16 - Japan: From Activist Groups to Management Organizations

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In the 1990s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Japan and the environment surrounding them underwent significant change. This happened because the diversification and segmentation of people's needs encouraged the emergence of new entities to supply the necessary social services. In Japanese society in the past, most social services were provided through the bureaucracy of the central and local governments. However, the increase in the number of bureaucrats, or public servants, did not necessarily bring improved social services. On the contrary, the expansion of the bureaucracy brought with it various harmful effects. Consequently, people in search of more efficient social services turned to non-governmental entities.

There is still a strong sentiment among the Japanese that it is a duty of the government to provide social services of a highly public nature. People requiring such services tend to object as taxpayers, file petitions, or start campaigns. Very few of them, however, voluntarily develop activities or organizations to undertake such social services. On the other hand, administrative authorities exercise powers over the provision of various social services, while controlling the entry in this area of private enterprises and other profit-seeking corporations. The government, on the contrary, established huge numbers of public-service corporations (koh'eki hohjin), often referred to as extra-governmental bodies (gaikaku dantai) under their regulations. Within their authority a myriad of governmental permissions and approvals have been granted. Furthermore, they tried to create a nonprofit sector through administrative guidance. On this score, it is quite interesting to note that administrative authorities have launched public-service projects by soliciting capital subscriptions from private companies, and called the undertakings “third-sector” projects.

Actually, the prevalent belief in Japan has been that the management of the socio-economic system is the responsibility of the government (the first sector) and private enterprises (the second sector). It was not until very recently that the non-profit sector (the third sector) gained recognition as an entity capable of making up for the insufficiencies of the first and second sectors.