Abstract
The forms of risk communication in Japan changed drastically after the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. While the pre-Earthquake risk communication was based on the myth of zero-risk, the post-Earthquake risk communication has required a much higher level of fair and open information, which is now the main current of this field. At the same time, other theoretical and practical problems have recently been founded. Those problems include (1)the philosophy and value system underlying risk communication, (2)the causal relation between risk communication and credibility, (3)whether the citizen really wants risk information or not, (4)whether citizen’s risk perception is emotional or not, (5)the organizational climate as a factor in successful risk communication, (6)misunderstanding of the meaning of precautionary principle, (7)the skill of the risk communicator, (8)the importance of wording in risk communication, (9)how to construct good relations between risk agent and mass media , etc. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the notion of risk communication with the macro view (in both time and space), which used to be based on the idea of a one-shot and local solution to future disasters.
