On Christmas Day someone secretly placed 10 boxes containing new school backpacks in front of a children's welfare facility in Maebashi in the name of Naoto Date, the hero of the "Tiger Mask" manga and anime series. This act of charity has since inspired more than 1,000 people to make donations to such facilities.
It is important to support this trend of helping the needy to flourish at the grassroots level in Japanese society. According to the Japan Fundraising Association, which helps nongovernmental organizations obtain funds, Japanese individuals donated about ¥550 billion in fiscal 2009, compared to ¥19 trillion ($227.4 billion) in the United States in 2009 and ¥1.3 trillion (£9.9 billion) in Britain in 2008.
A law revision proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan government under the concept of "new public commons," an idea of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, aims to expand tax privileges for people who make donations.