Paper short abstract:

Analyzing media and interview data, we examine how scientific experts developed diverse public communication strategies and addressed intensifying mistrust in pandemic Japan. We also identify how the pandemic changed their ideas of science-society relations, the role of expertise, and the public.

Paper long abstract:

Despite Japan’s “success” in keeping the rates of Covid-19 cases and deaths consistently lower than many countries, the public’s mistrust in scientific expertise intensified and science-related populism (Mede and Schäfer 2020) rose in pandemic Japan. This paper examines how scientific experts in Japan approached the public debates and controversies regarding Covid-19 and critiques of their roles and contributions. During the pandemic, arenas for Japan’s public debate and science communication split into traditional media that focused on technocratic crisis management and alternative avenues (e.g. social media, manga) where divergent views and “theories” flourished. In this context, experts on advisory panels developed diverse strategies in public communication, many anchored in science communication literature: highlighting transparency, increasing public engagement activities (including the use of social media), and providing countermeasure options to accommodate different members of the public and encourage individual choice and agency. Nonetheless, these experts faced intense criticism from wide-ranging political actors. Some condemned them for “crossing the science/politics boundaries” by attending to non-technical aspects of pandemic governance, whereas others blamed them for not producing or using “correct” science due to their politics. Such developments ended up reinforcing scientism and narrowing the space for nuanced, STS-informed discussion of the politics and democratization of technoscience. Analyzing diverse media discourses and in-depth interviews, we examine how scientific experts addressed these evolving circumstances, and how the pandemic changed their ideas of science-society relations, the role of expertise, and the public. We consider the implications for the future of technoscience governance in Japan.