BBS is a nationwide organization in Japan. It has following 4 levels of agencies. In each stage it cooperates with governmental organizations that deal with juvenile delinquents' reform and rehabilitation.

Now we'll explain you about this construction and also the basic system of Japanese governmental organizations.



*National Federation of BBS (1)

It's in Tokyo and do all the desk works to keep connection with the Ministry of Justice, other youth organizations, regional and prefectural federations.


*Regional Federations of BBS (8)

These 8 federations correspond to 8 parole boards which are also governmental organizations. The postal mail addresses of Regional Federations of BBS and parole boards are all the same.

Parole Board is organized by 3 to 12 members selected by the Minister of Justice. It decides whether to cancel or stop one's probation, whether to parole and so on.


*Prefectural Federations of BBS (50)

These 50 federations correspond to 50 probation offices . The postal mail addresses of these 2 organizations are all the same.

Shiki BBS is a local agency that belongs to BBS of Saitama Prefecture. The seat of Saitama prefectural office is in Urawa, and there is Urawa probation office. Monthly meeting of BBS Saitama is held in this Urawa probation office in the presence of a Professional Probation Officer(PPO) who is in charge of BBS.

Also, when a BBS member in Saitama is going to be matched with a teenager under probation, s/he must seek the consent of the PPO in charge of the boy or girl, and then a letter of request will be sent to the menber from the probation office. The menber needs to submit the report every month to the officer. If someone neglect this duty it will lose confidence in BBS itself, and maybe the probation office will no longer ask BBS for their help. So it's very inportant for us to sincerely cooperate with them.


*Local BBS Agencies (504)

In this stage we do all the main activities such as matching, visiting reformatories, some events like flea market to collect money. In the local level we cooperate with Hogoshi(Volunteer Probation Officer, VPO).

Hogoshi is a particular system in Japan so we'll explain a little. Hogoshi's are usually elderly people who live in the local area and have popularity there. They are unpaid government officials who are supposed to help PPOs, but actually the number of PPOs are too few that Hogoshi's are practically main supporter of probation process. Hogoshi's invite the probationers in their home and talk to them often. In this process BBS and Hogoshi negotiate to have a relationship that a BBS member helps Hogoshi in being matched as a Big Brother or a Big Sister, and when both are agreed, Hogoshi invites BB or BS and the boy or girl at the same time and introduce them to each other. After that BB or BS can see the teenager anytime alone, but s/he has to hand in the same report as for the PPO to Hogoshi every month too.

We'll be very happy if the people from foreign countries will tell us how you think of this Hogoshi system.