Civil society seems to be both less influential and less visible in Japan than in America.

One obvious difference to be found is in the relative strengths of religious organizations in the two countries. In America, religious organizations perform a wide variety of functions- those in poorer areas often provide food and basic services to those in need; many in both rich and poor areas take strong stands on political issues. In Japan, while Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are common enough, they do not play the same role in the lives of citizens- Shinto shrines, in particular, exist more to store sacred objects than to serve as places of worship. In America, the vast majority of the population claims to belong to some religion or other; in Japan the situation is the reverse. While it is true that not everyone in America who claims to be religious is devout, this phenomenon is even stronger in Japan- only 3% of the Japanese population attends weekly religious services, compared with 43% in America.

Charitable organizations are much more important in American society than Japanese society. In America, the Red Cross and Salvation Army are both famous organizations known by most all Americans and there are plenty of other similar groups.  Broadly speaking, the ethos of American society is individualistic. Many Americans express a distrust for government and collective action. This mentality leads to less SPSL Japanese society, on the other hand, is far more group-based. Even though the Japanese government does not spend particularly much, relative to other wealthy countries, there are strong societal protections against indigence, both in the form of make-work jobs and also, in the other direction, in the form of stigma directed at those who do not work.

This partly draws off the previous points, but Japan seems to lack the large civil society organizations that proliferate in America. In America, there are a large number of civil society groups that enjoy widespread support and recognition. In Japan, however, civil society organizations often have a parochial focus. The excerpt from the book on civil society in Japan talked about homeowner's associations as being one of the most powerful kinds of civil society organizations in Japan; such organizations are almost by definition limited to operating in a fairly small area. The article mentioned that this stems in part from the difficulty of forming an organization in Japan- government approval is needed for many NPOs, which stands in stark contrast to the system in America. A more cultural explanation is that certain kinds of civil society organizations (those which often criticize the government or speak for marginalized groups) are less likely to exist in a society that values conformity and unanimity. On the flip side, one can argue that the tendency for Japanese civil society organizations to be small is beneficial- homeowner's associations may not pull at the moral heartstrings in that same way that Greenpeace or Amnesty International do, but it could be argued that they are more responsive to the desires of their members and more able to make those desires into reality.