We built an app for Japanese neighborhood associations — and the handover notebook turned out to matter most

The problem

Every year in Japan, a small group of volunteers runs the local 自治会 (neighborhood association). They circulate bulletins, collect dues, check in on elderly residents, run votes at general meetings, and maintain the annual schedule. At year's end, they hand the role over — usually with a folder of paper, or nothing at all.

Nobody tracks who did what. Nobody measures the actual workload. So when it's time to recruit the next round of officers, no one can honestly answer "how much work is it?" And the handover is always rough.

That's the loop Musubiba is trying to break.

What's inside