The nonprofit sector in Japan is more dynamic than it was two decades ago, and yet it remains relatively small and underdeveloped, especially when compared to countries such as the United States and the Philippines.

This should hardly come as a surprise given the fact that nonprofits effectively didn't exist in Japan until the late-1990s, at least not from a legal standpoint.

Until relatively recently, public-interest organizations weren't officially recognized and were unable to engage in international conferences.