Reconsidering the significance of public comments InsightsEssays: Civil Society in Japan

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Posted on April 28, 2025

Japan NPO Center (JNPOC) has a news & commentary site called NPO CROSS that discusses the role of NPOs/NGOs and civil society as well as social issues in Japan and abroad. We post articles contributed by various stakeholders, including NPOs, foundations, corporations, and volunteer writers.
For this JNPOC’s English site, we select some translated articles from NPO CROSS to introduce to our English-speaking readers.

 

Reconsidering the significance of public comments

Eiji Ueda, Deputy Managing Director, Japan NPO Center

 

Recent news reports have drawn attention to the increasing frequency of public comment submissions in Japan exceeding 10,000, which has placed a greater burden on the officials responsible for managing them. Some articles also indicated that “the government, concerned about the potential hindrance to accurately grasping public sentiment, has begun discussing countermeasures in meetings involving high-ranking bureaucrats.”

However, merely addressing the problem of the high volume of comments and debates on how to improve processing efficiency may miss the point of truly “accurately grasping public opinion.”

The public comment system is a process by which the government gathers opinions and information from the public during policy formulation. It is a central mechanism for civic engagement, designed to promote transparency and fairness.

NPO CROSS has also raised concerns in the past article “Is the public comment system functioning?” (only in Japanese). Rather than just the limited problems of the sheer number of comments and efficiency improvements, there are many issues to discuss regarding public comments, including the process leading up to its stage, how citizens are informed, and how submitted comments are examined. Indeed, if the number of comments is to be questioned, one often wonders why the number is usually so low. In the past, there have been instances of short comment periods that raise doubts about whether the government is truly trying to listen to citizens’ opinions.

Some municipalities are adopting different approaches to gather citizen feedback, such as publicly appointing citizens to planning committees. We want to continue exploring ways for citizens to be involved in considering how their voices can be reflected in plans and policies.

 

Original text by Eiji Ueda (JNPOC’s Deputy Managing Director) originally posted on March 31, 2025; translated by JNPOC.

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