Mapping Japan’s Youth Climate Movement: First Insights from a Participatory Study

Youth climate activism is globally significant but varies across cultures. European studies (Wahlström et al., 2019; Huttunen, 2021) highlight public protest and digital mobilization, whereas Japan shows subtler engagement (Cassegard, 2023; Higuchi, 2021), possibly rooted in cultural attitudes toward hierarchy, conformity, and harmony that encourage “quiet activism”.

In our project “Mapping Japan’s Youth Climate Movement: Actors, Roles, and Strategies” (05/2026 – 04/2027), we want to identify the main youth climate movements and youth-led organizations in Japan, examining their goals, organization, mobilization and communication strategies, and relationships within the wider movement. Beyond official self-descriptions, we are interested in everyday realities such as leadership, informal structures, and decision-making, and in how these groups try to influence public debate and climate policy.

I work together with Japanese scholars, youth activists, and NGOs, building on my earlier Citizen Science work with young people. Youth and non-academic partners act as co-researchers: they help shape topics, co-develop interview and focus group guides, conduct and moderate interviews and focus groups, and co-analyze findings. We do research “on eye-level” that empowers participants and gives them ownership of the results.

The project is in the middle of fieldwork (October in Kyoto, November in Tokyo). I will present its concept, first learnings from the field, and preliminary findings from two focus groups with youth-led climate organizations.