The Failure of Civil Society?: The Third Sector and the State in Contemporary Japan

A look at the voluntary sector in Japan, which has emerged strongly only in recent years. Winner of the 2010 Japan NPO Research Association Book Award The global discourse on civil society is both complicated and enriched in this participant study of Japan's volunteers, known as the third sector. In the wake of the Japanese government's failed response to the 1995 earthquake, volunteers took the lead in providing aid to victims. This recent sea change in Japanese society was quickly followed by the 1998 NPO Law (nonprofit organization law) that encourages third sector activities. Drawing on his fieldwork at one of the new NPOs, Akihiro Ogawa explores in detail the social and historical particularities of Japanese "civil society" or shimin shakai, revisiting how the concept is interpreted and practiced by the volunteers themselves. Civil society, Ogawa argues, can best be understood as an active, dynamic process rather than as a static, abstract model.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations Table Acknowledgments 1. Introduction Key Questions Anthropology of Civil Society Fieldwork Action Research Overview of Chapters 2. Kawazoe Landscape Associational Life in Kawazoe SLG’s Entry into the Associational Landscape Social Capital Argument 3. NPO: A New Third Sector SLG: An NPO Promoting Lifelong Learning Activities Organized by Volunteers Historical Background "NPO-ization" Led by the Government Response to the Government Proposal On the Transition Proper NPOs? 4. Invited by the State You Can Volunteer with a Single Finger! Discourses of "Borantia" Volunteers Invited by the State Volunteering as Potential for Individualization? Reproduction of Volunteer Subjectivity through Education The Colonization of the Volunteering World 5. Power and Contested Rationalities Kyōdō: Policy Collaboration A New Political Technique Talks toward Kyōdō: A Japanese Case Inside Discussion: Challenging the Defined Benefits Distrust Accelerating between the Sides Pushing Cost-Cutting Policy Contested Rationalities: A Reality Kyōdō: A Failed Attempt 6. Shimin in Japanese Society Shimin—A Genealogy an class Shimin in the Early Postwar Era Shimin under the NPO Volunteer Subjectivity Revisited NPO as an Agency in Neoliberalism Shimin as Cultural Product in Neoliberalism 7. Epilogue: Initiating Change Research for Social Change Establishing the Field Site Knowing My Field Sites Initiating Collaborative Inquiry Taking Action My Positionality Appendices Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Notes Bibliography Japanese Glossary Index