ABSTRACT
In the early 1980s, NGOs were still so few in number in Japan that the phrase nongovernmental organization – or NGO – itself was practically unknown. Since then, however, this situation has changed dramatically. Starting from a small number of groups that appeared in the 1970s or earlier, there are now hundreds of NGOs active in global issues ranging from poverty alleviation to global warming to women’s rights. With this rapid growth, Japanese NGOs are now a clearly defined sub-sector and have become an established interest group in Japanese politics. What accounts for this sudden growth and activeness of NGOs in Japan in the late 1980s and 1990s? The next two chapters examine this pattern of delayed development in two kinds of NGO in Japan: service NGOs active in international development; and advocacy NGOs promoting sustainable development and environmental issues.
