Science of "Ba"
Online ISSN : 2434-3766
Volume 2, Issue 3
Displaying 1-5 of 5 articles from this issue
  • Japan Association for Sustainability based on Co-innovation & Competit ...
    2023 Volume 2 Issue 3 Pages 0-
    Published: January 31, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: March 07, 2023
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Kikuchi Junichi
    2023 Volume 2 Issue 3 Pages 1-3
    Published: January 31, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: March 07, 2023
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     The total number of human beings living on the earth is increasing. Japanese society, however, is the exact opposite. I offer four perspectives to help resolve this social vulnerability. The first is the village of Aogashima, which has the smallest population in Japan. The solution to the vulnerability in this case would be to deploy a defender of the isolated island while ensuring the legitimacy of its sustainability over the medium to long term. It would be good to design an evidence-based social system, taking into account issues related to territories, airspace and EEZ, etc. The second is Kyoto City, which has experienced the greatest population decline. In this case, while ensuring the legitimacy of medium- to long-term change, it is best to leave attempts at modern urbanization to the surrounding areas and maintain the ancient town of Gojo as it has been since ancient times. Third is the town of Tomioka, which has been affected by the nuclear power plant accident, and where many people are still living in the neighborhood or in other prefectures (including foreign countries) without changing their residency with the support of the system (Act on Special Measures for Evacuees of the Accidental Nuclear Power Plants, etc.), even after more than 10 years. There is also the issue of nuclear damage compensation disputes. Regardless of unknown or known risks, it would be good to establish a method of multi-step consensus building based on the right to self-determination in accordance with the precautionary principle.  The last case is a comparison of Japan and Russia. I plotted the long-term trends of the society, using demographic statistics as an indicator of the national momentum, and SNS statistics as an indicator of the national wealth. Japan experienced three stages of rightward social growth based on 1955. After the Corona disaster, it is unclear whether a period of the leftward expansion will materialize. Expectations of innovation will lead the way and stimulate competition, which will be compounded by expectations of sustainability in the future as people seek to legitimize the change. Another trend in society has been to seek the role and function of integrated knowledge based on the accumulation of specialized knowledge. In order to avoid the trap of fragility, the emergence of comprehensive knowledge that dissolves the barriers of the information divide is required. On the other hand, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation experienced a period of leftward expansion in which economic productivity rose under a declining population. Although it became a society with a growing population for a period of time, it was unable to demonstrate its superiority in international economic competition and experienced fluctuations similar to those seen during the period of irresolution in Japan. A regime change of aggression cannot be justified. To mitigate the turbulence of growth and development, it is advisable to add sustainability to the transformation and ensure socioeconomic risk diversification.
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  • Through the Case of Mindscapes
    Hayashi Akio, Kikuchi Hiroko, Kon Satoshi
    2023 Volume 2 Issue 3 Pages 4-62
    Published: January 31, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: March 07, 2023
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    NPO inVisible is a not-for-profit organization that aims to use art as a catalyst to make visible, not only tangible but also invisible values that are hidden within the society. It is essential to recognize that art exists in everyday life; furthermore, it is also vital to create projects while breaking down preconceived notions through an attitude of planning by using art as a catalyst. But since we try to understand each other because we cannot understand each other in the first place, respect for differences and individuality and community engagement are essential points in our activities.  This not-for-profit organization consists of three project components: the Laboratory Project (the Lab), the Intermediary Support Project (the Interim), and Other Related Project (the Other). The Lab, similar to an investment business model, identifies potential issues in cities and regions and develops appropriate projects to address those issues. The Interim is set up to propose projects aiming to solve problems and is equipped to implement and evaluate their implementations. Mindscapes Tokyo falls under this category.  Mindscapes Tokyo is a project of the UK-based foundation, Wellcome Trust and inVisible. When it is said one in four people in the world experience mental health problems, mental health has become a common issue among us in the modern era. This project challenges exactly that. Mental health is often thought of as the domain of medical professionals. However, Only Science cannot solve this common problem. It is essential to galvanize professionals from various fields and creative minds such as artists, writers, curators, designers, and filmmakers to learn from each other and cooperate. For this reason, people with diverse backgrounds are set up to participate in Mindscapes Tokyo.  The term mental health itself needs to be reexamined from the root of its origin. It is because when people are exposed to the term mental health, they may perceive it differently depending on their backgrounds. Moreover, for this project, each participant comes with uniquely different experiences from one another. While embracing the differences, once again, both breaking out of convention and redefining mental health from an art and cultural point of view is crucial. It is important to remind ourselves how difficult it is to talk without fostering trust.  Convening is a place that cherishes exchanging conversations with art/cultural perspectives; in other words, it is a dialogue-based gathering in Mindscapes Tokyo. It is an effort to rethink what mental health is through several interactive congregations with participants from various backgrounds. Therefore, one of the characteristics of the Convening is to welcome and include outsiders' voices.  Urban Investigation Project, led by teams of investigators (artists) and youth investigators (high school students), is an exploratory endeavor to formulate ideas. The project also considers works created here as tools to trigger to think further about mental health.  And then, Keywords for rethinking mental health consist of Japan's high context culture, origin+ interpretation of Japanese words, culture of shame, breaking down preconceived notions: learning together and learning again, and Zattkan (miscellaneous thoughts). Especially in an occasion like Convening, it is to be tempted to quickly draw conclusions. However, for example, the words mental health is a terminology that can be interpreted differently by different people, and one should never impose their interpretation on others. Therefore, it is important for participants to share their thoughts and feelings, not as conclusions, but to embrace them as something that has come to their mind for the moment. In this case, our efforts to date have revealed that utilizing the term Zattkan (miscellaneous impressions) and communicating to others through miscellaneous thoughts and impressions are very effective.
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  • Yanagida Yasuhiro, Kishita Yusuke, Yamashita Masaru , Nakagami Yut ...
    2023 Volume 2 Issue 3 Pages 63-96
    Published: January 31, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2023
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In the Part I, we discussed the main points of the design of the mechanism based on recent trends in the background of the need for resource circulation and in the issues for social implementation. In the Part II, although resource circulation is premised on being implemented on the local system, since it is not possible to improve efficiency if it is worked on individually, we addressed how it is best to proceed with the efforts of the local system with the efforts of the overall system. Part I: 1.The connection of systems in the resource circulation is important There is no room for vertical integration, and the resource circulation system is one in which diverse stakeholders are inevitably involved. Even in the value chain for a single product group, the linkage of each chain is important, and since multiple product groups are collected at the same time, the linkage of circulation systems becomes even more important. 2.Stakeholders are diverse even in plastic resource circulation, and it is necessary to design a social system that induces consumers to change their behavior The efficiency of plastic resource circulation can be improved by having end-consumers provide plastic to the circulation route in a form that facilitates a higher level of recycling. It will be necessary to design this behavior change of end consumers as a social system of incentives, norms, regulations, and cost-adding, in coordination with the progress of technological development. 3.Circular Economy (CE) is the cornerstone of industrial economic policy It will also be necessary to design a framework for social implementation of resource circulation, for example, a framework for dialogue (i.e., knowledge narrative) regarding the tolerance of uncertainty, and to introduce evaluation indicators that will enable monitoring of new values. 4.CE business must be envisioned utilizing digital platforms There is an urgent need to develop tools that incorporate the three elements of lifecycle design, scenario design, and business or service design to support each design. Sharing tools that contribute to multi-step consensus building that take into account systematic thinking, robustness related to quality assurance tolerances, and scenarios related to psychological hurdles are required. 5.CE will make the lives of many people better (i.e., well-being) CE is a transformation of the economic model and must include Well-being as one of the economic principles. However, few consumers may have an image of becoming well-being in CE. Part II: 1.The design of resource circulation systems in Japan and in the local system of office buildings in Tokyo is still in its infancy At present, material recycling and chemical recycling in the veins are not even seamlessly connected. As for office buildings, good examples of single-material resource recycling systems and visualization are gradually emerging. It is desirable to design a resource circulation system that thoroughly uses up resources, including maintenance and refurbishing. 2.It is important to consider a strategic consideration based on the overall picture of development as an industry, not just a local system The resource circulation technology should be considered not only for the Japanese domestic market, but also for the development of the industry so that it can capture overseas markets as well. It is important to strategically consider what to prioritize and at what timing, based on the premise that we are serious about solving the overall problem, while keeping both the overall and the individual in mind. 3.To understand the data uncertainty and current data in the conception of future local systems on the run Although there are methods to compare baselines for future scenarios in scenario analysis-type LCA and to make preliminary forecasts of the effects of future technologies in future projection-type LCA, the issue is to understand the uncertainty of future data and the current data.
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  • From the perspective of conversion of "responsibility" structure and transformation of "uncertainty" in legal policy
    Keita Nakayama
    2023 Volume 2 Issue 3 Pages 97-124
    Published: January 31, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: March 07, 2023
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper firstly pointed out the necessity and the current situation regarding the application of the "precautionary principle" in uncertainty administration to environmental risks associated with "uncertainty" in Japan. Secondly, this paper presents the applicability and problems of the "precautionary principle" in Japan, and newly considers how to construct a social system for its application. In this paper, from the perspective of legal policy, the construction of this social system is divided into the following three categories. Specifically, these three categories are (A) conversion of "responsibility" structure, (B) transformation of "uncertainty", and (C) reconstruction of reparations system by the government and compensation mechanism. As a result, it was suggested that the "precautionary principle" could be applied in Japan, and a new perspective could be presented.
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