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Will Japan's volunteer sector change and develop an attractive image throughthe Tokyo Olympics?
〔2016.12.26〕
In the Tokyo Olympics, a total of about 90,000 volunteers will be mobilized, with roughly
80,000 volunteers for event management and more than 10,000 volunteers for tourist andtransportation guidance. i There has never been such a large volunteer mobilization in thehistory of the Olympics, and this will be a valuable opportunity to enhance Japan'svolunteer culture. In this article, the author reviews some aspects of the London and Riode Janeiro Olympics, and discusses the kinds of volunteer legacies that Japan could create
through the Tokyo Olympics.

Volunteer legacies created in the London Olympics
In the 2012 London Olympics, 70,000 volunteers were mobilized for event management.
The managers of the London Olympics meticulously prepared for specific legacies, andmade plans in advance to provide volunteers with continuing opportunities even after theOlympics. The database of Olympic volunteers, who were called Games Makers, wasafterward renamed Team London and put under the management of the London citygovernment.
According to a 2016 report, ii 135,000 people have been registered as volunteers in London,
and their integration into more than 1,600 organizations has been coordinated through theTeam London website (https://volunteerteam.london.gov.uk/).
A further London volunteer legacy lies in the provision of opportunities for disabled
persons to work as volunteers. Based on the idea that the opportunity for volunteer
activity should be open to all people, support volunteers were additionally deployed to help
the disabled participate in volunteer work, ensuring that anyone could be a volunteer.
The need for 70,000 volunteers was fully exploited to substantially increase the number ofvolunteers nation-wide. According to government statistics,iii the percentage of UK
residents who volunteered in 2012-2013 increased rapidly to 64%, from 57% in 2010-2011
before the Olympics. This suggests that the volunteer legacies of the London Olympics
have yielded definitive results.

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Difficulties in volunteer management experienced in Rio

Source of photo: Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
The London approach was adopted in Rio, where wheelchair volunteers were seen at
Olympic venues, and adaptation of the Olympic volunteer database for continued use isbeing discussed.
However, Rio faced some difficulties in comparison with London, where a volunteer culture
was already in place. Except in the case of religious activity, the concept of voluntary work
was not well established in Brazil, and there was initial concern as to whether enoughpeople would be found to satisfy the large need for volunteers.
The most significant issue arose after the beginning of the Olympics. Of the 50,000 who
had registered as volunteers, roughly 15,000 either did not show up at their assigned
Olympic venues or quit their jobs over the course of the event.iv Notably, the media
reported that many of the applicants were only interested in the uniforms supplied.
Moreover, there appeared to be some management issues; among them, the significance ofvolunteering was not well communicated to the citizens, and specific duties and staffing
arrangements were not announced until just before the Olympics. Needless to say, whenplanning to create a volunteer legacy, it is necessary to take the social environment andvolunteer culture of the host area into consideration.
Despite such difficulties in Rio, most volunteers seemed to enjoy the experience ofcontributing to the Olympics. The Rio Olympics have just ended, and it may take sometime for concrete results to emerge. Volunteers who have gained valuable experience will

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likely be involved in various activities, such as sports events, in the future.

Senior volunteer participation in the Tokyo Olympics
Let us consider, then, some volunteer legacies expected to emerge from the Tokyo
Olympics. As in London and Rio, it is necessary for Tokyo to plan for continued use of thevolunteer database after the Olympics, and to create an environment where disabled
people can participate. Beyond this, however, we can expect the creation of legacies withcharacteristics reflecting Japan’s current situation; and here we find two key elements:
senior volunteers and pro bono volunteers.
In Japan, where the birth rate is declining and the population is aging, the labor force
population is decreasing year by year. While this phenomenon is often perceived
pessimistically, there is a positive side in that the number of potential senior volunteers
with skills and free time is increasing. There were many senior volunteers actively
working at the venues of the London and Rio Olympics, and even more senior volunteers
are expected to be active in the Tokyo Olympics. And such volunteers, after gaining
valuable experience, will be an important force in supporting the civil society of Japan,
whose labor force population continues to decline.

Promotion of pro bono volunteering with professional skills
In addition to senior volunteers, a significant number of pro bono volunteers are expected
to emerge. Pro bono volunteering is a type of volunteer activity that employs professional
skills. It originally designated a provision of service by professionals and specialists, free ofcharge, using their available time to contribute to the public good. Recently in Japan,
there has been an increase in such activities, including the provision of specialized services
by consulting firms to NPOs and NGOs that address social issues.
Such pro bono efforts may spread widely as a result of the Tokyo Olympics. Volunteering inJapan is typically imagined as doing something that can be done by anyone, such as
picking up litter, free of charge. According to a survey by the Japan National Council for
Social Welfare,v the two most common volunteer activities, for example, are"communication and play, such as chatting, playing games and performing plays" (14.9%),
and "management of organizations and groups, and planning of events and projects"(11.3%), neither of which typically involves pro bono work.
Pro bono-type activities are, of course, very valuable. And if the expertise and skills ofvolunteers can be utilized, the resolution of social issues will be enhanced and thevolunteers themselves will gain a deep sense of fulfillment. Specialized skills are, in fact,
often required at Olympic management sites. While volunteer jobs such as guiding crowds
at venues are well known, there are actually many other volunteer jobs, which require
professional skills, such as game referees, interpreters for interviewing athletes, andrescue workers. Highlighting such jobs may change the image of volunteer work.

Can we change the image of volunteer work?
The key to generating volunteer legacies is to revamp the traditional image of volunteers.

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As volunteering is often understood by the Japanese to imply service and charity, there
remains a prevailing impression of ‘serving at your own expense’. Having been ordered topick up litter at school without understanding the significance of the act, many young
people have the impression that voluntary work is compulsory and boring.
Volunteers in stylish uniforms playing an active role at Olympic venues have the potential
to transform such traditional notions into something attractive and pleasant. Among themany possible volunteer activities, none attracts more public attention than volunteering
for the Olympics. Our capacity to exploit the valuable experience of the projected 90,000
Tokyo Olympic volunteers depends on management’s preliminary preparation for therelevant, and distinctly Japanese, legacies expected to emerge from the event.

i"Volunteers" on the website of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and ParalympicGameshttps://tokyo2020.jp/jp/get-involved/volunteer/ii

Team London Impact Report, 10 February 2016
https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/volunteering/team-london-impact-reportiii

Community Life Survey by Cabinet Officehttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/community-life-survey

iv

Thousands of Olympic volunteers quit over 'long hours and lack of food'
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/rio-2016-thousands-of-olympic-volunteers-quit-over-longhours-and-lack-of-food-a7194776.html
v"Investigation Report on the State of Volunteer Activities" by the Japan National Council for Social
Welfare, 2014
http://www.shakyo.or.jp/research/20140808_09volunteer.pdf
Koumei Ishikawa (Visiting Researcher, Recruit Works Institute)