On Sunday, August 12, a public debate modeled on “Deliberative Polling” (DP for short) was held on our Yotsuya campus. DP is a new method of public opinion survey in which citizens will have the opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas on policy options where the public may have little knowledge through open discussions. This event was entitled “Citizen’s Choice: Energy and Environmental Strategy” was conducted under the leadership of Professor Masaharu Yagishita in the Graduate School of Global Studies who is the Chair of Energy-Environmental Strategy Advisory Board. This event was part of Sophia University 100th Anniversary Project.
The Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 had literally wiped out the total function of Fukushima nuclear power plant. Against this backdrop, the government established the Energy and Environment Council in June of that year with the aim of discussing future energy strategies and measures to secure energy supply. On June 29 the Council called for citizen participation in a public debate on the subject of how much Japan should depend on nuclear power: three scenarios were: 0%, 15% and 20-25%. In request from the government, Professor Yagishita and his committee designed a debating program based on DP method and the three proposed policy options were open to public debate.
The debate consisted of 57 men and women in the age groups from twenty to seventy years old. They were chosen by random sampling from the citizens of Kawasaki City twenty years old and above. The selected citizens were invited to gather at Sophia University to discuss the key issues. They will have the opportunity to engage in a lively dialogue with specialists and decision makers (one in the morning and the other in the afternoon) on questions they developed in small group discussions.
Opinions and ideas set forth by the participants were gathered and summarized into a report. Each group raised many questions that related to the future energy strategy, for example, what will be the government position on sustainable energy? Will the people have more information about the safety of the nuclear power plant? What is the current situation on development of new natural resources? The results of the questionnaire distributed prior to and after the meeting will soon be made public by the Yagishita Laboratory.
