Philosophers occasionally have published their research findings in journals primarily dedicated to risk research. I select Cranor’s concise paper (1995a) as such an instance. His paper presented a “policy simulation” that compares different processes of risk assessment and then concluded that expedited risk assessment, such as that practiced under California’s Proposition 65, is clearly beneficial in terms of social consequences. I delineate the context of his paper by investigating available published materials. In the 1980s, Cranor learned scientific and legal aspects of carcinogen risk assessments and subsequently participated in the Science Advisory Panel under the Proposition 65. His works in those days were collaborative undertakings involving individuals beyond the realm of philosophy, including scientists and administrative agency staff. Furthermore, his paper (1995a) was outstanding because it makes a substantive normative claim on scientific risk assessment with forthright justification. Therefore, I regard it as a pioneering work of socially relevant philosophy of science, which has gradually gained momentum among philosophers of science over the past few decades. However, Douglas’s paper (2000), published in Philosophy of Science, had the most prominent influence on this trajectory within philosophy of science. In my assessment, Cranor’s paper (1995a) has remained an inconspicuous forerunner up to this day.

Climate change due to global warming has already become apparent in many regions. Thus, adaptation to the risk of agricultural damage, flood damage, and health hazards caused by the frequency of extreme weather events associated with rising temperatures is required. Therefore, a special session entitled “Society Risks and Tools for Adaptation due to Extreme Weather Events Associated with Climate Change” was held at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis Japan. The objective of the session was to discuss the following topics: What kind of risks will occur to society?; Statistical research using a wide range of statistical data on agricultural and flood damage and historical weather data in the Japanese region; What kind of adaptation measures can be taken to cope with the risks?; How effective are these adaptation measures? Research on the development of tools for adaptation was also introduced in the session. In addition, discussions were also held from the perspective of information provision and risk communication.

There is an ongoing debate about how to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The purpose of the special session regarding PFAS regulation at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis Japan (SRAJ) was to create a forum by providing an opportunity for panelists to discuss the state of regulation from various angles of risk research, while introducing topics such as the unique characteristics of PFAS and similarities with past discussions on the regulation of chemical substances. First, two of authors introduced the recent trends of scientific findings and standards, as well as a case study on risk assessment and management methods for soil and groundwater contamination in Okinawa Prefecture. The authors then discussed the state of PFAS regulation. The discussion included measures that take into account contributions from drinking water and foods, formation of PFAS from precursors in the environment, setting of endpoints that people value, economic impacts associated with regulations, and consideration of the precautionary principle and the proportionality principle.

More than 12 years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake that caused extensive damage mainly in the Tohoku region. While reconstruction is progressing in many areas, issues remain concerning the final disposal of more than 13 million m³ of removed soil and decontaminated waste currently stored in interim storage facilities. This session focused on the social acceptability and multidimensional fairness of out-of-prefecture final disposal of removed soil generated by decontamination in Fukushima Prefecture. Although technical studies on the final disposal, such as volume reduction and storage, have made progress, discussions on the social acceptability of various options in the site selection process and the consensus building process have not progressed much. In this session, based on the latest research results on the consensus, we discussed selection process and social acceptability assessment for out-of-prefecture final disposal of removed soil, and future directions.

COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to manage the risk of infection, which is caused by social interaction, particularly in school events. Thus, the principals had to face the dilemma between avoiding the risk and favoring educational opportunity brought by school events which produce close interpersonal contact. The aim of present study is to reveal school principals’ risk management of school events under such dilemma. Five school principals participated in the semi-structured interview and were asked how school events were administrated from 2020 onwards, including the cases in which the events were cancelled. The obtained data was analyzed through SCAT (Otani, 2008). As a result, 325 concepts/theme and 124 theoretical descriptions were obtained. The main findings were as follows: the policy focused on maintaining education opportunities was found to be the same for each participant, however, the actual risk-taking policies differed depending on each interviewee and activity. On risk management, the factors such as the thought of children and parents or school size affected. In particular, the school trip was the most difficult activity to manage. Moreover, in case of an out-of-prefecture trip, it was considered that a certain policy and scheme such as involving students education to risk management and close communication in/out of schools would make it possible. Through risk management, results on positive/negative outcomes, such as the improvement of school systems or the loss of social relationships, were obtained. Through consideration of these findings, a future direction of risk management in schools was discussed.

The final disposal of the removed soil from the decontamination works of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident is to be conducted outside of Fukushima prefecture by 2045. The decontaminated soil is managed in the interim storage facility in Okuma and Futaba town, Fukushima prefecture. For conducting the final disposal, reducing the amount of the soil by recycling the low-contaminated removed soil is necessary. To proceed with this policy, public deliberation is required, where citizens participate and discuss the issue. This study aimed to examine the effects of the discussion frame on group decisions, focusing on whether minorities’ opinions were reflected. Additionally, we explored how opinions on the issue were changed through the discussions. A group discussion experiment about the final disposal was conducted, manipulating the discussion frame to be competitive or comprehensive. In the competitive frame condition, participants were required to refute their opponents and decide on the pros or cons of the final disposal outside Fukushima. On the contrary, in the comprehensive frame condition, they were required to listen to opponents respectfully and reach compromise decisions. The result demonstrated that some groups in the comprehensive frame condition made decisions including minorities’ opinions, while groups in the competitive frame condition reflected only majority opinions. Moreover, the results indicated that most groups in both conditions positively changed their opinion on recycling the low-contaminated removed soil. The significance of designing public deliberation on the final disposal of the decontaminated soil outside of Fukushima was discussed.

“Anszen (safety in Japanese) and ansin (assuredness in Japanese)” are frequently used words in Japan regarding risk related matters. These words give simple expressions in explaining attitudes dealing with risk phenomena, for example, saying “anzen” is based scientific consideration to cope with risk, while “ansin” is based on heuristic sentiment, and hence lay people tend to make inappropriate judgment, necessitating to be improved by scientific education. However scientific judgment often includes uncertainty and ambiguity from incomplete understanding of the phenomena and lay people judge not only based on incomplete scientific understanding but take into account of socioeconomic factors and human relationships on the matters, etc. Taking examples of engineering risks, food safety and the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, this paper analyzes backgrounds and situations of “anzen” and “ansin” in these cases. Contrary to above mentioned belief that scientific literacy is compulsory for “ansin” judgment of the citizens, better “ansin” performance can be well established from mutual cooperation in daily lives among risk concerned people.

A basic plan for evacuation in the case of Mt. Fuji eruption was formulated because the hazard map for Mt. Fuji eruption was revised. For the formulation of the evacuation plan, it was designed that evacuation to save lives is the top priority, and evacuation to protect livelihoods is also taken into consideration to the greatest extent possible. In order to eliminate the delay of evacuation by traffic jam, it was recommended for healthy persons to evacuate on foot rather than using their own cars. This rule is essential to confirm the safe evacuation for evacuee requiring special support by automobile. Timing of the evacuation was designed depending on the characteristics of the eruption phenomena, target group and the volcanic alert level.