Volunteering

I've always interpreted volunteering to be a form of community service, and vice versa. In my eyes, regardless of whether the "volunteering" is optional or mandated, a service to the community is a service to the community. Volunteering and other charitable activities are never altruistic because the both parties receive something -- whether that something has any value is different, but even someone who volunteers out of the kindness of their heart often does it because it makes them feel like they are making a difference, it gives them pleasure to help other people.

 As great as it would be for more individuals to step up and contribute to the well-being of society on their own, I think that many people assign a value to their time, and unless they receive something in return, it's not worth it.

I'm not sure whether it is the definition of volunteering or what people think being helpful means that is different in Japan. I grew up in a city where all kinds of charitable work are encouraged and pretty much every event is a fundraiser of some type. To me, volunteering means contributing some of my time to help others. That's it. It seems like in Japan, people do it for different reasons, be it due to peer pressure, to personal guilt, or just to say they did it. I'm not saying that there is no meaning behind it, but I think that it is rarely self-motivated -- we don't exactly see people taking time off work to do it, and when they do, they get a lot of attention for it and are treated as heroes. Actually, one of the things I've noticed about how volunteering here is different is how it is perceived in the media. The media here have jumped on top of it, like it is some amazing thing that Japanese people are helping out.

That doesn't happen back home. Whenever a huge disaster strikes an area, people rush to the affected area just the same, hang posters and hold fundraisers, but these kinds of things are expected. It seems here that a lot of people go up to Tohoku to say that they went, and so they can alleviate the feeling of having not done anything.