---
title: "日本 NPO法人（特定非営利活動法人）— legal structure overview"
aliases:
  - "japan-npo-houjin-overview"
  - "NPO法人"
  - "特定非営利活動法人"
  - "tokutei hieiri katsudo houjin"
  - "japan NPO corporation"
  - "japan specified non-profit corporation"
  - "NPO法 特定非営利活動促進法"
domain: non-profit
created: 2026-06-03
last_updated: 2026-07-30
last_tended: 2026-07-30
review_by: 2026-12-03
confidence: likely
tags: [non-profit, japan, npo, civil-society, legal-structure]
status: active
sources:
  - "https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/about/npo-kisochishiki/nposeido-gaiyou"
  - "https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/about/npo-kisochishiki/ninshouseido"
  - "https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/qa/seido-gaiyou/katsudou-bunya"
  - "https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/410AC1000000007"
  - "https://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji153.html"
---

# 日本 NPO法人（特定非営利活動法人）— legal structure overview

## Wiki route

This entry sits under [[non-profit/INDEX|non-profit INDEX]] as the standalone deep-dive on the **特定非営利活動法人 (NPO法人)** form. It is the member-driven, civic-activity counterpart to the foundation route in [[non-profit/japan-general-foundation-establishment-requirements|Japan 一般財団法人 establishment requirements]], and the donor-deductibility upgrade (認定NPO法人) is covered in [[non-profit/japan-nintei-npo-houjin-tax-benefits|Japan 認定NPO法人 tax benefits]]. For the multi-form decision matrix that places NPO alongside 財団 / 社団, read [[non-profit/japan-koeki-vs-general-zaidan-comparison|公益財団 vs 一般財団 vs 一般社団 vs NPO法人 comparison]].

## TL;DR

The **NPO法人** (特定非営利活動法人, "specified non-profit corporation") is a civic-society legal form governed by **its own statute family** — the 特定非営利活動促進法 (NPO Act, 1998) — and supervised by **prefectural governors / designated-city mayors**, not by the Legal Affairs Bureau that registers the general 社団・財団 forms. It is created by an **authorisation (認証)** process rather than mere registration, carries **no notary fee and no registration tax**, but in exchange demands **10+ members, narrow permitted activities (20 enumerated categories), and heavy mandatory public disclosure**.

## Governing law and supervisor

The following table is scoped to public primary sources (npo-homepage.go.jp, laws.e-gov.go.jp, moj.go.jp). It restates licence / structure / product boundaries from those materials and does not invent market share, ranking, or unstated numerical claims. ^[source:npo-homepage.go.jp; laws.e-gov.go.jp; moj.go.jp]

| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Statute | 特定非営利活動促進法 (Act on Promotion of Specified Non-Profit Activities), enacted **December 1998** |
| Major amendments | 2012 (decentralised supervision to prefectures; created 認定NPO route), 2024 (governance tightening) |
| Supervisor / approver (所轄庁) | **Prefectural Governor** of the principal-office prefecture; or the **designated-city Mayor** if all offices sit within one designated city |
| Creation mechanism | **認証 (authorisation)** — not the 登記-only route used by 一般社団・財団 |

This is the defining structural fact: NPO法人 is **not** a sub-type of the 一般社団・財団法人 family. It is a parallel statute with a parallel supervisor. The corporate-registration step at the Legal Affairs Bureau happens **after** 認証 is granted, to perfect legal personality.

## The 20 permitted activity categories

An NPO法人 may only pursue **特定非営利活動** — activities that fall within one of **20 enumerated categories** in the NPO Act's 別表 **and** that benefit an unspecified and large group (不特定かつ多数のものの利益). The categories include:

- health, medical care, or welfare promotion
- social-education promotion
- community development (まちづくり)
- tourism promotion; rural / mountain-village / fishing-village revitalisation
- academic, cultural, artistic, or sporting promotion
- environmental conservation; disaster relief; community safety
- human-rights protection and peace promotion; international cooperation
- gender-equal-society formation; sound child development
- information-society development; science-technology promotion
- economic-activity vitalisation; vocational-skills / employment support
- consumer protection
- liaison / advice / support for groups doing the above
- activities equivalent to the above as designated by prefectural / designated-city ordinance

Activities outside these categories cannot be the **main purpose** of an NPO法人. An organisation whose mission does not map onto the list must use a different vehicle — typically a [[non-profit/japan-ippan-vs-koeki-shadan-houjin|一般社団法人]] (any lawful purpose) or a foundation form.

## Establishment requirements

The following table is scoped to public primary sources (npo-homepage.go.jp, laws.e-gov.go.jp, moj.go.jp). It restates licence / structure / product boundaries from those materials and does not invent market share, ranking, or unstated numerical claims. ^[source:npo-homepage.go.jp; laws.e-gov.go.jp; moj.go.jp]

| Requirement | NPO法人 rule |
|---|---|
| Minimum members (社員) | **10 or more** — note "社員" here means voting members, not employees |
| Directors (理事) | **3 or more** |
| Auditors (監事) | **1 or more** |
| Officer-compensation limit | Officers receiving remuneration must be **≤ 1/3** of total officers |
| Profit distribution | **Prohibited** (non-profit by definition) |
| Notary certification of articles | **Not required** (unlike 一般社団・財団, which pay ¥50,000) |
| Registration / authorisation tax | **None** (exempt) — materially cheaper than the ¥60,000 registration tax on general forms |
| Establishment time | Typically **4-6 months** (申請 → 縦覧/public-inspection period → 認証 → 設立登記) |

The **public-inspection (縦覧)** period built into the 認証 process is a distinctive civic-transparency feature: the application is made publicly available before authorisation, so the public can scrutinise a would-be NPO before it is born. This is one reason the NPO route is slower than the 1-2 month registration-only path for general 社団・財団 forms.

## Mandatory public disclosure

NPO法人 carries **stronger ongoing public-disclosure obligations** than the lightly-supervised general forms:

- **Business reports (事業報告書)** and financial statements must be prepared within three months of fiscal-year start.
- These must be kept available for inspection by members and the public at all offices.
- They must be **submitted annually to the 所轄庁**, which makes them publicly accessible.

This transparency is the political bargain of the NPO form: low cost and civic legitimacy in exchange for openness. It contrasts with the [[non-profit/japan-ippan-vs-koeki-shadan-houjin|一般社団法人]] form, whose ongoing disclosure is limited to the commercial registry.

## Tax treatment

- **Specified non-profit activities** (within the 20 categories) are **excluded from corporation tax**.
- **Collateral profit-making business (収益事業)** is taxed at the standard corporation-tax rate, mirroring the 公益財団 收益事業 logic.
- **Donor-side deduction is NOT automatic.** A plain NPO法人 confers no income-tax deduction on its donors. Donor deductibility requires the separate **認定NPO法人** status — the upgrade route, public-support test, and donor benefits are detailed in [[non-profit/japan-nintei-npo-houjin-tax-benefits|Japan 認定NPO法人 tax benefits]].

## When NPO法人 is (and isn't) the right form

**Good fit:** community-led, multi-stakeholder, civic-activity organisations — disaster relief, local welfare, education, environment — where 10+ committed members exist, public transparency is acceptable or welcome, and the mission maps cleanly onto the 20 categories. Low setup cost suits volunteer-funded starts with no founding endowment.

**Poor fit:** endowment-driven research grant-making (use a foundation), activities outside the 20-category list (use 一般社団), or missions that need lighter ongoing disclosure than the mandatory NPO public-filing regime.

For financial- or policy-research themes that sit near the regulated sector, the surrounding institutional context is mapped in [[policy-finance/INDEX|policy-finance INDEX]] and [[finance/INDEX|finance INDEX]]; cross-industry operator mapping lives in [[business/INDEX|business INDEX]].

## Related

- [[non-profit/INDEX|non-profit INDEX]]
- [[non-profit/japan-koeki-vs-general-zaidan-comparison|公益財団 vs 一般財団 vs 一般社団 vs NPO法人 comparison]]
- [[non-profit/japan-ippan-vs-koeki-shadan-houjin|Japan 一般社団法人 vs 公益社団法人]]
- [[non-profit/japan-nintei-npo-houjin-tax-benefits|Japan 認定NPO法人 tax benefits]]
- [[non-profit/japan-general-foundation-establishment-requirements|Japan 一般財団法人 establishment requirements]]
- [[INDEX|FinWiki index]]

## Sources

- 内閣府 NPOホームページ — NPO制度の概要: https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/about/npo-kisochishiki/nposeido-gaiyou
- 内閣府 NPOホームページ — 認証制度について: https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/about/npo-kisochishiki/ninshouseido
- 内閣府 NPOホームページ — 活動分野 (20 categories): https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/qa/seido-gaiyou/katsudou-bunya
- e-Gov 法令検索 — 特定非営利活動促進法: https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/410AC1000000007
- 法務省 Q&A on 法人 forms: https://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji153.html