Analysis of Japanese newspaper articles on genetic modification

The rapid spread of technologies involving the application of “Genetic Modification (GM)” raised the need for science communication on this new technology in society. To consider the communication on GM in the society, an understanding of the current mass media is required. This paper shows the whole picture of newspaper discourses on GM in Japan. For the Japanese public, newspapers represent one of the major sources of information on GM. We subjected the two Japanese newspapers with the largest circulation, the Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun, to an analysis of the full text of approximately 4000 articles on GM published over the past to perform an assessment of the change of reportage on GM. As for the most important results, our analysis shows that there are two significant shifts with respect to the major topics addressed in articles on GM by Japanese newspapers

アルミニウム青銅焼結合金に関する研究

Currently, a new STS field, East Asian Science, Technology and Society (EASTS), has been developed. However, the EASTS perspectives have not been clear. In order to develop EASTS, it is necessary to understand each other more for much active STS in East Asian Community. Thus, we examine the current situation of EASTS by conducting a network analysis on highly frequent keywords in two STS journals. The results exhibited different tendencies observed in topics and fields even between the two STS journals’ community. In East Asia, we should enhance our mutual understandings through STS, with reserving language/cultural diversity, and this is one of the challenges for East Asian STS community. So we have asked East Asian colleagues to participate in our project to figure out the characteristics of East Asian STS and asked them for suggestions and ideas for future collaboration

A comparative analysis of attitudes toward genome-edited food among Japanese public and scientific community

Shineha R., Takeda K.F., Yamaguchi Y., et al. (2024) A comparative analysis of attitudes toward genome-edited food among Japanese public and scientific community. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0300107. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0300107.Genome editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 have been developed in the last decade and have been applied to new food technologies. Genome-edited food (GEF) is a crucial issue with those new food technologies. Thus, each country has established GEF governance systems to maximize benefits and minimize risks. These emphasize the importance of communicating about GEF to the public. The key concerns are understanding various viewpoints and value perspectives (framings) in science and technology and encouraging and opening communication with the public. Thus, it is essential to understand differences between the public and experts’ interests and discuss various framings and effective communication with regard to GEF. Accordingly, this study involved administering a questionnaire to analyze the public’s attitudes in Japan and identify gaps between these and expert opinions on GEF. A total of 4000 responses from the public and 398 responses from GEF experts were collected. The study found that the Japanese public has a “wait- and-watch” attitude toward GEF, and the demand for basic information on it is quite high. Moreover, they are apprehensive about proper risk governance systems for GEF. This is despite experts’ emphasis on the adequacy of the mechanism, necessity of technology, and trust in the scientific community. Understanding gaps between the public and experts’ opinions on and interests in GEF provides essential insight for effective communication and acts as the basis for appropriate governance of emerging science and technology

生命科学／複合的災害～科学技術社会論における一調査例の紹介～

「科学と社会」セミナー;2011年8月9日（火）;先導研棟3階 ミーティングルーム306Tuesday, Aug 9th, 2011, 13:00～;Sendoken Building 3rd floor, Meeting Room 306;Speaker：Dr. Ryuma Shineha;lecture in JapaneseSpeaker：標葉隆馬[総合研究大学院大学　先導科学研究科 助教（「科学と社会」分野）

Public engagement in Japanese policy-making: A history of the genetically modified organisms debate

New laws regulating the use of genetically modified organisms have recently been enacted in Japan, and there were many stakeholders involved in the development of this policy. Our review of the history and the debates held in the course of policy development regarding genetically modified organisms in Japan shows that the current regulatory system was developed taking past national and international regulatory contexts into consideration. The turning point in Japanese policy-making occurred early in this decade, at which time public engagement became an important theme. However, our review also demonstrates that this public engagement did not impact on policies, and that a discussion on how best to evaluate public engagement on policy-making in Japan is still required

A comparative review on neuroethical issues in neuroscientific and neuroethical journals

This study is a pilot literature review that compares the interest of neuroethicists and neuroscientists. It aims to determine whether there is a significant gap between the neuroethical issues addressed in philosophical neuroethics journals and neuroscience journals. We retrieved 614 articles from two specialist neuroethics journals (Neuroethics and AJOB Neuroscience) and 82 neuroethics-focused articles from three specialist neuroscience journals (Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature Reviews Neuroscience). We classified these articles in light of the neuroethical issue in question before we compared the neuroethical issues addressed in philosophical neuroethics with those addressed by neuroscientists. A notable result is a parallelism between them as a general tendency. Neuroscientific articles cover most neuroethical issues discussed by philosophical ethicists and vice versa. Subsequently, there are notable discrepancies between the two bodies of neuroethics literature. For instance, theoretical questions, such as the ethics of moral enhancement and the philosophical implications of neuroscientific findings on our conception of personhood, are more intensely discussed in philosophical-neuroethical articles. Conversely, neuroscientific articles tend to emphasize practical questions, such as how to successfully integrate ethical perspectives into scientific research projects and justifiable practices of animal-involving neuroscientific research. These observations will help us settle the common starting point of the attempt at “ethics integration” in emerging neuroscience, contributing to better governance design and neuroethical practice

Science communication in regenerative medicine: Implications for the role of academic society and science policy

It is essential to understand the hurdles, motivation, and other issues affecting scientists' active participation in science communication to bridge the gap between science and society. This study analyzed 1115 responses of Japanese scientists regarding their attitudes toward science communication through a questionnaire focusing on the field of stem cell and regenerative medicine. As a result, we found that scientists face systemic issues such as lack of funding, time, opportunities, and evaluation systems for science communication. At the same time, there is a disparity of attitudes toward media discourse between scientists and the public

Responsible Innovation in molecular robotics in Japan

Over the last decade Japanese researchers have taken the lead in the emerging discipline of molecular robotics. This new technology aims to produce artificial molecular systems that can adapt to changes in the environment, self-organize and evolve. This paper explores the question of how to stimulate responsible research and innovation in the field of molecular robotics technologies. For this, we first draw lessons from earlier societal responses in Japan to emerging technologies, such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, synthetic biology and genomic research. Next we describe various real-time technology assessment (TA) activities on molecular robotics in Japan to depict the state-of-the-art of the academic and public debate on the social aspects of molecular robotics. Lessons from earlier societal responses to emerging technologies demonstrated three potential challenges: finding and involving the ‘right’ experts and stakeholders, keeping regulations up to date, and getting scientists and citizens involved in science communication. A literature review, ‘future workshop’ and scenario workshop raised a number of ethical, social, political and cultural issues, and addressed desirable and undesirable scenarios for the next few decades. Twitter text mining analysis indicates that the level of attention, knowledge and awareness about molecular robots among a broader audience is still very limited. In conclusion, we identify four activities crucial to enable responsible innovation in molecular robotics—getting to grips with the speed of the development of molecular robotics, monitoring related technical trends, the establishment of a more stable TA knowledge base, and a sustained interaction between molecular roboticists and social scientists