TAKAMATSU Nana, who specializes in youth political participation, explained Taiwan’s JOIN platform to Prime Minister ISHIBA and asked whether the Liberal Democratic Party intends to promote digital democracy.
TAKAMATSU: A high school student in Taiwan thought that the amount of discarded plastic straws from bubble tea was wasteful. A teacher casually suggested to the student, "Why not write something on JOIN (Taiwan’s digital democracy system)?" So the student posted about it, and it received over 5,000 likes. If a post on JOIN gets over 5,000 likes, the government is required to review it. As a result of what the high school student wrote, there was a regulation put in place. Will the Liberal Democratic Party do something like this? Right now, there may be strict scrutiny over issues like slush funds, but do you intend to promote digital democracy like Taiwan?
Prime Minister ISHIBA: We should do that. Just showing up to vote is not enough. By participating, society can truly change. Right now, many young people think, "The world won't change anyway." There are a lot of people who have that kind of resignation, right? Even if it becomes a disadvantage to the Liberal Democratic Party, we want to create a sense of participation that actually brings change.