Listening to Voices

Kodomo Yume Park and My Place

The other day, I visited Kodomo Yume Park in Kawasaki City.
This is a place for children created by Kawasaki City, inspired by the Hanegi Playpark in Setagaya Ward, to realize the ordinance on children's rights.
Its outstanding efforts have been featured in many media outlets, including the film (Yumepa no Jikan) and an NHK documentary program (Muddy Park: Children Running in the Rain).

To digress, the words in the trailer for Yumepa no Jikan,

“Searching for my own way of living while struggling,”
is a feeling I deeply empathize with.
Now, during my visit, they were just preparing for the Kodomo Yume Yokocho (Children's Shopping Street), where the children were building their own booths in the garden by themselves (apparently, adults are forbidden from interfering).

At the Kodomo Yume Yokocho, children sell goods and services on their own, and about 10% of the profits are collected as taxes (the children decide how to use the tax money together).

Also, on another day, I visited My Place (a place where junior high school students from families needing support for economic or other reasons can study, have dinner, and spend time freely in a safe space) run by Setagaya Ward.

Here, too, the junior high students were working to make the place comfortable for everyone, deciding for themselves whether to open stalls at local events and choosing the dinner menu.

Both at Kodomo Yume Park and My Place, I felt that children's rights are only secured (resulting in opinions they are satisfied with) when they think for themselves, engage in dialogue, and challenge themselves within their own space.

Is listening to voices enough?

Currently, the whole country (including Setagaya Ward) is taking on the challenge of listening to children's voices and reflecting them in policy, but through my visit to these two places, I felt that there might be more we can do than just collecting voices.

Also, in the first place, listening to voices and turning them into policy is not limited to children; it is the same for minorities such as people with disabilities, and for residents, as expressed by the common phrase, “Nothing About us without us.”

Come to think of it, when I exchanged opinions with officials from central government ministries during my previous job at Cybozu, they told me, “By utilizing ICT, we can collect the opinions of many citizens.” I remember saying, “Isn't it necessary to engage in dialogue rather than just collecting opinions and ending it there?”
(Of course, it is much better than not listening to opinions at all, but my comment came from the belief that just stating or listening to opinions is insufficient.)

Existing government mechanisms for listening to voices include public comments and resident surveys, but basically, residents only provide opinions to the government in a one-way direction (public comments do have government responses published, at least).
As ICT technology evolves, if we take it a step further and utilize digital tools that allow residents to engage in dialogue with each other and with the government, I believe we can connect this to “participation and collaboration,” which is one of the pillars of the Setagaya Ward DX Promotion Policy.
Kakogawa City's Citizen Participation Consensus Building Platform is also a wonderful initiative.
In fact, Setagaya Ward also uses a digital platform in several situations.

The difficult thing I learned from actually trying this is having individuals who are complete strangers engage in dialogue.

What I learned from visiting the two places before is that what the government needs to do is not just introduce digital tools, but also create physical and soft spaces for people to be and engage in dialogue tailored to the interests and situations of everyone, including those who tend to be isolated.
These can be one-off events or continuous efforts; both are fine.
I reaffirmed that the 28 district meetings and 5 regional town meetings held in Setagaya Ward this year also have significance as one-off forums for dialogue.

There is still much that can be done, but I would like to continue to challenge ourselves to create a local community through “participation and collaboration” that is unique to Setagaya, so I look forward to your continued dialogue with me, Matsumura, and the government staff.

Bonus: A Story About Santa

It seems that Santa Comes to Sancha by the Setagaya Santa Project Executive Committee will be held again this year.
The parade is on Sunday, December 3rd, from 13:00 to 16:00.
I made my local debut at this event in 2021, so I have a very strong attachment to it.
My thoughts from that time are here.
I was Santa last year, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like I can make it this year.