The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has raised questions about the nature of democratic policymaking in Japan. Focusing on nuclear policymaking post-Fukushima, this paper considers ways in which the diversity of public ...The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has raised questions about the nature of democratic policymaking in Japan. Focusing on nuclear policymaking post-Fukushima, this paper considers ways in which the diversity of public opinion can be connected with legislative processes. The disaster forced the government to rethink existing nuclear policies. To infuse public voices into government policy, the Democratic Party of Japan （DPJ） government introduced a new method of public participation called ＂national debates＂, comprising a series of public hearings, mass public comments, and deliberative polling. The government also attached importance to anti-nuclear rallies and opinion polls conducted by the media. The national debates highlighted that the majority of Japanese people supported a nuclear-free society; as a result, the government drafted a new energy plan to phase out nuclear power by 2039. Owing to both domestic and international opposition, the plan failed to become law. Progress was also impeded by the public＇s contradictory demands. However, this paper posits that inefficient legislative deliberation was the main factor behind the policy failure. The Japanese case suggests that effective legislative deliberation is crucial to assessing and coordinating numerous divergent public voices.展开更多
The complete sequence of the mitochondrial genome of the Japanese snapping shrimp Alpheus japonicus Miers （Crustacea： Decapoda： Caridea） is presented here. A comparative analysis based on the currently available m...The complete sequence of the mitochondrial genome of the Japanese snapping shrimp Alpheus japonicus Miers （Crustacea： Decapoda： Caridea） is presented here. A comparative analysis based on the currently available mitochondrial genomic data re- vealed many previously unknown characteristics of the mitochondrial genomes of caridean shrimps. The A. japonicus mito- chondrial genome is 16487 bp long and contains the typical set of 37 metazoan genes. The gene arrangements in the mito- chondrial genomes of four previously studied carideans （Macrobrachium rosenbergii, M. nipponense, M. lanchesteri and Halocaridina rubra） were found to be identical to the pancrustacean ground pattern; thus, it was considered that gene rear- rangements probably did not occur in the suborder Caridea. In the present study, a translocation of the trnE gene involving in- version was found in Alpheus mitochondrial genomes. This phenomenon has not been reported in any other crustacean mito- chondrial genome that has been studied so far; however, the translocation of one transfer RNA gene （trnP or trnT） was report- ed in the mitochondrial genome of Exopalaemon carinicauda. When the ratios of the nonsynonymous and synonymous sub- stitutions rates （Ka/Ks） for the 13 protein coding genes from two Alpheus species （A. japonicus and A. distinguendus） and three Macrobrachium species （M. rosenbergii, M. nipponense, M. lanchesteri） were calculated, the KaIKs values for all the protein coding genes in Alpheus and Macrobrachium mitochondrial genomes were found to be less than 1 （between 0.0048 and 0.2057）, indicating that a strong purification selection had occurred. The phylogenetic tree that was constructed based on the mitochondrial protein coding genes in the genomes of nine related species indicated that Palaemonidae and Alpheidae formed a monophyly and shared a statistically significant relationship, （Palaemonidae＋Alpheidae）＋Atyidae, at the family level.展开更多
文摘The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has raised questions about the nature of democratic policymaking in Japan. Focusing on nuclear policymaking post-Fukushima, this paper considers ways in which the diversity of public opinion can be connected with legislative processes. The disaster forced the government to rethink existing nuclear policies. To infuse public voices into government policy, the Democratic Party of Japan （DPJ） government introduced a new method of public participation called ＂national debates＂, comprising a series of public hearings, mass public comments, and deliberative polling. The government also attached importance to anti-nuclear rallies and opinion polls conducted by the media. The national debates highlighted that the majority of Japanese people supported a nuclear-free society; as a result, the government drafted a new energy plan to phase out nuclear power by 2039. Owing to both domestic and international opposition, the plan failed to become law. Progress was also impeded by the public＇s contradictory demands. However, this paper posits that inefficient legislative deliberation was the main factor behind the policy failure. The Japanese case suggests that effective legislative deliberation is crucial to assessing and coordinating numerous divergent public voices.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40906067 and 31172054)Special Funds From the Central Finance to Support the Development of Local Universities(Grant No. CXTD04)+1 种基金the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (Grant No. 2012M510054)the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology (Grant Nos. 2009HS12 and 2009HS13)
文摘The complete sequence of the mitochondrial genome of the Japanese snapping shrimp Alpheus japonicus Miers （Crustacea： Decapoda： Caridea） is presented here. A comparative analysis based on the currently available mitochondrial genomic data re- vealed many previously unknown characteristics of the mitochondrial genomes of caridean shrimps. The A. japonicus mito- chondrial genome is 16487 bp long and contains the typical set of 37 metazoan genes. The gene arrangements in the mito- chondrial genomes of four previously studied carideans （Macrobrachium rosenbergii, M. nipponense, M. lanchesteri and Halocaridina rubra） were found to be identical to the pancrustacean ground pattern; thus, it was considered that gene rear- rangements probably did not occur in the suborder Caridea. In the present study, a translocation of the trnE gene involving in- version was found in Alpheus mitochondrial genomes. This phenomenon has not been reported in any other crustacean mito- chondrial genome that has been studied so far; however, the translocation of one transfer RNA gene （trnP or trnT） was report- ed in the mitochondrial genome of Exopalaemon carinicauda. When the ratios of the nonsynonymous and synonymous sub- stitutions rates （Ka/Ks） for the 13 protein coding genes from two Alpheus species （A. japonicus and A. distinguendus） and three Macrobrachium species （M. rosenbergii, M. nipponense, M. lanchesteri） were calculated, the KaIKs values for all the protein coding genes in Alpheus and Macrobrachium mitochondrial genomes were found to be less than 1 （between 0.0048 and 0.2057）, indicating that a strong purification selection had occurred. The phylogenetic tree that was constructed based on the mitochondrial protein coding genes in the genomes of nine related species indicated that Palaemonidae and Alpheidae formed a monophyly and shared a statistically significant relationship, （Palaemonidae＋Alpheidae）＋Atyidae, at the family level.
