Visualizing Social Values to Solve Social Issues

Many leaders in society are already working to improve or solve social issues. Both the national and local governments are implementing a number of measures, and a number of non-profit organizations are also active throughout the country. However, there are still many social issues in Japan that need to be tackled, and the situation is becoming more complicated and serious. Currently, a major reason for the lack of progress in solving social issues in Japan is that social issues are not structured. In order to face the current situation, it is important to clarify the structure of social issues, visualize social impacts, and consciously select the items that should be addressed at the highest priority.

To deal with the complex issues which can not be addressed by one company/one industry, it is necessary to develop new type of collaboration in Japan based on the collective impact approach, and to promote “social transformation” that encourages not only the national and local governments, which have traditionally been the main players in social issues, but also companies and financial institutions to participate in earnest.

We are convinced that these measures would bring significant progresses in solving social issues.