Our monthly magazine “Monthly Volunteer” has entered a new era signified by the change of its name to “Volo: Comprehensive Information Publication for Civil Activities”. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and also take a look at the new roles that we expect for our magazine.

Use and understanding of the word “volunteer” in Japan has followed a trend of increasing acceptability. It has been 38 years since Osaka Voluntary Action Center was established in 1965. The next year “Monthly Volunteer”, or “Getsuvola” in Japanese, was first published, and since then it has been spreading the philosophy of “volunteer” throughout the community. Although the word “volunteer” was virtually unknown in Japan at the time, we ventured to use the English word rather than a Japanese translation such as “houshi()”. The reasoning behind this decision is that there is no Japanese equivalent that carries the proper connotations and profound significance of the word volunteer. Furthermore, it is our belief that the word itself is a maxim for the very foundation of our democratic society.

In fact, use of the word was not immediately nor readily accepted. For a long time we were faced with many questions like “What is a volunteer?” and “Why don't you use a word like ‘service’ (houshi) or some other Japanese equivalent?” There was much resistance to using a foreign word, and its advocacy period lasted long.

For the past 36 years our “Monthly Volunteer” has been focusing on “volunteerism” ? changing the consciousness of the people and stressing the importance of volunteerism. It has also run various stories about volunteer activities as well as answering common and pertinent questions about volunteerism. Although it has been said that the magazine has become too argumentative recently, I believe that it has become rather more sophisticated compared to its initial stage and has kept its contents rich. As a result, the number of its subscribers is increasing.

The magazine has long been dedicated to explaining the theoretical concepts behind volunteer activities. As a result of our actions in the 1990´s, corporate philanthropy and non-profit activities have increased. In addition, “Monthly Volunteer” broadened its focus from merely volunteer activities to include civil activities as well in response to changing times. As a result of heated discussions among members of the editorial board, “Monthly Volunteer” was renamed “Volo”. The members realized their responsibility to sincerely meet the needs of the times.

In the 1990´s brought great change to Japan. Until then, Japan had been referred to as a “federally-guided economic system” and in the 1990´s outgrew the centralized structure of administrative power. Evidence of these changes can be found in the emergence of deregulation, decentralization, and new laws that promote nonprofit activities.

Changes like these new movements are related to the notion of Civil Society. The term Civil Society has a multiplicity of meanings, but simply defined, it is a society that values its citizens´ independence and autonomy. It is a society in which various private organizations, like non-profit organizations, can increase their roles in society by being autonomous and collaborating with governments and corporations. It´s not too much to say that such a society gives greater importance to horizontal networking rather than vertical hierarchy while maintaining individual responsibility.

To reflect the ideals embodied in the notion of Civil Society, the former “Monthly Volunteer” has been changed to “Volo”. Volo is a Latin word meaning “willing” or ”want” and is the original word from which the modern English word “volunteer” evolved. One of the important principles to creating and supporting a Civil Society is volunteerism based on the principles inherent in the word “volo”.

Volunteerism includes both individual, focused principles and social principles; the former support voluntary action and the latter form the foundation of democratic social order with a sense of community and autonomy. With subscribers´ positive commitment, we would like to strive forward to the creation of an epoch making, comprehensive information publication for civil activities worthy of the name “Volo”.