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Transcript excerpt · English
Transcriber: Maki Sugimoto Sometimes citizens think, “Oh, this is my personal problem or a personal issue.
So it’s kind of a waste of time to speak up.” But this is not true.
If someone speaks up and others agree with it, that personal issue becomes social issue.
With my administration, the city government actually did not make a town vision.
Instead of that, citizens created the vision by themselves and we, local government, supported the process,
because [a] city is citizens -- [a] city is not the government.
I am Takashima Ryosuke, the youngest mayor in Japanese history. I’m the mayor of Ashiya City.
(Speaking in Japanese) I’m a mayor, but I’m not a politician. My stance is actually very simple.
I just listen to as many voices as possible, especially (from) younger generations.
The reason is very simple: students under 18 cannot vote.
So I visited schools, like junior high schools and elementary schools, to hear their voices.
But it’s so hard for kids, for students, to speak their opinions to a mayor -- even if I am the youngest mayor.
So what I did was eat school lunch together, and I repeatedly visited schools.
I didn’t want to be a formal visit, but rather a casual visit, casual chat with teachers and students.
I could create the kind of friendly atmosphere, and I got more information rather than [in] a formal visit.
For example, some students told me their school gym was so hot.
So we decided to install air conditioners in every single school gym.
I wanted to make schools a place to learn and practice democracy. And it's all about communication and dialogue.
I wanted to encourage people to speak up, listen to their voices, and then reflect their voices.
The main method is holding dialogue meetings.
It’s a meeting with me, mayor, and citizens sit down together in a circle and talk with each other.
And sometimes the mayor does not even speak up. Just listens or facilitates what citizens want to talk about.
So, for example, Ashiya is a very healthy city. Recently, we had the world's oldest person in Ashiya city.
Around 30 percent of the citizens are over 65.
In the dialogue meetings, I heard elderly people say that the community centers were too busy to answer their questions about care.
So I wanted to increase the number of community centers, but we needed some budget.
So before we had a monetary gift for elderly people, so we decided to change our monetary gift system, from a one-time monetary gift
to creating [a] new community center where elderly people and their families get some advice on wellness.
Some people say monetary gifts are a kind of symbol of respect.
So some people argued that I had no respect for elderly people.
But through the dialogue sessions, I explained why this was important and why this actually benefited for elderly people.
And I also cut my future monetary gift.
So this was not like others’ problem; this was our problem. Finally, they (came to) understand why we needed to change.
They changed their opinion because they understood the process.
During cherry blossom season, when cherry blossoms bloom beautifully, local shops wanted to close the street to enjoy food under the cherry blossoms.
But for local residents, that proposal was simply inconvenient, so it was controversial.
But when local citizens and local shops actually joined the process
and citizens proposed the plan, the proposal was a success.
So citizens actually created the vision of (our) town, not the government.
People tend to think that the ones who make society better are the government or someone else.
and not ourselves. I want to change that mindset. It is everyone.
It's every single person who can make society better and who can contribute to making society better. That is what I want to do.
Thank you.