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60th Anniversary ProjectINTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

Project Report

Creating the Next 60 Years

“My Expectations for Environmental Studies at International Christian University-— Active, Liberal Arts-Oriented Approach Based on Eco-Theology

Aimed at Great Change toward Ecological Civilization”

Academic Program “Focus 2: Dialogue for cross-disciplinary exploration”Commemorative lecture meeting

April 16th, 2011

ICU 60th Anniversary Projects

Date: April 16, 2011 (Saturday)Category: Academic Program “Focus 2: Dialogue for cross-disciplinary exploration”Event: Commemorative lecture meeting on ICU’s 60th anniversary Title: “My Expectations for Environmental Studies at International Christian University -— Active, Liberal Arts-Oriented Approach Based on Eco-Theology Aimed at Great Change toward Ecological Civilization”Lecturer: ICU Othmer Memorial STS guest professor Ryoichi Yamamoto

Sweeping change necessary for scientific and technological civilization based on eco-theology: Professor Yamamoto-— Immaturity of modern science exposed by Fukushima nuclear accident

International Christian University, which observes the 60th anniversary of its founding in the 2013 academic year, is organizing a variety of events and programs for five years through the 2015 academic year in commemoration of the special year. As part of these programs, a lecture meeting was held at the Diffendorfer Memorial Hall on April 16 with Othmer Memorial STS guest professor Ryoichi Yamamoto as the speaker.

In his lecture, titled “My Expectations for Environmental Studies at International Christian University — Active, Liberal Arts-Oriented

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Approach Based on Eco-Theology Aimed at Great Change toward Ecological Civilization,” professor Yamamoto spoke not only about his professional field related to the environment but also about the radioactive leakage accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, and he stressed the need to seriously consider a series of challenges facing the global environment and the problem of securing safe, clean energy while recognizing the immaturity of today’s scientific civilization.

Yamamoto, who served as a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science until the end of March 2010, assumed his duties as ICU’s guest professor in April 2011. The professor is internationally known as a leading academician in the field of material science and the development of sustainable products. In addition to his academic career, he is an active leader in the drive to establish a “Green Purchasing Network” and for the promotion of “eco-products.”

Amassing ICU’s wisdom for post-earthquake restoration: Vice President for Academic Affairs Junko Hibiya

In opening remarks at the lecture meeting, Junko Hibiya, ICU’s vice president for Academic Affairs, explained that ICU will focus on the promotion of interdisciplinary dialogue as one theme for the series of commemorative

programs. Noting that the area of environmental studies, which has accepted Yamamoto this time as a guest, is a very good example of

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an interdisciplinary field, she stressed the importance of the professor’s lecture. Referring to the influence of the devastating March 11 earthquake, the vice president pointed out that today’s highly developed civilization may have to face a critical situation earlier than generally predicted. She said that ICU will bring together all its wisdom and expertise to work for the restoration of the affected areas as an annual theme for 2011 in the programs, inviting various experts from around the world to discuss solutions at related events.

The professor’s 90-minute lecture was followed by a panel discussion in which two senior students of ICU’s Liberal Arts Department and an ICU graduate who became a working member of society this spring participated. Some academic staff and students raised questions or expressed opinions from the floor, which led to a lively discussion with Professor Yamamoto chiefly about Japan’s future energy policy and ways to promote environmental studies at ICU.

Fukushima nuclear accident is failure and defeat of science and technology: Yamamoto

Before talking about the environmental studies based on eco-theology as a main part of his lecture, Yamamoto touched on his personal feelings about the nuclear accident at Fukushima following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Noting that as many as 200,000 people have been displaced by the accident, he confessed, “I am greatly shocked” by the disaster as “someone who has been involved in science and technology for many years.” Recognizing the nuclear accident as “a failure and a great defect of today’s science and technology,” Yamamoto candidly said, “I feel very sorry” about the nuclear disaster not only for the affected people but also for the whole of humanity.

Though an earthquake this big had not been generally predicted by scientists, Yamamoto pointed out that researchers at the Institute of

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Research and Innovation had warned a government panel in 2009 that a huge earthquake could occur in Japan. But the government and the electric power industry did not take any appropriate measures after the warning, and this failure led to the latest accident, he noted. In the accident at the Fukushima plant, Tepco had to release cooling water contaminated with high-level radioactivity into the ocean. Compared to the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union, which caused large-scale radioactive contamination of soil and the atmosphere, the latest disaster might be remembered as the “Chernobyl of the ocean,” depending on how the situation pans out, he said. A tide embankment was destroyed by far higher than expected tsunami waves, emergency power equipment for the cooling system was almost entirely lost and the nuclear reactor buildings were devastated by hydrogen explosions. The series of developments illustrated the immature level of today’s science and technology, Yamamoto noted. Referring to what he calls the “unethical and non-natural” nature of nuclear power generation, he bitterly criticized the construction of nuclear plants in the past. “It was something like building ‘condominiums without toilets,’” he said. With no firm method developed for the disposal of spent nuclear fuels, modern civilization has benefited from nuclear power, but those who have been engaged in science and technology have no answer to criticism “What were you doing any way?” he said.

Yamamoto calls for return to environmentally friendly theology, philosophy, ethics

Following the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, most seismologists have come to believe that Japan has entered a period of active seismic phenomena, according to Yamamoto. History shows Japan’s nuclear power generation started in a period when big earthquakes were limited, but from now, Japan should be prepared to deal with “multiple emergencies,” including uncontrollable nuclear reactor behavior following major earthquakes. While mentioning studies such as a prediction by Professor

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Ementus Katsuhiko Ishibashi, Kobe University in parliamentary testimony in 2005, Yamamoto said Japanese society has not fully taken into account a variety of past predictions and warnings related to earthquakes. This is a lesson that must be drawn from the latest disaster, he said, adding the failure to reflect these warnings in society’s decision-making process is an extremely important challenge for modern society.Society’s inability to respond to warnings in an appropriate manner is equally seen in problems related to global warming and the depletion of natural resources, Yamamoto pointed out. Warning that the so-called “global warming time bomb” will be activated within 20 years, he stressed that a fundamental solution to global warming must be found by returning to a point of view based on environmentally friendly theology, philosophy and ethics. As specific efforts to prevent global warming, Yamamoto explained what is called “a green growth” approach aimed at achieving economic growth while paying consideration to the natural environment as well as efforts to promote technological innovation in an environmentally friendly manner.

The professor served as chairman of a study group aimed at exploring a new vision for nuclear power policy as part of the government’s Atomic Power Commission in 2007. The group studied how to use nuclear power safely and how to spread safe nuclear energy technology in the world from the position that atomic power has to be used to solve global warming, and it came up with recommendations for then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. But having experienced the latest disaster, Yamamoto said, “I seriously regret that we did not analyze safety-related matters more thoroughly.”

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How to achieve prosperity without quantitative growth

Professor Yamamoto continued his lecture while displaying 240 pages of data and reference materials in PowerPoint presentations, and based on analyses and predictions by world-famous research institutions and researchers, he emphasized how critical the situation facing the global environment is. According to the professor, when contemporary youths reach maturity and come to play leading roles in society, there is the likelihood that we will be experiencing a “global warming hell.” He particularly stressed the possibility that the planet’s temperature will rise by 4 degrees Celsius by 2060 in the worst case. This is what is called the “4C world” prediction. Less than 10 percent of the global population could survive a rise in the Earth’s temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, according to a prediction by a British researcher. This means only about 1 billion people, or one-tenth of the U.N. estimated 7.8 billion to 12.5 billion global population in 2050, could survive and the remaining 8 billion people could die in such a world. Such a massive human death toll is expected to endanger other animals and plants, and extinction is feared

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for more than 1 million living species. An increase in the seawater level, the spread of deserts and other phenomena following global warming are estimated to make 50 percent of land in the world uninhabitable. The prediction that 8 billion people will die in a period of 20 years means that 1 million people will die every week. In these circumstances, more serious studies must be carried out to make clear the limitations, and sustainability of the environment, natural resources, markets, growth and population, Yamamoto said.

A considerable amount of research has been carried out in the fields of environmental theology, environmental philosophy and environmental ethics, but the results of this research have not been reflected in the real world, according to professor Yamamoto. Research on how to achieve prosperity without quantitative growth and how to maintain international peace in the 4C world will become important from now on, he said. Research in the years to come must address a great shift to an ecological civilization based on a structural change in scientific and technological civilization, he also said. While upholding the idea that “the universe has created lives, lives have created hearts and hearts have created civilizations,” an eco-theology must be established based on the value that a global living environment that supports a great chain of living species must be protected and preserved, Yamamoto said. Discarding fossil fuels and nuclear power can be achieved by changing peopleﾕs lifestyles, and promoting technological innovation in the environment field, he stressed. While noting various environmental studies have been conducted at ICU, professor Yamamoto said that he hopes ICU will further promote an active, liberal arts-oriented approach based on eco-theology to help facilitate a great change to an ecological civilization. He also expressed his hope that researchers at ICU will create an “ICU school” to explore studies in the field in future.

Among the research data the professor displayed on the screen was an analysis shown at the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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(IPCC) that the speed of global warming is increasing. According to this analysis, which was included in the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, the surface temperature of the Earth rose by 0.74 degrees Celsius in 100 years from 1906 to 2005. The temperature for the past 50 years rose by 0.13 degrees Celsius every 10 years, double the increase in the past 100 years.

The seawater level increased by an average of 3.1 millimeters annually from 1993 to 2003, accelerating from an average of 1.8 millimeters from 1961 to 2003. Recent studies predict the level will have risen by a maximum 1.6 meters at the end of the 21st century while Dr. James Hansen, a U.S. scientist and climatologist, warns a much larger increase of 5 meters may be possible.

Studies and predictions about global warming and CO2 emissions

Thus far, various ideas have been presented as causes for global warming, but most scientists agree that greenhouse-effect gases originating from humans can be cited as a root cause for global warming for the past 150 years or so, according to professor Yamamoto. What kind of phenomenon has been caused by global warming? One can mention such abnormal meteorological phenomena as the heat waves in Russia and European countries in the past few years, heavy rains in Tennessee, the United States, floods in the Indus River basin in Pakistan, the massive melting of glaciers in Greenland and a deluge of Biblical proportions that hit Queensland, Australia.

In an analysis of the situation before the Earth’s entry into the 4C world, the world’s environment researchers and meteorologists have made calculations about when the increase in the Earth’s temperature will surpass 2 degrees Celsius. Based on some assumed conditions, they have calculated the date when the probability of an increase exceeding 2

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degrees Celsius will become 50 percent or more. According to a simple calculation, the date, which is called “the point of no return,” falls between May 12, 2032, and July 28, 2040. This means the Earth will arrive at the entrance to global warming hell, Yamamoto warned. To address such a situation international society must curb global emissions of greenhouse-effect gases in the years ahead so that the emissions will peak between 2010 and 2025, and be reduced by 50 percent by 2050 from the 1990 level and 80 percent by the end of the 21st century, according to the professor. Developed countries must reduce their emissions by 25 percent to 50 percent in 2020, by 80 percent in 2020 and to zero at the earliest possible time in the current century, in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. By so doing, the world’s countries have been urged to curb the increase in the Earth’s temperature to 2 degrees Celsius or less.

Professor Yamamoto has called for the need to pay consideration to the environment in product development during the past 20 years, in an attempt to preserve the global environment. Because efforts to save resources and energies, and to reduce garbage to zero are insufficient, the power of religion, ethics and philosophy must be utilized for a breakthrough, he said.

Following the latest nuclear plant accident, Tepco and the government are struggling to deal with peak power demand this summer, but they should think about asking people to reduce their power consumption rather than restoring power supply in the months ahead, Yamamoto said. Now that the company’s power supply capacity is down to 30 million kilowatts from the past level of 40 million kilowatts, power consumption must be reduced by 25 percent to 30 million kilowatts if a power supply shortage is to be avoided. This is rather a “golden opportunity” to implement a reduction in power consumption, he noted. The situation is becoming favorable for a shift to renewable energy sources to achieve a low-carbon society that is not dependent on nuclear power.

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Following are other studies and predictions about global warming and CO2 emissions as explained by professor Yamamoto in his lecture:

— A maximum acceptable emission amount for fossil fuel-originated CO2 in order to attain the target to curb the global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius or lower at a probability of 67 percent is estimated at 750 billion tons by a German research institution. This translates into a per capita emission amount of only 110 tons for the global population of 6.8 billion people. Because Japanese people emit about 10 tons of CO2 a year, the acceptable amount will be used up in 11 years.

— China accounts for a quarter of the world's CO2 emissions and the amount of its emissions has doubled since the year 2000. The International Energy Agency has asked China to strive to reduce its CO2 emissions so that the amount will peak at 8.4 billion tons a year in 2020. According to a study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the emission amount is estimated to increase to 9.6 billion to 10.1 billion tons from 5.2 billion tons for 2005. — The oceans are expected to be acidified because they absorb CO2 in large quantities. The acidification of the oceans is becoming serious particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. If the hydrogen ion density increases 30 percent due to the absorption of CO2 into the oceans and if the CO2 density increases to 450-480 ppm, the growth of coral reefs will be jeopardized. There is the possibility that large numbers of creatures with calcium carbonate shells in the Arctic Ocean will perish.

— The ice in the Arctic Ocean is fast decreasing. In the worst-case scenario, the ice could disappear by the summer of 2015, or in several decades at the latest. If ice in the oceans disappears, sunlight will not be reflected on the ice and as a result, the pace of global warming will be accelerated, to three times as fast as at present. If the ice in the Arctic Ocean melts, and its area and amount decrease, then high pressure

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systems will appear in the Arctic Ocean area from autumn to winter, increasing the possibility of cold air flowing from the Arctic Circle into East Asia and the East Coast of North America.

— Ice and snow on Mount Kilimanjaro may disappear as early as 2022 while the Chacaltaya Glacier of Bolivia has disappeared six years earlier than predicted. In the Himalayas, an estimated 47 billion tons of ice are being lost every year, according to a study released by Hokkaido University.

— According to a book titled “Climate Wars,” which was published in Canada in 2008, unless global CO2 emissions can be reduced to zero by 2050, nobody will be willing to live in the world in the second half of the 21st century. If the surface temperature of the Earth increases by 2 degrees to 3 degrees Celsius, a nuclear war is feared. Specifically, large numbers of refugees are expected to emerge in Central America, as well as in North African countries and sub-Saharan areas, while a conflict over the use of water between India and Pakistan will escalate into a nuclear war. In China, a civil war will break out amid environmental destruction, creating a massive exodus of dislocated people toward the Russian borders. Global warming is also affecting the world's agriculture and food production, including a change in the amount of the rice harvest in Japan.

Three scenarios for halting global warming

Professor Yamamoto introduced three scenarios for reducing CO2 emissions and halting the progress of global warming, with conditions given for each scenario as to the margin of increase in the global temperature and the CO2 density in the atmosphere. A first scenario with an increase of 3 degrees Celsius and a CO2 density of 550 ppm involves an excessively high climate risk, with ice in the Arctic Ocean seen to disappear in summer and ice floes in Greenland feared to melt extensively. A second scenario assumes an increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius and a CO2

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density of 320 ppm. In this scenario, the melting of ice in the oceans and ice floes can be avoided, but it will be hard to forge an agreement politically and economically. A third, medium scenario with an increase of 2 degrees Celsius and an assumed CO2 density of 450 ppm is a very hard target to achieve, but this is not infeasible. “Astronomical efforts are necessary to attain this target, but this must be implemented,” Yamamoto said.

Past Japanese Cabinets from Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe to Yukio Hatoyama have internationally pledged that Japan will help reduce global CO2 emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050 and accept the 2C target. These Cabinets were short-lived, but their decisions can be appreciated because they are based on scientific findings from a long-term perspective, he said.

The worldﾕs scientists have formulated what they call the “tipping point,” or the point of time where the situation begins to worsen dramatically, as to a variety of phenomena following global warming. With the increase in the Earthﾕs temperature seen to surpass 3 degrees Celsius around the year 2050, their studies indicate the global environment is in a very critical situation, according to Yamamoto.

The professor stressed that efforts must be made for a “post-materials society” in addition to a post-fossil fuel energy system to preserve the global environment. According to a study compiled by the IEA in 2010, the production of good-quality oil peaked in 2006. Total oil production in the world will not decline, but experts believe that good-quality oil production will no longer increase. A similar situation is expected to occur for the production of metals, a field in which he specializes. If economic growth continues at the current speed, good-quality reserves of many kinds of metals, such as copper, are expected to be exhausted in 2050, according to Yamamoto. Therefore, the consumption of resources and energies in society must be substantially reduced, he said.

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Religious belief necessary for efforts to protect global environment: Yamamoto

Professor Yamamoto stressed the need for efforts to protect the global environment in the current difficult situation to be based on religious belief. “Protecting this wonderful global living sphere is almost equal to a religion to me,” he said. Ideas about the universe have progressed dramatically in the past 20 years or so and as a result, it has become known that the emergence of humankind as an intellectual creature in the universe was quite rare, according to Yamamoto. Some people believe that the existence of life in the universe was prepared and that this evidences the existence of God. Whether people believe in God, “we must protect the global living sphere in which 30 million species of creatures live, until the end by all means,” he said. Mother Teresa once explained, “Leave Things about the Earth to God,” but, as Dr. James Lovelock, a British scientist and environmentalist, has noted, it is very important for humankind to take care of the Earth, in light of today’s critical global environment, Yamamoto said. Actually, an increasing number of religionists and religious organizations, including the Church of England and the Vatican, are calling for efforts to preserve the global environment. While referring to a history of studies about environmental theology since nature-oriented theology began to be advocated early in the 19th century, he said eco-theology must be promoted by bringing together the wisdom and ideas about sustainability supported by various religions. Yamamoto also stressed the need to review past economic and social systems, and science and technology as a whole.

Professor Yamamoto also explained the development of eco-friendly materials with a long life, and reduced resources and energy consumption as part of efforts to create products in an environmentally friendly manner. At present, 4,000 to 5,000 eco-friendly materials have been developed and released to the market in Japan, but the situation remains immature, according to Yamamoto. In addition to efforts to create

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environmentally friendly “green products and industries,” new consumer services are becoming available, according to the professor. Specifically, the GoodGuide iPhone service helps consumers easily confirm the safety of products, their influence on health and other matters while the Cradle to Cradle Certification service quickly provides information about whether the used material will be recycled for reuse. Yamamoto also stressed the capital market itself needs to be “greened” by reflecting environmental theology and ethics in capitalism. Specifically, he proposed making the release of reports about environment-related matters obligatory, disseminating an environment-oriented accounting method, promoting socially responsible investment and strengthening regulations on global capitalism.

Various efforts have been made to prevent global warming, but what must be done if the global warming hell has actually arrived with ice melting in the Arctic Ocean and other abnormal phenomena appearing? According to the professor, many proposals have been advanced in the past two years for quickly cooling the Earth based on the so-called geoengineering theory. One proposal calls for infusing aerosol into the Earth’s stratosphere to reflect sunlight to cool the Earth or create clouds. But as the argument seeks a choice between the elimination of CO2 and the reflection of sunlight, and it is rather dangerous, non-governmental organizations in the world have asked for an immediate halt to these studies, according to the professor. A resolution adopted at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya in October 2010 called for a moratorium on geoengineering experiments, except for scientific studies. “This was good news,” he said.

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Orthodox approach necessary for efforts toward post-carbon, post-materials system

Efforts toward a post-carbon, post-materials system must be promoted in an orthodox manner, Yamamoto said, warning if people excessively depend on nuclear power or turn to geoengineering for a solution, a serious disaster resulting from geoengineering itself could occur on a much bigger scale than the Fukushima nuclear accident. In concluding his lecture, he said that humans must be humble, stressing “it is just an illusion to assume that we can control the natural world with science and technology.”

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Restoration of honor of Japan’s science and technology depends on young people’s will: Yamamoto

Present at the panel discussion, which was held for about two hours after Professor Yamamoto’s lecture, were Koji Kubota and Ren Makino, senior students of ICU’s Liberal Arts Department, and Yasuhiro Aoki, an ICU graduate last year.

Aoki and Makino were curious about what kind of alternate energy policy should be explored based on renewable energy in a post-nuclear era, and they asked the professor about his view concerning Japan’s future energy policy. After the March 11 earthquake, various academic groups issued statements, but remorse for the failure of science and technology was not fully shown in their statements, he said. The Sustainable Management

Forum of Japan, for which Yamamoto serves as chairman, prepared a statement calling for reviewing Japan’s nuclear power-oriented energy policy and distributed its English-language version in international society. Because the world is one, the great damage Japan suffered in the latest nuclear accident

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amounts to suffering for the world and for all humankind, he said. Japanese people must be prepared to solve the problems along with people in the world, Yamamoto said. A group of about 350 European intellectuals has issued a statement showing an exit strategy for Japan to break away with atomic energy. “This can be taken in a sense as a challenge to Japanese intellectuals,” Yamamoto said. The world’s people are watching how Japan will change its national vision following the great disaster, he noted. There were no anti-government demonstrations or riots after the killer earthquake and tsunami, and the resulting nuclear crisis in Fukushima, and Japan and Japanese people won international esteem for their calm and reassuring attitude toward the disasters. But after a lapse of a month since the earthquake, world opinion toward Japan is beginning to change, according to Yamamoto. In local elections in Germany after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, the Green Party increased its strength, indicating a political atmosphere in favor of a review of Germany’s nuclear power policy. Meanwhile, in Japan, many pro-nuclear candidates won in unified local elections in April. This has helped to strengthen doubts in foreign countries over whether Japan is willing or able to learn from the latest disasters and as a result, the international praise just after the earthquake is changing to suspicion and disdain, Yamamoto said. Should Japan be the cause of a nuclear accident this serious again, “I fear there will be no future for Japan,” he warned. Efforts to recapture an

honorable position for Japan in international society, and restore honor to Japan’s science and technology depend on the firm will of young people, and Yamamoto asked them to be ambitious in their activities.

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A participant pointed out that an approach must be made by leaders in government and other sectors rather than based on eco-theology for problems that must be addressed by Japan as a whole, such as a reduction in energy consumption. But Yamamoto warned that politics cannot be moved unless each individual speaks up. The latest nuclear disaster has displaced many local people, but if the worst comes to the worst, the areas around the destroyed nuclear plant could be left contaminated with radioactivity for many decades, he noted. In this sense, the Japanese people as a whole should reflect on the fact that Japan has pushed the risks related to nuclear power generation onto the people of Fukushima Prefecture, Yamamoto said. Among those problems that must be nationally addressed, excessive concentration of various functions on Tokyo should be solved as quickly as possible, he said. People’s lifestyles can be changed by, for example, implementing energy-saving measures such as suspending the use of escalators at public places, he said, adding now is a very good opportunity to reduce the energy burden on the Earth. Today’s young people must think they live amid the so-called global warming hell and are sitting on a time bomb wired to an earthquake-related nuclear disaster, Yamamoto said. Young people must carefully think about their future, and express their ideas in a proper manner and behavior, he said. To preserve the global environment in the future with an indomitable resolve, eco-theology and environmental ethics are indispensable, Yamamoto said.

International activities for achieving sustainable society

Kubota and other participants asked the professor to specifically explain his expectations toward ICU as a research organization so that ICU students may be able to strive to attain the targets. In reply, Professor Yamamoto said that ICU is rich in experts in environmental theology, ethics and philosophy, as well as in the fields of policymaking and science communication aimed at facilitating proper understanding of science, and

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disseminating science-related information to society. He also voiced his high expectations for ICU students, saying, “I have numerous things for you to do.” Looking back at his activities in the past, Yamamoto said he has visited China 68 times during the past 20-plus years as a board director of the Japan-China Science and Technology Exchange Association to emphasize the importance of preserving the environment and natural resources to Chinese people. “From now, I just want you, ICU students, to set out and internationally launch a drive toward the creation of a sustainable society in any country or area of the world, including India and African countries,” he said.

Though various studies and analyses have been carried out by Japanese scientists, the latest nuclear accident could not be predicted. This should be blamed on the fact that Japanese people were in a state of mass hypnosis over the safety of nuclear power, according to Yamamoto. Scientists must be skeptics and they must have an eye to foresee the latest kind of crisis, he said. He also warned that an atmosphere where Japan’s decision-makers and scientists tend not to take social responsibility is emerging in society. “Scientific integrity has been brought into question,” Yamamoto said. The professor expressed hope that Japanese youths will speak and behave courageously, adding that young people must act in a determined manner even if their opinions differ from the majority view.

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