During the period of the Special ResearchProjects, the allocated budget was mainly used for two purposes: strengtheningthe relevant literature that serves as an important reference andmethodological foundation for this project, and examining the availability andstructure of the data required for the analysis.First, the working paper derived from thisproject, entitled “Era of Restructure: Deposit Demand Estimation and WelfareConsequences during the Japanese Mega Bank Merger Wave,” hasreceived valuable feedback on its methodology and empirical implementation. Thepaper was presented at the 37th Asian Finance Association Conference held atNational Chengchi University in Taipei. The paper has also been submitted tothe Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions &Money and has entered the review process.Regarding the main objective of thisproject, which focuses on simulations of regional bank mergers in Japan, Iconsulted with the data provider, The Japan Financial News Co., Ltd., about thepossibility of obtaining the necessary data. However, the budget of thisproject alone is not sufficient to support the purchase of the full datasetrequired for the analysis. Nevertheless, I have been able to collect partialdata from the book Kinyu Mappu (The Handbook of JapaneseBanks). Using this information, I constructed preliminary statistics on bank–prefecture-leveldeposit amounts and used them to develop a research proposal for a KAKENHIapplication.As a result, I have successfully obtainedthe KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (若手研究) for the periodAY2026–2028, and this research project will continue to be supported underthe KAKENHI funding scheme.