STS in Japan in Light of the Science Café Movement

STS in Japan in Light of the Science Café Movement Masaki Nakamura Received: 22 November 2009 /Accepted: 22 November 2009 /Published online: 26 May 2010 # National Science Council, Taiwan 2010 Science communication is definitely one of the most prominent topics in Japanese STS, especially over the last several years. The year 2005 is considered to have been the “First Year of Japanese Science Communication” (Kobayashi 2007: 18). It was a landmark year when science communicator training programs were established in three universities under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). In addition, two leading national science museums also launched similar training programs the following year when the Third Science and Technology Basic Plan (FY2006-2010) was announced by the government . The plan sought to (1) encourage outreach activities by universities and research institutes, (2) promote public participation in science and technology, and (3) help cultivate professional science communicators (Government of Japan 2006). Because it was explicitly embedded in government science and technology policy, science communication began to receive great attention, especially within the scientific community, and this led to a wide range of related activities occurring over a period of just a few years. 1 Science Café: Most Popular Science Communication Activity in Japan Among those activities, the science café seems to have been the most influential. Science cafés offer an informal forum for public discussion on the latest scientific issues. The concept has been described in the following way by science café organizers in the UK: Café Scientifique1 is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: an International Journal (2010) 4:145–151 DOI 10.1007/s12280-010-9122-5 1 The science café is typically called “café scientifique” in the UK. M. Nakamura (*) Osaka University, Institute for Higher Education Research and Practice, 1-16 Machikaneyama-cho Toyonaka-shi, Osaka 560-0043, Japan e-mail: masaki@cep.osaka-u.ac.jp Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants and even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context.2 Originally launched in the UK and France around 1997, this concept has gradually spread throughout the world. In May 2007, the Second International Conference on Science Cafés was held in Leeds. Ninety science café organizers from more than 30 countries, including Germany, Italy, Denmark, the USA, Brazil, Latvia, and Japan gathered there. The science café is a product of the contemporary science communication movement. This can be seen in its “dialogue-based” approach. “Science communication ” as a newly emerging field differs from traditional approaches in terms of its strong emphasis on the “interactive” and “two-way” communication. In other words, in contrast to traditional initiatives that value the dissemination of scientific knowledge, science communication initiatives emphasize “dialogue” and “two-way communication” between science and the public. Specifically, the focus is not solely on the public merely listening to the scientists; rather, the scientists also listen to the public. From the perspective of this new focus in science communication, the science café is quite symbolic because the “dialogue” between the scientists and the public is highly visible in these situations. In regards to this point, Duncan Dallas, the founder of British science cafés, points out the importance of the “venue” for the science café in the following statement: A unique characteristic of the Café Scientifique is that changing the venue changes the tone and nature of the discussion. In a lecture theater you expect to be lectured to, in a café-bar you expect to discuss scientific matters on equal terms, and that is what people like.(Dallas 2006: 227) As this statement indicates, the science café is certainly an activity that emphasizes a discussion between the scientist and the public with all parties on an equal footing. In terms of the worldwide development of the science café movement, the Japanese situation is outstanding. After being featured in The White Paper on Science and Technology in 2004, this movement began to attract attention among those interested in bridging the gap between science and the public...