Members
As set out in the Japanese Red Cross Law, the Society is organised by its own members. Any individual can become a member by paying an annual membership fee of 500 yen or more. Corporations can also become members.

The title of Special Member is bestowed upon those who have contributed large membership fees or donations or have rendered distinguished services, and a Golden Order of Merit (medal) or Silver Order of Merit (shield) is presented according to the value of the contribution or the type of service.

All members have the following rights:

●To vote to elect members of the Board of Representatives and the Board’s executive officers and to be considered for election to these posts.
●To receive annual activity and financial reports.
●To express opinions on the management of programmes through members of the Board of Representatives.

To increase membership and donations, various campaigns are conducted in May of each year (Red Cross Month).

Staff Members
The JRCS has a total of nearly 55,000 paid staff members working in its headquarters, chapters, hospitals, blood centres, social welfare institutions, and nursing colleges, junior colleges and schools. The details concerning these are shown on page 3.

Volunteers
The Japanese Red Cross Volunteer Corps, which provides the power for the Society’s humanitarian activities at the grass-roots level, is one of the oldest and largest groups of volunteers in Japan.

After World War II, most of Japan’s infrastructure had been destroyed and required reconstruction. The delegates of the American Red Cross assigned to Japan for the reform of the Japanese Red Cross Society introduced the concept of “volunteering” to Japanese society. Thus, the first Japanese Red Cross Volunteer Corps was established in 1948, and in 1950 the network of the Volunteer Corps was expanded throughout the country.

The regulations of the Japanese Red Cross Volunteer Corps, formulated in 1956, stipulate the mission of the Corps as: a) disaster relief, b) health and sanitation, c) social welfare, and d) dissemination of the Red Cross Principles and ideas. The Society benefits particularly from the dedicated work of the Corps members during the membership drives held every May, as well as in disaster situations.

The latest statistics (as of end March 2008) show that registered Red Cross volunteers number over 2.0 million. They are classified as follows: