With warm hearts and strong wills: Hospital volunteering in Japan

摘要

Volunteering is popular in many countries. Many people, from high school students to retirees, take the opportunity to use their spare time to serve society. Some volunteer just because they want to do something good. Others do it because volunteer experience is required on applications for certain schools and scholarships. Some classes require that students volunteer as part of the course-work. Sometimes, kids are told by their parents to volunteer. In Japan, volunteering jobs exist, but volunteering is not nearly as common as in some other countries. Unlike in Canada and the United States, for example, volunteering is not an organized activity, nor a requirement at school or on scholarship applications. Therefore, in Japan, volunteering is for people with very warm hearts and strong wills. In fact, in Japanese university hospitals, essential work is done by volunteers, although they are not formally recognized as such. This article will introduce the mysterious Japanese medical system, and how volunteers fit within it, which even the Japanese people hardly know.