• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.90-117
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• 2019

How is science advice integrated in environmental policymaking? This is an increasingly pertinent question that is being raised since the nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. Global re-evaluation of energy policies and climate mitigation measures include discussions on how to better integrate science advice in policymaking, and at the same time keeping science independent from political influence. This paper addressed the policy discourse of setting up a national CO2 reduction target in Japanese policymaking between 2009 and 2012. The target proposed by the former DPJ government was turned down, and Japan lacked a clear strategy for long-term climate mitigation. The analysis provides explanations from a quantitative actor-network perspective. Centrality measures from social network analysis for policy actors in an environmental policy network of Japan were calculated to identify those actors that control the discourse. Data used for analysis comes from the Global Environmental Policy Actor Network 2 (GEPON 2) survey conducted in Japan (2012-13). Science advice in Japan was kept independent from political influence and was mostly excluded from policymaking. One of the two largest discourse coalitions in the environmental policy network promoted a higher CO2 reduction target for international negotiations but favored lowering the target after a new international agreement would have been set. This may explain why Japan struggled to commit to long-term mitigation strategies. Applying social network analysis to quantitatively calculate discourse coalitions was a feasible methodology for investigating "discursive power." But limited in discussing the "practice" (e.g. meetings, telephone, or email conversations) among the actors in discourse coalitions.