Public attitude towards the space policy in Japan and its implication to science communication

Active engagement of the public in decision making in science policies has been recognized as an essential factor for development of science in democratic society. The field of space development and space science is not an exception. In Japan, however, public opinion on space-related activities remains largely unknown. Moreover, limitation of public polls for assessing the public opinion of space policy has been pointed out by some studies, as the size of so-called “issue public” of space policy is small. The aim of this study is to investigate the public opinion on space-related activities in Japan, and explore the challenges and better ways of science communications for sound and democratic decision making on space policy. For this purpose, we conducted two studies, A and B. Study A is based on a previous questionnaire survey of public opinion about space-related activities in Japan. We performed the almost identical questionnaire to the previous study with additional follow-up interviews to gain in-depth knowledge about the background of the answers. We found that many of the respondents did not initially have firm opinions on the issues and that asking them about their opinions helped them think about the issues deeper and may prompt them to form their own opinions eventually. In Study B, we conducted interviews to science communicators to investigate the current issues in science communication for promoting public engagement in space-related policies. Based on the results, we suggest that science communication in the field should put emphasis on practical aspects of space-related activities.