Kiyoshi Murata
   Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Commerce
   Position   Professor
Language English
Publication Date 2017/09
Type Academic Journal
Peer Review Peer reviewed
Title Few Youngsters Would Follow Snowden's Lead in Japan
Contribution Type Co-authored (first author)
Journal Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
Journal TypeAnother Country
Publisher Emerald Publishing
Volume, Issue, Page 15(3),pp.197-212
Author and coauthor Kiyoshi Murata, Yasunori Fukuta, Yohko Orito and Andrew A. Adams
Details Purpose: This paper aims to deal with the attitudes towards and social impact of Edward Snowden's revelations in Japan, taking the Japanese socio-cultural and political environment surrounding privacy and state surveillance into account.

Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey of 1,820 university students and semi-structured follow-up interviews with 56 respondents were conducted, in addition to reviews of the literature on privacy and state surveillance in Japan. The outcomes of the survey were statistically analysed, and qualitative analyses of the interview results were also performed.

Findings: Snowden's revelations have had little influence over Japanese youngsters' attitudes towards privacy and state surveillance, mainly due to their low level of awareness of the revelations and high level of confidence in government agencies.

Practical implications: The study results imply a need for reviewing educational programmes for civic education in lower and upper secondary education.

Social implications: The results of this study based on a large-scale questionnaire survey indicate an urgent necessity for providing Japanese youngsters with opportunities to learn more about privacy, liberty, individual autonomy and national security.

Originality/value: This study is the first attempt to investigate the social impact of Snowden's revelations on Japanese youngsters' attitudes towards privacy and state surveillance as part of cross-cultural analyses between eight countries.
DOI 10.1108/JICES-08-2016-0026
ISSN 1477-996X
URL for researchmap https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-08-2016-0026