Community-based Decision Making in Japan

An overview of participatory community-based decision systems in Japan is presented. In this disaster-prone country, effective community coping capacity has developed, largely to fill community-level needs for disaster preparation, mitigation, and response. Experience with three concepts of disaster planning and management, namely ??Kyojo?? (Neighborhood or Community Self-Reliance), ??Jijo?? (Individual or Household Self-Reliance), and ??Kojo?? (Government Assistance), is recounted and assessed. Then three structures for disaster management, Jiishu-bosai-soshiki (Self-support Disaster Reduction Association), ??Machizukuri?? (citizen-led town-creation), and ??Toshikeikaku?? (urban or city planning), are discussed. Finally, the contributions of the three papers in this special issue are related to Japanese community practices and to the broader perspective of group decision and negotiation.