The 5th Japan's Science and Technology Basic Plan was adopted at a Cabinet Meeting on January 22, 2016, and became operational on April 1 of the same year. Taking into account 20 years of previous Basic Plan experience, and recognizing that we will be entering into an era of drastic change, four pillars have been identified to structure the 5th Basic Plan as follows: 1. Preparing for major change: the future of industry and society; 2. Addressing socio-economic and global challenges; 3. Investing in the “fundamentals”: people and excellence; 4. Empowering Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) systems. Preparedness and a forward-looking approach have been considered as key in shaping this plan. Also, given the potential of STI to transform our industry and society, working with a wide spectrum of parties-including the government, academia, industry, and citizens-became imperative from conception to implementation of the 5th Basic Plan. This paper outlines the preparation process of the Plan within the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI). After a brief summary, key characteristics of the Plan are presented, followed by a conclusion with a future perspective.

The Science Council of Japan (SCJ) was strongly influential over the nation's science and technology policies after it was established in 1949. Almost all governmental investments in science and technology policies, such as founding new research institutions, or introducing new scientific research facilities, were implemented based on the recommendation of SCJ. Gradually, however, the government has been developing its own policy-making system as well as implementation bodies. Following these changes, the role of SCJ has been changing toward an advisory capacity for the government through proposing recommendation reports on various science and technology subjects. Today, it still has a close relationship with the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), the government council in charge of science and technology policies. The president of SCJ participates in CSTI as a member and delivers recommendations during discussions on the new Science and Technology Basic Plan. The Fifth Basic plan was launched in April, 2016, introducing the new era of science and technology based on the concept of Society 5.0. SCJ proposed the important role of basic sciences and the fostering of a new generation of scientists to support the new era.

The 5th Japan's Science and Technology Basic Plan provides many descriptions about reforming universities and enhancing their functions, including strengthening funding reform, promoting reforms in graduate school education, and developing and improving career prospects of young researchers. Each of these reforms and enhancements is an essential policy component for “Innovation.” Funding reform requires indirect costs of competitive grants in the amount of 30% of direct costs and encourages universities to enhance their basic policies, such as the employment of young researchers, female researchers, and URAs. Graduate school education reforms mean career counseling for young doctors. Many young doctors cannot find academic positions due to lack of assistance from the university. Graduate school education should prepare graduates for job hunting in the industrial sector. Career prospects of young researchers are also related to the previous two topics. Personal circulation can promote activity of university and innovation.

The 5th Japan's Science and Technology Basic Plan is aimed at contributing to the realization of a sustainable and inclusive Japanese society. Toward the development of this plan, experts from various sectors have discussed how to strengthen industry-academia-government cooperation. One of the most important goals of the plan is the realization of “Society 5.0,” which is a human-centric society achieved by a variety of advanced technology innovations that connect the cyber and physical worlds. Toward this goal, Japanese national universities are expected to reform their structures to promote open innovations more effectively.

Inclusive innovation is defined as “any innovation that leads to affordable access of quality goods and services creating livelihood opportunities for the excluded population, primarily at the base of the pyramid, and on a long term sustainable basis with a significant outreach” (Mashelkar, 2014). Science and technology have critical roles in inclusive innovation to create new values for commodities and the progress of productivity by applying the fruits of science and technology, such as information technologies. However, for innovation to be successfully introduced into the market place and accepted by society, inclusive innovation must be based on not only science and technology, but also on many forms of partnerships and continuous dialogues with stakeholders, including the government, NGOs, private sectors and academia. the 5th Japan's Science and Technology Basic Plan emphasizes that building up government-level international cooperation is also a crucial approach for inclusive innovation, especially in the developing countries dealing with poverty issues and delayed infrastructure construction, as well as lifestyles, industries, and logistics systems differing from those of advanced countries. In addition, non-donor-type international cooperation should promote effective and sustainable economic growth within the development of inclusive innovation.

The 5th Japan's Science and Technology Basic Plan was drawn up and enacted over a five-year term in accordance with the social and economic needs toward science and technology. Based on the above background, this paper discusses the roles of the scientist and the issues covered in the 5th Basic Plan, after describing changes in the role of the scientist over the past twenty years and the relationship between scientists, science and technology, and society. According to the 5th Basic Plan, it is necessary for scientists to seriously consider their relationship with society, and promote creative innovation in collaboration with various stakeholders in science and technology. Additionally, the roles of the scientist are summarized as: (1) ensuring research integrity, (2) communicating with society, and (3) promoting the dual-use of science and technology.

Although Japan is very rich in geothermal resources, geothermal development has stagnated over the past decades. One of the reasons is objections raised by local residents, particularly by hot spring owners. The purpose of this study is to clarify some factors as well as processes that brought about conflicts over geothermal power developments. For this purpose, we analyzed five conflict cases and obtained the following results. While the majority of the dissident people were given information and went through experiences which could possibly affect their risk perception, they judged the projects unlikely to bring them any benefits. In addition, the local residents were not offered any opportunities to participate in the discussions in four of the cases. When some residents recognized the unexpected changes in the hot springs due to the development construction, they complained about the way the developers recognized and responded to the problem. For such reasons, the people concerned lost their sense of distributional fairness, procedural fairness, and confidence in developers. Therefore, residents formed negative schemata of geothermal development. Moreover, it is conceivable that the dissident residents formed anti-geothermal development groups within the hot spring guild in order to stop the projects in the key decision-making process.

The Neighborhood Unit Theory, originally introduced by C.A. Perry, served as a new town construction plan that targeted the child-rearing family in 1960s. Now, in Japan, the aging rate is rapidly increasing, particularly in urban areas, creating the need of a new planning theory for the community environment. The aim of this paper is a basic study on the requirements of community livelihoods that can achieve “aging in place.” Six key topics concerning building formal care systems and establishing community activities with be introduced, with a focus on mutual community support and community living spaces. New community environment planning theories differ from The Neighborhood Unit Theory, emphasizing the importance of the physical environment, community care system, and community activities.