When it was first established as a nation, Japan actively accepted people from abroad, absorbing the culture and technology of the Asian continent. Apparently, these newcomers numbered between one and three million people from the Yayoi period to the Asuka period. In fact, Japan is a nation that has developed through the proactive acceptance of immigrants and foreign technology. Waves of immigration include Spanish and Portuguese during the Azuchi and Momoyama period and Westerners during the Meiji period. The strategic acceptance of immigrants is a policy that should definitely be pursued to prevent Japan’s decline.

The U.S. has 389 while Japan has 29. These are the numbers of legal professionals for every 100,000 people. So the U.S. figure is 13 times that of the Japan figure. It has long been pointed out that Japan has few lawyers compared with Western countries, so the judicial system has been subject to reforms aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of lawyers, yet the gap remains large. Moreover, 93% of law schools in Japan have fewer students enrolled than their quotas. Reforms to raise the competitiveness of Japan’s legal profession are essential.

In Japan, the crime-arrest ratio for homicides is 96%, which is much higher than in many other countries, yet the number of crimes occurring around us in the rise. Such crimes include ore-ore fraud (in which the fraudster tricks the victim into transferring money to a bank account by pretending to be a relative in trouble), the use of illicit drugs, stalking, and domestic violence. Recently, the crime-arrest ratio for crime as a whole has dropped to around 30%. Safety is the cornerstone of life, and also constitutes part of the value of the nation of Japan. The ability of the police to use technology to maintain safety while also safeguarding the rights of citizens therefore needs to be improved.

Okiluoto in Finland has been chosen for the construction of the world’s first high-level radioactive waste depository, and construction is currently underway with the plant expected to go into operation in 2020. Japan, however, has yet to make a firm decision on a depository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Whether you’re in favor of nuclear power or not, the disposal of radioactive waste and the decommissioning of reactors are issues that cannot be ignored. These issues need to be addressed positively, with consideration given to the safe management of nuclear power and energy.

Human economic and social activity is contingent on environmental stability. If humans are to live on the earth, the following basic principles must be adhered to: (1) Isolate human beings from nature (protect the natural environment), i.e. maximize the volume of nature and minimize contact with it be human beings, the cause of pollution, and (2) reuse items contaminated by human beings (recycling-based society), i.e. if humans, the source of contamination, cause contamination for unavoidable reasons, minimize the destruction of the natural world through reuse and recycling.

As temperatures rise, extremely high temperatures and very heavy rainfall are becoming more frequent occurrences in various parts of the world. Unless measures to curb global warming are implemented, during the next 100 years the average temperature is expected to increase by 2.6-4.8 degrees Celsius and the average sea level is expected to rise by 45-82 cm. Doing nothing is simply not an option. As an environmentally advanced nation, Japan needs to demonstrate leadership in preventing global warming.

Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK, or the Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is a public broadcaster supported by subscription fees collected from viewers and listeners. Recently, it has been making profits from side businesses and even broadcasts comedy programs and popular Korean dramas. The number of its employees exceeds 10,000 and their average annual income is about 11,850,000 yen, or about three times that of private company employees. If welfare and other benefits are included, total remuneration for an NHK employee can be as high as 17,800,000 yen (as of 2011). NHK should return to its roots as a public broadcaster and implement drastic reforms to ensure its strict commitment to fulfilling its mandated roles.

Radio waves are now an indispensable feature of life. They are used not only in television and radio but also in cell phones, the internet, and driving, as well as when paying at the supermarket cash register. The common property of the Japanese people, radio waves generate huge economic value and are the core infrastructure of information and communications technology (ICT). A shift from the socialist allocation of the spectrum, which is still applied in Japan, to market allocation should be made as soon as possible.

The attempt to utilize the Basic Resident Registers’ Network ended in failure. We should not repeat this failure with the My Number system. First of all, every effort should be made to protect personal information. Next, it is necessary to gain widespread acceptance of the system by achieving “overwhelming usefulness” by connecting various pieces of information. It is also necessary to fundamentally change the high-cost structure of the administrative services. To fulfill these objectives, the following are necessary: 1) comprehensiveness, by including all administrative services, 2) convenience, by computerizing administrative services, 3) expandability to the private and corporate sectors, and 4) integration of national, dō, and basic municipal governments using cloud services.

Local municipal assembly members are duty-bound to be primarily engaged in reflecting local policy issues in the municipal administration and monitoring the municipal administration on behalf of busy citizens. In reality, however, most proposals for ordinances are submitted by the head of the assembly and these submitted proposals, including budgets and settlements, are for the most part approved without modification. There are very few cases where the assembly exercises its policy planning function. It is essential to reform local assemblies in order to avoid criticism by citizens to the effect that local assemblies are unnecessary.