai at 01:32 AM JST - 24th June

  I think this is a good idea actually.

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