Japan.
Japan's Act on Promotion of Specified Non-profit Activities (Act No. 7 of 1998) gives legal personality to citizen organizations doing volunteer-style public-interest work and sets up an approval system for those that are broadly supported by citizens. The Basic Act on Disaster Management tells the State and local governments to cooperate with volunteers, and the Cabinet Office honors system includes medals for people who risked their lives to save others and for those who volunteered to help society.
Is there a legal duty to help a stranger?
LimitedThe English Penal Code (Article 218) punishes a person who is responsible for the care of an elderly person, a child, or a person with a disability or illness and who abandons them or fails to provide necessary care. That duty attaches to people responsible for care; this guide found no general duty to rescue an unrelated stranger in the sources reviewed, which is not a finding that none exists elsewhere in Japanese law.
Are people who help protected?
LimitedNo dedicated Good Samaritan statute was found. Civil Code Article 698 (read in the official Japanese text) says a person who manages another's affairs to avert imminent harm to that person's body, reputation or property is liable for resulting damage only if acting in bad faith or with gross negligence.
How the government promotes giving and service
One thing worth knowing
The Cabinet Office honors chart separates the Red Ribbon for risking one's life to save others from the Blue Ribbon for public interest and welfare efforts, so civilian rescue and volunteer-style service are recognized under different medals.
What this does not mean
The NPO Act and Basic Act pages are official English translations whose version dates may lag current Japanese law (the NPO Act page lists its last version as Act No. 70 of 2016); only the Japanese text is authoritative. The Civil Code citation rests on the Japanese text. This guide does not claim these measures change how often people help. This is a plain-language summary of public sources, not legal advice, and it does not rank countries. No government named here has endorsed this site.