On April 1, 2006, Nihon Shiho Shien Senta (Japan Legal Support Center) or Ho Terasu (Law Terrace) was established to offer people easy access to legal services. It began operation on Oct. 2 that year. Although two years have passed, only 22 percent of those recently polled know of Ho Terrace. More publicity is needed.
The center was established with government money on the basis of the comprehensive legal support law. It has 50 local offices and additional smaller branches. It has 96 lawyers working at about 60 locations, and has contracts with about 13,000 lawyers nationwide. In fiscal 2007, the center provided about 220,000 pieces of information to people who sought help, and assigned lawyers to serve in about 6,700 cases involving criminal suspects, about 71,000 cases involving criminal defendants and about 200 cases involving juvenile delinquents.
Anyone who has legal problems can dial the center's call center — 0570-078374 — although it charges ¥8.5 per three minutes. (English is OK.) Those who have become crime victims can call 0570-079714. The center's homepage has been updated recently. It has a question and answer section listing more than 100 types of basic legal problems. Unfortunately, the homepage appears only in Japanese.