I found the innovative strategy of raising up issues in the form of questions in dialogue session. Bureaucrats cannot thoroughly realize the severity of DV and may have prejudice against the issue. For example, some male bureaucrats denied the prevalence of DV because they believe Japanese men are “not violent”, or others think DV was a domestic issue that people in violent relationships should seek solutions themselves rather than expose it to the public. If activist merely bring up the issue and report the number of victims, bureaucrats wouldn’t have active responses, because firstly there are few bureaucrats and politicians have a clear understanding of the issue, as we know that the female politicians are significant underrepresent in the Diet; Secondly, before the systematic coalition among scholars, local organizations, journalists and politicians, bureaucrats are not politically incentivized to solve the issues.
The “civic lawmaking” is an effective solution to many social issues, and its political dynamics suit well to the Japanese system. Issues like suicide and sexual assault all followed the same strategy and successfully passed the legislature. The commonality of these issues is that they are all “too personal” to be discussed in public under the influence of traditional cultures. Many domestic violence victims are afraid of speaking out, partly because some of victims don’t recognize it is the law, and partly because victims see DV as a shame and are unwilling to share their “disgraceful” side of life. The privacy protection of victims is important, so does incorporation of DV education in course design in schools. Not only women, men, children, sexual minorities, senior citizens can all be victims. We should recognize the diversity of the victim group and give them support base on their different needs.
The activists group have made a major achievement in pushing the legislature to protect DV victims and suggest an optimism for future that more social problems can be solved by using the “civil lawmaking” method.
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