This paper examines thirty-five years of Japanese environmental policy by referring to the results of the past three OECD environmental policy reviews as well as a policy stage analysis. OECD reviews revealed the following four characteristics of Japanese environmental policy: non-economic approaches, regulatory measures against only a few specific pollutants, heavy reliance on administrative guidance, and the important role played by local authorities.

In addition, this paper evaluates the current policy designed to attain the target set by the Kyoto Protocol and considers future options for creating a society to address climate change through a comparison with EU and US policies.

In the 1980s, Japan successfully decoupled economic growth and the emission of pollutants by combining various policy measures such as emission standards and preferential treatment of pollution investment. This decoupling was most successful in the case of SO_x emissions. However, the decoupling trend ceased in 1990s, and CO₂ emissions continue to rise despite various technological and voluntary measures. Based on this analysis, the paper advocates substantial structural change by introducing ecological tax reforms, domestic emissions trading, and other incentive measures.

This paper discusses the implications of risk communication, which is the gift of the evolution of life, and proposes to make effective use of risk communication by providing the general public with much more natural ways in which to present their thoughts for public choice. Although the constitution of Japan declared long ago that society should function on the principles of democracy, making the general public the major decision maker, the general public has never played a major role either in policy assessment or policy formulation.

Governmental organizations have practically monopolized the power of public choice, in particular, through the use of the word “public”. However, Japanese society has somehow overlooked the misleading use of the word “public” that has been increasingly translated as “in the hands of governmental bureaucracy”.

The fundamental nature of public choice for policy assessment and implementation has been paternalistic and bureaucratic using a top-down approach as long as the related laws are implemented; yet, the general public in several local communities has courageously stood up and taken the decision-making power into their hands.

Empirical studies on these “advanced cases of public choice”, illustrated by many stakeholders of the choice, considered the general public to be untrained both in terms of the scientific knowledge necessary for decision-making and the manners of communication required to express their views.

Most of these criticisms should be regarded as originating from paternalism, which cannot be allowed in public choice without legitimate acceptance from the general public. However, it is true that officially organized communication processes for public choice are rarely designed to effectively deal with risk communication among the general public. The paper discusses the steps to be taken to incorporate risk communication into a broarder participatory policy assessment procedure; this argument will provide the society with a more sustainable public choice.

The first World Exposition of the 21st century is now in session in the hills in the east of Nagoya City. It began on March 25 and will continue for the next 185 days. The theme of the Exposition is “Nature's Wisdom”. This paper focuses on finding the solution to the global problems confronting us, the innovative creation of culture and civilization that indicates the new lifestyle of mankind, and the activities that boost worldwide exchanges. Here I will endeavor to report on those people who have left their mark on the Exposition up to this point.

This paper argues that Japan needs to expand foreign workers in view of the declining birthrate and a growing proportion of elderly people. Since the end of 1980s, Japan has expanded the number of foreign skilled workers, but it continues to prohibit foreign unskilled workers. In spite of such policy, presently Japan still endures with a large pool of illegal foreign workers. Against this background, this paper contends that the declining birthrate and continuous growth in the proportion of aging people, Japan has to improve its labor productivity through technical progress in order to offset the contraction of labor force. In this regard, this paper maintains that relying on female and elderly people is necessary, but it is not sufficient in achieving economic growth in a sustained basis. For this reason, this paper argues that Japan should liberalize its labor market to foreign workers. Therefore, this paper suggests that Japan should abolish the policy based on the concept of “skilled” and “unskilled” for foreign workers, and instead it should transform the existing policy to encompass all level of job categories. For this purpose, this paper proposes a mechanism on “quantitative control” and “migration circulation” to avoid unlimited influx of foreign workers on the one hand, and to prevent an unwarranted long period of stay in Japan by foreign workers on the other hand. In addition, this paper also suggests the establishment of a “Repatriation Fund,” which is a form of monetary incentive in encouraging foreign workers to return to their home country when their employment contracts expire.

Road traffic capacity in cold, snowy regions greatly depends on the snow removal level of service (LOS). Public transportation is scheduled to operate according to demand, so it is reasonable to expect snow removal LOS to change with changes in traffic demand. However, the City of Sapporo applies the same LOS standard throughout the winter, regardless of traffic demand. In Japan, the busiest days of the month for companies tend to be the 5th, 10th and last day of the month. These days (called gotobi in Japanese) are due days for promissory notes and payments to workers and other businesses. Road traffic volume is extremely high on these days, because many business people must make trips to fulfill financial obligations. Transportation systems should be particularly efficient on these days. This study proposes using “winter delay” as an outcome indicator of snow removal, whereby the LOS can be varied by time of day and road location. We propose to set target winter delays using traffic counter data and the results of questionnaires, and to organize and evaluate snow removal management to satisfy business user needs.