Organizational Deliberation and Engagement in the Energy Politics in Japan

• In Event: Social Movements, Technology, and Political Participation

Abstract

The Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, and caused a nuclear accident in the Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plants in the following days. The Fukushima accident and the public backlash which followed reshaped the energy-related discussions in Japan. The Fukushima issue went beyond a technical nuclear energy issue and became a nationwide socio-political and economical issue.
The government’s decision to restart nuclear reactors, which had been shut down following the Fukushima accident and the focus on nuclear energy for the country’s future energy portfolio (22%) intensified the debate among environmental civil society organizations (ECSOs) and the Japanese government. Consequently, Japanese state-society relations have undergone a significant transformation. ECSOs have started to pursue a goal of nuclear phase-out and 100% renewable energy by 2050. Thus, they have criticized the government’s energy strategy put forward by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), widely known for its pro-nuclear stance due to national growth.
This research study focuses on a case study of the environmental organizations that are working on participatory policy process based on democratic citizenship in Japan. The case study of Japanese environmental civil society organizations involved in energy politics and policies is an exemplar of the creation of deliberative spaces. This research examines the extent to which environmental civil society organizations (with a particular focus on Greenpeace Japan, Friends of the Earth, The Institute of Sustainable Energy Policy, and Renewable Energy Institute) have been influential in the energy decision-making process since the Fukushima accident. It highlights the socio-political dimensions of the energy issues in Japan, including the efficacy level of environmental organizations and non-state actors, deliberative and democratic spaces of civic actors, the interactional dimensions of state-civil society partnership, and the dynamics of the energy policymaking process in contemporary Japan.

Author

• Pinar Temocin, University of Tokyo