An increasing number of citizens' groups in Japan trying to document firsthand accounts of the tragedies of World War II, which ended 70 years ago this year, are turning to crowdfunding, a popular way of raising funds via the Internet, to pay for cash-strapped projects.
In crowdfunding, entrepreneurs, civic groups, artists and others who want to raise funds post an outline of their project online to attract investors. Fundraisers set the amount of money they want to raise and if they are able to raise that amount, they will pay 10 to 20 percent of it to the operator as a fee. If not, the money will be returned to the investors.
Crowdfunding was first launched in Japan in 2011 and now has around 40 operators nationwide.