Introduction

A retired salaryman organizes a basketball game in the school gym; a middle-

aged woman gives a talk on local history at a community center; a group of

housewives delivers meals to elderly people living alone in the neighborhood;

and mothers fold laundry at a local hospital. These people are volunteers, or

borantia in Japanese. They clean and patrol neighborhood streets, organize

cultural and social events, assist the professional staff at institutions for the

elderly and disabled, organize school functions, and help children and elderly

people in their neighborhoods. They represent a sizable social and economic

force in Japan.1