Abstract
This study discusses Nonprofit organizations (abbreviated as “NPOs” below) which is an important type of Japanese socioeconomic organization. The circumstances of social economy organizations changed drastically from the latter 1990s in Japan. One of the changes was the approval of a new nonprofit corporation due to the entry into force of the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities. Due to the outstanding work by volunteers in the disaster-relief activities after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities was enacted. It introduced the free establishment of non-profit organizations and governance by citizens.
This study, firstly, summarize the background of birth of the system, the outline of the system, and the current state of activities for Specified Nonprofit Corporation as a new actor of social economic organizations in Japan. Based on that, next, we consider multiple factors and examine it empirically for why Specified Nonprofit Corporations are active in a specific region, that is, why the number of those organizations are large in a specific district. Through these, eventually, we will discuss what is important for Specified Nonprofit Corporations to act more actively.
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