On the possibility of constructing a new "public sphere" in local community

在这个研究项目中，我分析了牧木镇的案例，牧木镇举办了日本第一次关于建设核电设施的全民公决。该提案遭到了多数人的反对，核电设施项目因此被放弃。在研究了参与组织核设施建设全民公决的核心人物的叙述后，我澄清，尽管传统的封闭社会关系仍然存在，但他们通过活动改变了规定他们社会互动的“语法”，并得出结论，一种新政治文化与旧政治文化共存的另类公民社会正在形成。此外，为了在更广泛的背景下定位这种类型的公民社会，本报告试图对日本和韩国的政治机会结构进行比较研究，并通过研究两个案例（日本的牧木镇和韩国的扶安镇，在韩国举行了第一次公民投票）来确定政治过程的不同模式以及它们之间的相似之处。

In this research project, I analyze the case of Maki Town, which hosted the first referendum held in Japan on the proposal to construct a nuclear power facility. A majority voted against the proposal and the nuclear power facility project was abandoned as a result of that. After studying the narrative accounts of those who played a central role in organizing the referendum on the construction of a nuclear power facility, I clarify that through their activities they transform the "grammar" which has prescribed their social interaction even though traditional closed social relationship still remains, and conclude that an alternative type of civil society is being formed which lets new political culture and old one coexist. Furthermore in order to locate such a type of civil society in a wider context, this report tries to offer the comparative study of the political opportunity structure in Japan and South Korea and identify different patterns of political process as well as similarities between them by examining two cases (Maki Town in Japan and Buan in South Korea where the first referendum was held in Korea by its residents).