Prime Minister Kiich Miyazawa told reporters recently that the Japanese often need gaiatsu, or pressure from the outside, to change their ways. But even where such pressure is exerted, it may not have the desired effect unless internal structural changes are made in the way Japan develops it public policies.

Japan needs to form a strong nonprofit sector capable of generating, supporting and critiquing ideas that may not necessary coincide with the policies of the ruling administration ― in short, capable of exerting pressure from within.

The nonprofit sector has become a vital and indispensable vehicle for pluralism in America, and might be the centerpiece of the U.S. government’s campaign to export American industry. If cultivated in Japan, the nonprofit sector could play a significant role in shaping Japan’s contribution to global stability in the post-Cold War era, as well as in helping an increasingly dissatisfied citizenry improve their lives. For one thing, it could contribute to effort to stimulate the Japanese economy-efforts encouraged by the U.S.

Root of Social Ills

The lack of a sector independent from government or corporate supervision explains many of Japan’s current political and social problems.

Japan hopes to contribute to the intellectual debate on global issues, but is severely handicapped by a lack of truly independent, alternative voices that might help define the debate. Japan’s never-ending political scandals are symptomatic of a nation that hasn’t yet reached maturity as a civil society. The country’s lack of democratic tradition, its long-term isolation and, since World War II, its narrow preoccupation with economic prosperity have led to public apathy toward politics and toward public-policy concerns.

Decisions affecting the public interest have been confined exclusively to government bureaucrats and the Liberal Democratic Party, which has roled Japan uninterrupted since 1955. Citizens nominally vote for their leaders, but public policies are made absent voter participation, through ad hoc compromises reached in a process sealed off from public scrutiny.

Because of Japanese history and culture, there are certain sensitive topics that aren’t publicly discussed. For example, until recently there had been no open debate concerning whether or not Japan should revise its constitution, created by Americans after World War II ― particularly constrictions on the activities of the country’s Self Defense Force.

Furthermore, Japanese citizens have no say in matters that most deeply and directly affect them. They have no sufficient input, for instance, in the contents of the current government-proposed political reforms, which include changes in the voting system that will impact the everyday lives of Japanese.

Even Japan’s academics, intellectuals and the media, from whom independent viewpoints might well be heard, often engage in self-censorship when commenting on government policies, hampering their ability to articulate a public agenda and an alternative voice to that of Japan’s political bureaucracy.

Japan cannot possibly engage in public debate over social, economic and political issues ― at home or in the international arena ― without the capability of independent research and policy analysis. The creation of national laws to cultivate a nonprofit sector would allow Japan to develop such a capability.

In the U.S., private, nonprofit corporations that carry out public-benefit activities operate quite independently of the U.S. government or for-profit businesses. They are tax-exempt organizations that engage in all types of educational, research, scientific, religious and philanthropic endeavors. Their only equivalent in Japan are so-called public nonprofit corporations. These entities aren’t independent because they are created only at the discretion of government ministries or prefectural governments. In reality, Japan’s public nonprofit government view of the national interest, in particular the interest of the ministries that approved their formation.

In Japan, the granting of tax-exempt status, so central to the U.S. nonprofit sector, remains at the whim of the government and isn’t subject to a precise policy or procedure. And tax exemption by no means implies independence; tax-exempt organizations remain very dependent on the government ministry that has bestowed this status upon them.

Comparing U.S. nonprofit institutions with their country cousins in Japan is problematic, but a few figures are instructive. In 1990 the U.S. had an estimated 630,000 nonprofit, independent organizations; together their share of national income that year was 6.2% ($289 billion). In contrast, in 1989 there were 23,000 public nonprofit corporations in Japan (using a narrow definition of this term), which shared 2.7% of GNP ($64 billion).

Japan isn’t without autonomous citizens’ organizations that strive to make their voices heard by governmen. Examples include groups of human-rights activists, consumers, environmentalists and those lobbying for international aid. But the fact that they disagree with the government line prevents them from gaining ministry approval to incorporate, and thus to be a viable economic unit. Such groups have great difficulty mobilizing the public and generally operate with minimum stuff; they often disappear over the course of only a few years.

Ministry Whims

A true nonprofit sector cannot be created in Japan without a conducive legal and tax environment. Creating one will require revising Japan’s 19th-century civil code and tax code. Such changes, challenging to implement because of government reluctance, would encourage private support of nonprofit activities by making contributions tax-deductible for both individuals and corporations, as they are in the U.S.

One idea is to set up a mechanism to facilitate the distribution of philanthropic funds through a sort of philanthropy development bank, like the network of community development banks proposed by the Clinton administration. Government, individuals and corporations could channel their contributions through such banks, which would in turn make loans and grants to the nonprofit sector.

But more needs to be done than breaking down the structural barriers to private giving in Japan. The Japanese public needs to be educated about the concept of philanthropy more generally, and taught that being independent from the government doesn’t necessarily mean being antagonistic to it. Public charity and commitment to public causes aren’t second nature to most Japanese.

As a plan to pave the way for a genuinely independent nonprofit sector in Japan takes shape, thought needs to be given to concrete institutions. In order for Japan to take an active role on the world stage, it needs private, nonpartisan organizations that researh public-policy issues and present policy alternatives or policy recommendations based on sound empirical data and social-science methodology.

These would be quite different from the nonprofit public corporations now operating in Japan. They would be truly independent institutions that, employing Japanese and foreign analysts, would allow Japan to participate, together with Western democracies, in rationally and objectively scrutinizing globally significant public-policy issues. Such think tanks could serve as an independent voice frequently seen by Japanese constituent groups such as consumers, taxpayers and senior citizens as sympathetic to their hopes and desires. In this manner, Japanese grassroot sentiments might at last be more effectively introduced.

The nonprofit sector cannot solve all of Japan’s problems. Certainly, not all nonprofit organizations deliver as expected. Nonetheless, Japan has more to gain than to lose from allowing an environment in which free and independent debate outside government is encouraged. Japan is entering the 21st century just like everyone else; its citizens should demand the structural changes that will give them a voice in their future.

(Ms. Ueno, a Japanese citizen who received her engineering degree from the University of Tokyo, is a research associate specializing in housing policy at The Urban Institute in Washington. She is currently engaged in a U.S. -Japan joint project investigating the creation of independent think tanks in Japan.)