To become a politician, a dream since elementary school days

Law Faculty 2^nd grader Takatoki Morino tells Hakumon Herald

小学生のときに抱いた政治家への夢

法学部２年森野さんに聞く

Sense of crisis over political indifference among younger generation

 政治に無関心な若者世代に危機感

-Why are you so much interested in young people’s participation in politics?

　―森野さんが若者の政治参加に関心を持つ最大の理由は何でしょう。

Morino: The power of the younger generation must be quite important to sustain a stable management of a state like Japan which has matured both economically and demographically. In Japan, the ratio of public expenditures on the youth and those on the elderly has widened to 1:11. I think one of factors responsible for the distortion is the country’s political culture that obliges the government to give precedence to the elderly whose voting turnout is much higher. If the present situation that spurs the falling birthrate should continue, Japan itself would follow a path of decline. To prevent that, I strongly feel that the first thing we should do is to raise the young people’s low turnout.

You may remember that the media played up the rallies held mainly by students almost day after day last year to protest the government-sponsored security-related bills. As a student deeply interested in politics, I kept following all the details of those campaigns. That made me notice the difference of perception between some of the enthusiastic youths who took part in the rallies and ordinary youths who stayed complacent. Throughout the historical Diet debate that could largely change their future, many of the youths around me were neither pros nor cons, just behaving as if the bills were someone else’s affairs. I feel a sense of crisis about their low awareness of politics.

森野　日本のような経済的、人口動態的に成熟した国家が今後も安定した運営を行うには、若い世代の力がとても重要であるはずです。今、若者向けの公的支出と高齢者向けへの支出の割合は１対１１にまで拡大してしまいました。投票率の高い高齢者世代を優先せざるを得ない政治風土が、このようなひずみを生んだ原因の１つではないでしょうか。少子化に拍車をかけるような事態が今後も続くようであれば、日本自体が衰退の一途をたどることになります。それを防ぐためには若者の投票率の向上をまずは改善させる必要があると強く感じています。

昨年、連日のように学生が主体となった安全保障関連法案反対のデモ活動が各メディアで取り上げられていたことは記憶に新しいと思います。政治に興味がある私はそれらの活動の一部始終を常に追いました。そこで気づいたことは一部の熱狂的な若者と私の周りにいた若い世代の人々の温度差でした。自分たちの将来が大きく変わりうる歴史的な審議が行われていたにも関わらず、私の周りの若者たちは賛成か反対かといった意見すら持たず、他人事のように振る舞っていました。若い世代の政治に対する当事者意識の低さには危機感を覚えます

-We hear that your Teen’s Rights Movement has rapidly expanded in a short period of time.

―学生団体Teen’s Rights Movementは短期間で急速に拡大したと聞いています。

Morino: Many junior and senior high-school students are actually interested in volunteer work and opportunities to learn about national elections. I think Japanese society may be at a major turning point at the moment. In fact, almost all students across the country have learned about our movement via the Internet and social media, and come forward to participate in it. I feel our movement making use of social media is now reaching down to many senior high-school students.

　森野　実際のところ、確かにボランティアや選挙について学ぶ機会については多くの中高生が関心を持っています。現在、まさに社会の転換点にあるのかもしれません。事実、日本中の学生たちのほとんどは、インターネット、ソーシャルメディア経由で団体の存在を知り、参加してくれました。ソーシャルメディアを用いた運動が高校生にまで浸透しています。

Possibilities are as infinite as space

宇宙のように可能性は無限大