Discussion
On May 3 2022, No. 264 JAPAN Specialist Seminar was held online. With 20 participants,
Kwon Yeon-Yi from Social Sciences Institute of Ewha Womans University made a presentation
titled as “Observation of NPO Policies in Japan : as a Citizen-driven Process”
First of all, the presenter explained Japanese civil society as a target country. After the
collapse of the early 1990's bubble economy, a new system to support civic activities was
required in the background of the worsening of the fiscal deficit, the eruption of various social
problems, and the increasing demand for political participation.
Under these circumstances, the enactment of the NPO Act in 1998 was expected to be a
turning point for Japanese civil society, but contrary to expectations, it was revised several
times until it was actually established as a system. Considering the relationship between the
government and non-profit organizations from the point of view of supply and demand. Even
though there were reasonable reasons for the need to increase supply, the
institutionalization of policies to support NPOs was delayed.
The presenter explained the process of NPO policy formation, which has been led by
citizens since the 1990s from a political and institutional perspective. She then discussed the
structure in which civic groups could extend influence in contrast to the policy-making
process under the LDP regime`s The 55th Year System. Kwon explained the reasons for the
limited exercise of citizen`s influences and the delay in institutionalization of policies.
After the presentation, a Q/A session was followed. First, there was a question about the
relationship between the institutionalization of NPOs in Japan, such as the acquisition of
legal personality, and the correlation with the weakening governmental supervision on
NPOs. Regarding the questions, the presenter explained that if an application for registration
as a specific non-profit corporation is applied, it will act as an 'NPO corporation', and if it
does not acquire NPO corporate personality, it will act as a 'voluntary organization'. It is true
that there are concerns in Japanese academic circles that civic organizations are becoming
too institutionalized by the government due to the enactment of the NPO Act. Nevertheless,
she added that there are best practices such as See's as a civic group that has
demonstrated successful activities, by continuously considering ways to appeal their policy
demands and influence politics while using these systems.
In addition, there were questions regarding the difference between the terms NGO and NPO,
the characteristic differences between the activities of civic groups in Korea and Japan, the
problem of lowered credibility of NPO groups in Japan, the pattern of Japanese conservative
opposition to civic groups or civic movements, and the difference from the existing civic
movement represented by the term 'volunteer' in Japan.
