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302 The nonprofit sector in Japan has expanded in recent years, as has the importance of people working in nonprofit organizations. A major force behind this expansion was the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake in which over six thousand people lost their lives. Following the earthquake, more than a million people from across the country converged on the city of Kobe to work in relief projects , perhaps thereby awakening the idea that citizens might voluntarily make contributions to society. Very soon after the earthquake the National Diet began to explore new legislation to support volunteerism. In 1998 the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities (“Nonprofit Law”) was passed to encourage the development of citizens’ nonprofit activities that would enhance the public interest. The law named institutions carrying out nonprofit activities as “designated nonprofit organizations.” Thus, ordinary people conducting socially useful activities could gain the legal and social recognition as nonprofit corporations. The Nonprofit Law lists seventeen activities of organizations that fall under its scope. Most numerous—accounting for half the total nonprofits —are organizations registered under the designation calling for the “promotion of health, medical treatment, or welfare.” Many of these carry out nursing care insurance programs for the elderly. Other purposes of nonprofits include the “promotion of social education,” the “promotion of community development” and the “welfare of young people.” In 2003, the number of nonprofit organizations certified under the law surpassed ten thousand. This number rose to over twenty thousand in 2005, and by November 2008, 37,605.1 Understandably, these organizations work to assuage increasingly diverse and complicated social problems, including a falling birthrate and an aging population, the depopulation of rural communities, and increasing anxiety regarding child rearing, youth unemployment, and global warming . Government-initiated action may be, in the end, required for solving Nami Otsuki Translated by Malaya Ileto the nonprofit sector 21 303 most of these problems, but the support offered within local communities by individuals working in nonprofits may also make a difference. Nonprofit organizations in Japan are still relatively small in scale. A 2004 survey by the Cabinet Office found that 20 percent of them reported no income, while 50 percent earned under one million yen ($10,000). Close to half—47 percent—had between ten to twenty members and another 14 percent had twenty to thirty members with voting rights. Moreover, almost half had no full-time staff, and of those, one-quarter did not pay their fulltime staff (Naikakufu 2005). As Iwata (2004) points out, most of the work carried out by these nonprofit organizations is normally of little interest to the corporate sector. Such mission-based activities include helping to weed the gardens of elderly people in the community while also providing companionship , or providing assistance in disaster and poverty-stricken areas where there are international cooperation projects in place. While there has been a rise in the number of “business-model” nonprofits in Japan, which earn income through their programs and have organizational structures and membership that are more like commercial enterprises, the majority operate on the basis of donations and membership dues. Donations given by individuals to nonprofit organizations amount to a mere fraction of those found in the US. One reason is that the current tax system offers much less incentive in terms of tax deductions for such contributions. Recognizing this, the government has recently proposed changes in the system that would promote such contributions. A more fundamental factor, though, is the lack of a culture of individual gift giving for such purposes. Another relevant factor is the lack of social recognition for financial compensation paid to people working in nonprofit organizations . Some people mistakenly believe that work at nonprofit organizations is strictly voluntary. Given these circumstances, it is difficult for those engaged in nonprofit work to receive compensation, and even if funds are available, the amounts are modest. A survey conducted in 2005 by the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training found that income earned by those in certified nonprofit organizations varies little by either age or gender: the average annual salary of paid directors of nonprofit organizations was two million three hundred and fifty thousand yen ($23,500) and that of regular staff members two million two hundred and forty thousand yen ($22,400) (Rodo seisaku kenkyu kenshu kiko 2006). In comparison, the average annual income of males employed in private enterprises in 2008 was five million three hundred and thirty thousand yen ($53,300), and that of females two million seven...

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