sustainability
ArticleFuture Design as a Metacognitive Intervention
for Presentism
Yoshinori Nakagawa 1, * and Tatsuyoshi Saijo 2,3
1
2
3

*

School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 782-8502, Japan
Research Institute for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 780-8515, Japan;
saijo.tatsuyoshi@kochi-tech.ac.jp
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan
Correspondence: nakagawa.yoshinori@kochi-tech.ac.jp

Received: 8 July 2020; Accepted: 2 September 2020; Published: 14 September 2020


Abstract: Many serious problems occur due to conflicts between the interests of the present generationand the welfare of future generations, and thus, the actions of the preset generation may be aconsequence of presentism. Drawing on the theoretical framework of metacognition, the present study
investigates how presentism can be overcome through future design interventions that incorporate an
imaginary future generation setting. Four workshop participants were interviewed, and transcriptsof the interviews were made. There were two major findings. First, we identified narratives in the
responses of participants that suggest that metacognition was active during the workshops concerning
the two cognitions governed by present and future selves. Second, the narratives identified above
were classified into two categories, and the two corresponding roles of metacognition were identified:
the monitoring and controlling function and the harmonizing function. The former is essential for theacquisition of identity as a future person; the latter is essential for reconciling this future identitywith the identity of the person in the present. The present study proposes that future design is atool that can be used to intervene in the metacognition of individuals concerning how one chooses a
temporal reference point from which to view the past, present, and future of society rather than a tool
to naively motivate individuals to care for future generations.
Keywords: sustainability; future design; imaginary future generation; metacognition;
qualitative research; sense of coherence

1. Introduction
Many serious problems currently threaten global sustainability, including climate change,
environmental degradation, and national debt. These problems arise from conflicts between theinterests of the present generation and the welfare of future generations, and thus, the actions of thepresent generation may be explained as a consequence of presentism, which is defined as the tendency
to generate a bias within established laws and policies that have the potential to negatively affect future
generations [1,2].
In order to overcome presentism within contemporary democratic systems, various attempts havebeen made to consider how the voices of future generations can be incorporated into current institutional
decision making. A number of authors discussed the possibility of representing the interests of future
generations through legislative measures [3–5]. Adachi [6] classified the institutionalization of theconcerns of future generations into eight categories, including constitutional provisions for protecting
the future generations’ well-being [7], transferring the authority of some nation states to regional or
global bodies [8], and creating an independent governmental agency to review all regulations expected
to significantly impact future generations and oversee coordination among existing agencies [9].
Sustainability 2020, 12, 7552; doi:10.3390/su12187552

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In line with these studies, future design, a branch of future studies, has proposed a framework
for conceptualizing the imaginary future generation [10,11]. Under this framework, individuals takeon the role of members of an imaginary future generation and engage in designing strategies thatcan be adopted by the present generation. This design procedure can incorporate negotiation
between the imaginary future generation and other participants who represent the perspective of
the present generation in order to build intergenerational consensus. Concerned that the market
and democratic institutions will continue to selfishly consume the resources of future generations,
economist Tatsuyoshi Saijo proposed this framework as an alternative mechanism that can incorporate
the interests and concerns of future generations in policymaking. Thus, while the framework of theimaginary future generation can be narrowly understood as a technique for operating workshops atorganizations in order to create visions for the future, it should also be seen as a concept relevant tostakeholders who make various decisions in market-oriented democratic societies. A growing numberof municipalities are utilizing this framework to hold workshops to generate visions for the future byinviting citizens to participate in workshops or organizing them in the municipalities’ administrations(e.g., references [12,13]).
However, there is limited research on the subjective experience of individuals of the present
generation taking on the role of members of a future generation. Previous studies confirm that theframework of the imaginary future generation encourages individuals to view sustainable policies
more favorably despite inconveniences to the present generation [14–16]. However, it is importantto answer the question of how identities of the present and future generations, which likely conflictwith one another, can coexist in a single individual. The present qualitative study aims to answer
this question.
As the issue of practical, real-life, institutional representation of future generations’ voices remains
unresolved, answering this question is more urgent than ever. In fact, drawing on case studies of
institutions representing future generations in six countries and regions, Jones, O’Brien, and Ryan [17](p. 158) concluded, “Institutions which are given too much power, too early in their lifespan, tend to
face rejection from politicians.” These cases clearly show how introducing representatives of the future
generation into the contemporary political system induces intra-generational conflict and fails to attainits intended goals. Thus, institutional attempts to represent future generations must be accompaniedby the attempts of each stakeholder (e.g., politicians and voters) to overcome their own biases related
to presentism. Drawing on the theoretical framework of metacognition, the present study suggests apath forward in order to achieve this ultimate goal.
2. Theoretical Framework
Metacognition refers to higher-level cognition (i.e., a mental action or process of acquiringknowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses) of targeting cognitions
at the object level [18]. Metacognition has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention partly because
it is essential for school children and adults to learn effectively. According to a review by Veenman
et al. [19], the most common distinction in metacognition is between metacognitive knowledge andmetacognitive skills. The former refers to a person’s declarative knowledge about the interactions
between a person, task, and strategy characteristics [20], while the latter refers to a person’s proceduralknowledge for regulating problem-solving and learning activities [21].
Procedural metacognition, the latter type of metacognition, includes the processes of metacognitive
monitoring (i.e., subjective assessments of ongoing cognitive activities), and metacognitive control(i.e., the regulation of current cognitive activities) [18,22]. According to Roebers [23], monitoring includes
questions such as “How much effort do I have to put into learning this material?”; “Did I sufficiently
learn this material to remember the details later on?”; and “How sure am I that this answer is correct?”
Controlling includes actions such as selecting material for review while studying, differentiallyallocating study time to learning material, and withdrawing answers or terminating a memory search.

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The present study utilizes the concept of metacognition to understand how individuals
encountering the perspectives of the future generation reconcile their present identities and theidentities of future generations, which may conflict with one another. Therefore, our research objective
is defined as follows:
Objective 1: To confirm if metacognition is activated in order to target cognitions operated by present
selves and selves of future generations.
Objective 2: To investigate the function (or role) of this metacognition.
Considering the above-mentioned previous studies on metacognition that monitor and control
other (i.e., lower-level) cognitions, it is hypothesized that a person activates his or her metacognition
to monitor and control another form of cognition by considering questions such as, “Am I adopting(or should I adopt) the perspective of the present or the future generation when thinking about
the state of society of 2050?” When one adopts the perspective of the present generation, one islooking 30 years into the future and imagining what technologies will be available and what future
people will be thinking about, etc. On the other hand, when one adopts the perspective of the future
generation, one is absorbed in the world he or she is imagining, similar to how someone becomesabsorbed in a story world while reading a novel. Moreover, when adopting the perspective of afuture generation, it is possible to either lament or appreciate specific actions taken by the present
generation, such as responses to COVID-19 or CO2 emission reduction efforts. (Due to the outbreakof COVID-19, the present generation may be even more motivated to adopt this perspective, as the
COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive changes to the social structure. As such, people are now
more sensitive to the fact that actions taken by the present generation will have serious consequence
for the future generation.) This is similar to how the present generation assesses the actions of past
generations (see earlier studies on retrospective assessment [24]). Thus, for Objective 1, we expect
a positive answer, and for Objective 2, we expect that monitoring and controlling will be the mainfunctions of metacognition. This will be qualitatively verified.
3. Materials and Methods
The present study is based on interviews conducted with four citizens who participated in future
design workshops organized by two municipalities in Japan: Yahaba Town (Iwate Prefecture, Japan)
and Uji City (Kyoto Prefecture, Japan).
Yahaba Town in Iwate Prefecture has a population of about 28,000. The town is located about a
20–30 min drive away from Morioka City, which has a population nearly 10 times larger than Yahaba
Town. Therefore, many Yahaba residents work in Morioka City. Yahaba Town Hall held a series of
unique workshops in order to craft a long-term vision for the town. The workshops were designed tohave local citizens act as future residents of the town and consider what steps the town should takein order to realize a vision for the future. Two citizens who participated in these workshops, Mikiko
and Miki (anonyms), agreed to participate in the interview survey. They are both females and were in
their 40s at the time of the interviews. The interviews were conducted six months after the series ofworkshops was completed. For more details on the procedure and the outcomes of the workshops,
see Hara et al. [12].
Uji City is located in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture and has a population of 180,000. It isfamous for its cultural properties, such as Byodoin Temple, which is a World Heritage Site, and Uji Tea.
Many tourists visit this city on weekends. The city had been developed as a residential area since 1960,
and the population has increased rapidly for some time; however, since 2000, the population has been
declining. In addition, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over is expected to increase at apace exceeding the national average. In response, Uji City Hall started developing a workshop as an
unusual strategy for making local residents think about the future of the community. Two residents
who participated in these workshops, Yumi and Satoshi (anonyms), agreed to be interviewed. Yumi isSustainability 2020, 12, 7552

4 of 15a female who was in her 30s at the time of the interview, and Satoshi is a male who was in his 60s at thetime of the interview. The interviews were conducted 12 months after the series of workshops finished.
In both workshops, participants were divided into groups consisting of approximately four
members each. Both groups of workshop participants were asked to imagine that they had time-traveledto the future and were living there at their current ages. Participants in the Yahaba Town workshop
were asked to imagine would their town would be like in 40 years; residents of Uji City were asked
to imagine what their city would be like in 30 years. Then, in Yahaba Town, the participants wererequested to give a general description of the town in this imagined future. In Uji City, the participants
were requested to describe the state of the local communities of the future city they were asked toimagine. In both municipalities, a staff member facilitated each group discussion, and the objectives
agreed were used to create a narrative of the future. Voices were recorded and analyzed after the
discussion. In each group, participants sometimes made contradictory assumptions about the external
environment surrounding the municipalities (e.g., socio-demographics). While participants tended totry to achieve a consensus, there was no guarantee that they perfectly shared assumptions. Even so,they were able to share the hope that a specific future world could be realized. This expectation seemed
consistent with the organizational studies literature stating that the vision of an organization should besomething that is not only “viewed as desirable by employees” but also “is unlikely to be changed bymarket or technology changes” [25].
The request that participants imagine themselves as living in the future at their current ages isimportant for the following reason. Future Design is intended to resolve intergenerational problems,
and thus is primarily concerned with how to resolve conflicts between present individuals and otherindividuals in the future, rather than resolving conflicts between the same individuals who have aged
into the future. Time-traveling 40 years into the future on the presumption that one will also age
40 years allows one to keep his or her current identity, which is undesirable for the purpose of thisstudy. However, imagining time-traveling while remaining the same is a good (even if not perfect) andeasily implementable simulation that allows one to feel absorbed in the future that will be inhabited by
future generations. In fact, Miki explicitly mentioned in the interview how this constraint helped her
to succeed in taking the perspective of the future generation. (See the sixth paragraph of Appendix B
as well as the results section where this statement is cited.)
In interviews, the participants were requested to talk about (i) why they decided to participate in
the workshops, (ii) how they and their group members managed to adopt the perspective of the future
generation, and (iii) how the workshop experience influenced their lives. The interviews lasted 1–2 h.
The interviews were recorded and later transcribed. The transcription amounted to 129 pages in total.
The transcription was analyzed with reference to the theoretical framework introduced in Section 2.
Specifically, interviewees’ statements were reviewed one by one and checked for interviewees’ adoptionof metacognition. Then, the statements identified were classified into groups, and the functions ofmetacognition were considered for each group. The narratives of the four participants are summarized
in story form in Appendices A–D, respectively.
4. Results
In the transcriptions of the four interviews, two functions of metacognition were identified,
and they will be individually described below.
4.1. Monitoring and Controlling Function
As expected, the monitoring and controlling function of metacognition was identified. During
the workshops, Miki carefully considered whether she was successful in adopting the perspective of
the future generation, rather than maintaining her perspective as a member of the present generation.
In the excerpt below, she describes her experience of imagining what it would be like to time travelto the future with her age unchanged, as requested by the organizer of the workshop (See the sixth
paragraph of Appendix B).

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Miki: Well, I started imagining the future as if I lived there as an 80-year-old female and thought
about what future would interest me. I gradually began imagining that I was living there at the age I
am now. This was probably because I felt it was a pity that such an interesting future would be realized
only after I got so old.
This statement suggests that her metacognition is monitoring the process of cognition on the levelof the object (i.e., the cognition as the present self or the cognition at the future self) and controllingherself so that the cognition of the future self becomes dominant. Additionally, in addition to her,the other group members also performed monitoring and controlling. In fact, soon after the start of the
discussion, one of the elderly members began to express his opinion, stating “I will be dead by then . . .
” However, once he began immersing himself in this future world and envisioning it more vividly,
he did not repeat this remark. The next excerpt from Yumi shows that she was also monitoring her
cognition at the object level.
Yumi: During the workshops, I was always questioning myself as to whether I was successful inplaying the role as purely a member of the future generation or not. I was concerned that I was simply
expressing my selfish ideas as a member of the present generation, pretending that I was doing sofrom the perspective of the future generation.
This monitoring process allowed her to arrive at the understanding of what it was like to play
the role of a member of the future generation, as shown in the eighth paragraph of Appendix C.
This monitoring and controlling function of metacognition was also observable in Satoshi’s case,as shown in the following excerpt.
Interviewer: Please tell me the story of what happened after the series of workshops was over.
Satoshi: Yes. The series of four workshops ended. What I thought was that at the end of the series
of workshops I at last came to understand what it was like to be a member of the future generation,and the ending of the workshops meant that I would sooner or later lose this sense of understanding
and return to what I used to be before I got familiar with the idea.
In saying so, Satoshi compares the cognitions of his present and future selves and prioritizes thelatter (in his monitoring process). Indeed, he decided to participate in a citizen network as a founding
member in order to provide himself with opportunities to activate the cognition of the future self (in his
controlling process). The network consists of nearly 20 citizens who participated in the workshops andhas the aim of considering the future of the city from the perspective of the future generation.
4.2. Harmonizing Function
Another function of metacognition that was identified is the harmonization of object levelcognitions. If a member of the present generation successfully experiences adopting the perspective of
the future generation, but then reassumes his or her identity as a member of the present generation,
he or she momentarily experiences the coexistence of two potentially conflicting identities. Such conflict
cannot be avoided, especially when one is inclined to support actions that will come to fruition in theimmediate future. However, Mikiko’s narrative illustrates how these identities can be harmonized.
We demonstrate that metacognition has the function of harmonizing these two identities (and thus
the cognitions associated with the perspectives of the present and future generations). See the lastparagraph of Appendix A for the context of the excerpt.
Interviewer: Now that the series of workshops is over, you have gone back to living your everyday
life. Do you think about things as a member of the present generation, or do you recall the experiencesof workshops when thinking about actions taken by the present generation?
Mikiko: Well, that is a difficult question to answer. After all, we succeeded in absorbing
ourselves in a world 40 years in the future, and that is why I sometimes say to myself, “this should bedone right now, otherwise it will be too late.” This feeling springs up from me as a member of thepresent generation.
This statement suggests that there was an interplay between the cognition governed by the self
as a member of the present generation, and the cognition governed by the self as a member of theSustainability 2020, 12, 7552

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future generation. It also suggests that Mikiko was aware that the two cognitions were consistent with
one another (i.e., the state described as the future generation and the actions to be implemented by
the present generation are connected by a means-end relationship), and thus, there is metacognition
enabling the perception that the two cognitions are in harmony with one another. This function of
metacognition is also confirmed in the following excerpt from Satoshi. This statement also illustrates
how the two cognitions are perceived as existing in harmony.
Satoshi: Some may argue that what the future should be like should be the choice of the future
generation. However, there may not be time for that. Without taking action now, it may be impossible
to realize a desirable future.
It should be noted that linking the two cognitions by the means–end relationship is not the only
way to harmonize these cognitions. Yumi discovered a consistency between the two cognitions in aunique way: not by identifying the means-end relationship, but by identifying an essential similarity
between the two cognitions (see the eighth paragraph of Appendix C). Yumi is well aware that thecognitions of present and future selves may well reach different conclusions with regard to what shouldbe (have been) done in the present. According to her belief, this is because we, as the present generation,
are bound by conventional thinking, which prevents us from realizing what we really want to do.
She also believes that taking the perspective of the future generation frees us from such conventional
thinking, and thus, there is no contradiction between cognitions by present and future selves.
5. Discussion
Considering the interview responses discussed above, our answers to the two research questions
referred to in the research objectives section are summarized as follows:
Concerning the first objective, we identified narratives in participants’ interview responses thatsuggest that metacognition was active in the two cognitions at the object level governed by the present
and future selves. Concerning the second objective, the narratives identified above were classified into
two categories, and two corresponding roles of metacognition were identified: the monitoring andcontrolling function and the harmonizing function. The former is essential for the acquisition of an
identity as a future person, and the latter is essential for reconciling the identity of a future person with
the identity of a present person. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate these two functions. Both of these figures
illustrate a pair of two selves (i.e., present and future selves), as well as the third self-overviewing thetwo. The difference between these figures lies in the role of the third self. Specifically, an individual
wishing to take the perspective of the future generation was concerned about whether they weresuccessful in doing so, and thus the third self in Figure 1 monitored and controlled the transition
process between the two selves. In contrast, once the individual experienced a successful transition,a new concern arose for the third self about whether the two selves were in harmony rather thancontradicting one another.
There are several important things to note about these findings. First, the narratives demonstratethat the monitoring and controlling function of metacognition derived mainly from workshop
participants’ experiences during the Future Design workshops. In these workshops, participants
were requested to activate an unusual cognition process by adopting the perspective of the future
generation. Therefore, participants must monitor and control themselves in order to successfully adopt
this perspective. Previous scholarship has recognized both the difficulty and importance of disengaging
from the present in future studies workshops [26]. The present study adds to academic scholarshipon this issue by demonstrating that transition from a present to future perspective is perceived byparticipants to be a discrete rather than continuous process and can only be achieved through carefulmonitoring and controlling. As this is not an easy task, it is inevitable that some participants are betterat performing this task than others. However, very few earlier studies have paid attention to how
this differs among individuals. With the findings of the present study in mind, future studies should
investigate whether the ability to disengage from the present is associated with general metacognitivecompetence and skills (e.g., references [27–30]). Indeed, it is of practical importance for workshop

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organizers to understand participants’ individual characteristics and, when possible, place participants
who have relatively low competence of disengaging from the present in groups with people of higher
competence, so that the latter can assist the former by leading discussions.
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Second, in spite of potential conflicts of interest between present and future generations, as wellas the difficulty of motivating the present generation to care for future generations [31], the present
study found that the perspectives of the present and future generations can coexist on account of theharmonizing function of metacognition. Furthermore, it was found that this function can be executedin two different ways: either by defining the means-end relationship (i.e., between actions to be doneby the present self and the state of the society in which the future self will live) or by identifying
an essential similarity in spite of the apparent contradiction. This metacognition serves as a bridge
between present and future selves. Therefore, metacognition is expected to contribute to one’s sense ofcoherence [32,33] and thus one’s life satisfaction.
Third, while the monitoring and controlling function of metacognition was active mainly duringexposure to intervention (i.e., during the workshops where individuals are requested to take theperspective of the future generation), the harmonizing function of metacognition seemed to be active
for a much longer period of time. In fact, Mikiko and Satoshi were interviewed six and 12 months,
respectively, after the series of workshops finished, and even at that time, they still felt a sense ofcoherence, as demonstrated in the excerpts. In the future, researchers must quantitatively investigate
the durability of these Future Design intervention. Answering this question will help determine
whether Future Design is a viable and promising framework for realizing a sustainable society.
To conclude, regardless of the intentions of the organizers of the Future Design workshops in
Yahaba Town and Uji City, the workshops can be viewed as interventions that triggered metacognition
processes in the four participants, forcing them to consciously consider from what reference point intime they should evaluate the past, present, and future of society. Considered alongside the empiricalevidence demonstrating the effectiveness of adopting the future reference point for engendering
positive attitudes toward sustainable thinking [15,16], it would be beneficial for future research toconsider how the metacognition of our four research participants can be replicated among citizens ofcontemporary society. Indeed, this would be preferable to naively questioning how many members ofsociety as possible can be motivated to care about future generations. The former question seems to beless difficult to answer than the latter, because adoption of this form of metacognition is accompanied
by a sense of coherence, which is an essential component of life satisfaction.
The present study had an important limitation. This qualitative study was based oninterview surveys with four people only; therefore, in the future, it will be important to check thegeneralizability of the findings either by enlarging the sample size or by designing and implementing
a questionnaire survey.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Y.N. and T.S.; Methodology, Y.N.; Analysis, Y.N.; Writing—Original
Draft Preparation, Y.N.; Writing—Review & Editing, Y.N. and T.S. All authors have read and agreed to the
published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to Keishiro Hara (Osaka University), who supported the series of
Future Design workshops in Yahaba Town. We also wish to thank the four anonymous interviewees. The interview
surveys were arranged by Ritsuji Yoshioka (Yahaba Town Hall personnel), Takayuki Sugimoto (Uji City Hall
personnel), and Takayuki Onishi (Uji City Hall personnel).
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A. The Story of Mikiko in Yahaba Town
Mikiko is a cheerful and outspoken woman in her 40s. She was born and grew up in Iwate
Prefecture. After graduating from a local high school, she went on to a university in a big city outsideof the prefecture. After graduating from university, she considered staying in the big city to work.
However, she decided to return to the prefecture she grew up in and work in Morioka City. After awhile, she decided to get married. At first, she and her husband thought about living in Morioka City
where they were working, but instead, they decided to build a house in Yahaba Town, a town that they

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have no connection with. Despite the town being located about 20–30 min’s drive away from Morioka
City, they made this decision because the cost of building in the town is reasonable,
Ten years have passed since Mikiko move to Yahaba Town. She has few complaints about livingin the town. Even though there is not much play equipment in a park near her house, it is sufficient forchildren to play. The elementary school that her children attend is also close to her home. Above all,the town’s tap water tastes better than the tap water in Morioka City. The only unfortunate thing isthat many young people who were born and raised in the town go on to universities outside of theprefecture and get jobs there. There are some households near her house whose sons and daughters
moved outside the prefecture. Mikiko ended up participating in one of the unusual workshops.
On the first day of the workshop, each local participant, who had been assigned to groups of six,
was invited into a room. There were various people in the room where Mikiko was invited, including ayoung woman around the age of 20 and an elderly man. The workshops were planned by Mr. Yoshioka,
an employee of Yahaba Town Hall. At the beginning of the workshop, Mikiko could not understandthe instructions. The instructions were as follows: “Imagine if you could time travel 40 years into the
future to Yahaba Town and live there at your present age. Then, as a group, envision the town’s future
in a way that represents the interests of the future generation 40 years from now. Provide ideas forpolicy measures that we should implement now.” Contrary to the instructions, Mikiko tried to envision
the future 40 years from now, imaging that she would be an 80-year-old elderly woman, as she thought
it was difficult to time travel 40 years into the future at her present age. Even so, she had thought that,“If I were an elderly woman in the future, I would be fine if the town would remained unchanged,
wouldn’t I?” As she has no particular complaints about living in Yahaba, it is natural that she had
this thought.
First, the group held a discussion: which vision should they choose for their town 40 years fromnow? Should it be just as it is now, or different? During the discussion, one of the members of thegroup, an approximately 20-year-old young woman, expressed, “40 years later from now, I would
like to hope that our town would be easier to live in than it is now.” Her opinion itself was not thatsurprising. However, the young woman’s remarks, which clearly expressed her hope that the groupwould choose a future vision of the town that was different from how it is not, affected Mikiko deeply.
Indeed, it mad her think, “Well, yes, she is right.” The young woman was born and grew up in Yahaba
Town, and now commutes to a university in Morioka City while living in the town.
Triggered by the young woman’s remark, Mikiko started to think that she also wanted to choose a
different vision from the present. In 40 years, when the population of the town is aging, she wants it to
be a place where young people who can support the elderly would think “We don’t want to moveoutside of the town.” The town surely should be like that. In fact, the town should be inundatedwith applicants hoping to move there from all parts of the country to the point where it would be
inevitable to reject the majority of them. In this way, Mikiko and the group members expanded their
imaginations. They decided that a playground for children and an exercise and health management
facility for senior citizens should be established in the same place, so children and the elderly could
come together. The facility should also serve as a workplace for the elderly to cook lunch boxes anddelicatessens, and the young generation could buy those meals and communicate with the elderly.
Thus, the group reached the concept of “Yahaba, a Healthy Town.” This concept was found to beconsistent with the plan of a medical university to establish a hospital in this town a few years after theworkshops (which was established), as well as with other ideas of the members of the group, such astransforming the grounds of a closed junior high school into a sport stadium.
On another day of the workshop, a debate between the participants who adopted the perspectiveof the future generation (Mikiko’s group who envisioned Yahaba’s future as the future generation) andthe participants of the present generations (the group who ordinarily lived in the present town as thepresent generations) was held. They discussed the policy measures that the town should implement
going forward. The present generations insisted that important things to achieve were free medicalcare and education for children. When Mikiko heard their opinions, she found that members of theSustainability 2020, 12, 7552

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present generation were obsessed with solving immediate issues. She appealed to the representativesof the present generation, stating, “We are living in a world 40 years in the future which is determinedby the actions that you take now. Therefore, we will be at a loss if you fail to take proper action.”
Even so, Mikiko didn’t have the slightest intention of criticizing the present generations. If she
was in the position of the present generations, she also would have focused on immediate issues facing
residents now, and would have focused on solving these issues in a timely manner as needed, andwould have seen the world 40 years in the future as a result of the accumulation of such short-sighted
behavior. Therefore, in the debate, she would have insisted that we should solve immediate issues
facing society now. Moreover, considering the future 40 years from now, she had even thought, “If I
were an elderly woman in the future, I would be fine if the town remained unchanged as it is now,
wouldn’t I?” Indeed, her thinking only changed after she heard the idea of the female university
student at the first workshop. For that reason, she understood that the present generation commonly
criticizes the future generations, saying, “Consider more immediate issues more realistically!”
A few months after Mikiko had participated in the workshops, she reflected on her experience
participating in the workshop. She feels that the experience taught her how to form her own opinions
concerning what the citizens of the town need, and when. In fact, when she walks around the town andobserves the scenery, sometimes, she remembers the days of the workshop and how she experienced
the perspective of the future generation. This leads her to think, “We will be too late to act unless we
do something immediately.” Mikiko’s perspective as a future person certainly still lives on in her mind.
She is very grateful to Yahaba Town for giving her this valuable experience.
Appendix B. The Story of Miki in Yahaba Town
Miki lives in Yahaba Town with her husband and two children. One of her children is in their firstyear of junior high school, and the other is in their fourth year of elementary school. Six years ago,
upon the invitation of her friend, she became a member of a civil panel that studies and evaluates thetown’s waterworks. At that time, she had been overwhelmed with childcare duties and householdchores, even more than now, and had been just getting by day by day. However, her new responsibility
allowed her to temporarily forget about childcare and allowed her to try something new and fresh.
Without participating in the civil panel, she would never have had a chance to understand how water
management works, such as the production of tap water and home water supply, which allow us toget clean water just by turning on a faucet. Miki ended up participating in this unusual workshop.
On the first day of the workshop, each local participant, who was each assigned to a group of six,
was invited into a room. There were men and women of all ages in the room where Miki was invited.
The workshops were planned by Mr. Yoshioka, an employee of Yahaba Town Hall. At the beginning of
the workshop, Miki and the other participants received the following instructions: “Imagine if you
could time travel 40 years into the future to Yahaba Town and live there at your current age. And then,as a group, envision the town’s future in a manner that represents the interests of the future generations
40 years from now. Provide ideas for policy measures which we should implement now.” However,since Miki lives in the present and had trouble imaging herself as a person in the future, she hesitatedto participate in the group discussion. Contrary to the planners’ instructions, she tried to imagine
herself as an 80-year-old elderly woman living 40 years in the future, yet she was still apprehensive toshare her thoughts with the group.
After the discussion had been going on for a while, the group began discussing how much ofa priority the government was placing on childcare support, such as free medical care and daycare
centers. This subject was relevant to Miki, as she was overwhelmed with childcare duties and feltthat it was a crucial issue. Contrary to her thoughts, Mr. Omura, a 70-year-old member of the group,
expressed his opinion. “Since we are living in the future, we can assume that such issues will havebeen solved in a few years from now, and we won’t have to deal with that problem 40 years from now.”
Miki was taken aback by his casual comment, stating, “I had been thinking of issues that I wanted
to be solved in the near future, and therefore I had been limited by thinking about childcare too much.

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That is why I could not imagine being a future person. Issues like childcare will likely be solved in a
few years, and it will surely be solved 40 years from now. I’ll temporarily forget about daily childcare.
I’ll temporarily put aside issues which will likely be solved in a few years, and I’ll imagine Yahaba
town 40 years from now!”
After that, Miki began thinking about what kind of town would be interesting to live in when
she is 80 years old, and she started leading the workshop discussion. One of the ideas reached by thegroup was to create a public transportation network to connect schools, the Town Hall, and tourist
spots, adopting the slogan “Night on the Galactic Railroad,” a children’s story by Kenji Miyazawa.
Future vehicles could possibly connect those places. Giovanni, the main character of this story, gets on
the Galactic Train from a small hill with his one friend and finds what true happiness is while travelingthrough various constellations. Giovanni wakes up when he loses sight of his friend and finds out that
all of the events that happened were in his dream world. In the real world, he notices that his friend
fell into the river to save his acquaintance and went missing. Mt. Nansho in Yahaba is said to be themodel for the hill where the train starts in this beautiful story.
In this way, while Miki was envisioning Yahaba’s future 40 years from now and imagining herself
at 80 years old, she felt as if she actually lived in the future world at her present age. She noticed
that other members of the group also shared the same sensation. In fact, soon after the start of the
discussion, one of the elderly members began one of his comments by saying, “I would be dead bythen . . . ” However, once he began immersing himself in imaging this future world, he no longer
made such a remark. In this way, the members of the group gradually and naturally came to follow
the instructions by Mr. Yoshioka, who said, “Imagine if you could time travel into the future at yourpresent ages.”
On a later day of the workshop, a debate between the participants representing the future
generation (Miki’s group) and participants representing the present generation (the group who
ordinarily lived in the present town as the present generation) was held. They discussed the policy
measures that the town should implement going forward. As expected, the present generation insisted
that the town should implement immediate measures such as childcare support. At that time, Miki felt,“They are still talking about such issues (laughing). Such issues already have been solved in our futureworld (laughing).” However, this does not mean that she was looking down on the representatives ofthe present generation. Before becoming part of the group representing the future generation, she also
insisted that immediate issues be dealt with first. If she and the members representing the future
generation had instead been assigned to the group representing the present generation, they likely
would have thought that the vision of a future transportation network (the “Galactic Railroad”) was an
empty dream. Therefore, once Miki experience the perspective of the future generation, she likely feltthat her thinking had matured.
Now that the series of workshops is over, Miki thinks back to the remark of Mr. Omura,a 70-year-old man, which allowed her to assume the perspective of a future person. She felt that she
could respond to Mr. Omura because she both relies on and is attached to her country (Japan). Working
mothers face many challenges, such as chronic shortages of daycare centers and the persistently low
involvement of men in childcare in Japan. However, the Japanese must not be so foolish as to leavesuch issues unsolved for 40 years. The Japanese surely will be able to solve such issues in the near
future. That is why Miki realized that finding solutions to such problems is the responsibility of thepresent generation and was able to put such issues aside and imagine time-traveling 40 years into the
future. Acting as a future person was a beneficial experience for her.
Appendix C. The Story of Yumi in Uji City
Yumi is a woman in her 30s and serves on a PTA (parent–teacher association) board at theelementary school attended by her first-born, 10-year-old daughter. When her daughter reached theage to enter elementary school, a problem arose. Her daughter started saying, “I never want to go
to elementary school.” Since then, she is going to school but regularly doesn’t attend despite being

Sustainability 2020, 12, 7552

12 of 15enrolled, and now she is in the fourth grade. Some odd things often occur. When her daughter isabsent from school, she goes to her daughter’s school for PTA activities.
When her daughter became unable to go to school, she noticed something. There were only
mothers with their little children and elderly people strolling around the streets in the daytime during
weekdays. Yumi and her elementary school daughter stood out in such a situation, so sometimes
elderly strangers at a park said things to her like, “Children should go to school properly.” This caused
her to feel somewhat ashamed. She fully understood the meaning of their advice. However, shedoesn’t want to force her daughter to go to school and ignore her daughter’s feelings. She wants herdaughter to go to school according to her own will and say things like “I want to go to school” or“I want to study.” She also wants her to absorb many things.
Yumi knows that most people cannot accept such opinions about school. When she has suchthoughts, she often feels like her heart will break. When she felt this way, the ability to share her feelings
with other mothers who have children in a similar situation was an import form of support for her.
Each mom lives in a different area, but they send text messages by mobile phone to encourage each other.
Yumi, in such a situation, happened to see a leaflet to recruit participants for the unusual workshop.
The idea for the workshop was interesting: “Try to become a future person and consider what the
local community of Uji City will be like in 30 years.” On the day of the workshop, there were manyelderly people who resembled the elderly people who spoke to her at the park. This made her feel alittle uneasy, but her anxiety gradually decreased during a discussion with a group of four people.
The instructions given the participants by the City Hall personnel were as follows: “Imagine if you
could time travel 30 years into the future to Uji City and live there at your current age. And then,tell us what the city’s local community would look like.”
At first, she felt ashamed to express her opinion while imagining to be a future person. When she
forgetfully said something like, “The other day, I watched a program on TV,” the facilitator would
correct her, saying, “You mean that TV program was on 30 years ago, right?” However, thanks to thestaff member’s constant corrections, she was able to adopt the perspective of a future person without
being held back by her thoughts from the present. In expressing her ideas about the future, she talked
about children being able to attend schools in different school districts and take classes across grade
boundaries. She realized that no one in the group rejected her opinion. She was also surprised andpleased with the group’s warm-hearted attitude and the feeling of togetherness she felt between theelderly and herself.
She was also surprised that many of the elderly participants in the groups representing the future
generation also imagined new visions of schools. One group envisioned a future in which children
could study special fields without divisions between grade levels, such as elementary, junior high,and senior high schools. Another group envisioned a future in which children could study andtake credits at home, and each student could develop their ability on their own volition. In Japan,
at present, when children turn six years old, they must enter elementary school at the same time andthen go to junior high and senior high in that order. This standardized school system continues toexist. However, many groups representing the future generation quickly and easily abandoned such
conventional thinking.
She felt hopeful when she saw that many participants envisioned free styles of learning as future
persons. As soon as the workshop was over, she sent messages to her mom friends with whom shealways exchanged emails over mobile phones, saying, “Now the workshop is over. Contrary to our
expectations, all the elderly might have the same hopes as we have!”
There are many issues to be solved that will affect the next generation. In the process of startingan action, we may meet people who hold different opinions from us. Yumi thinks it is too one-sided to
say to such people, “You should change your opinion.” However, we can at least share “things that wewant to cherish,” which is normally put in the back of our minds due to restrictions imposed by social
relationships and conventional thinking in daily life. For her, the experience of being a future person

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impelled her to temporarily abandon conventional thinking, which had been restricting her usual life,and freely envision a world that she wants to live in.
In the spring, a few months after she experienced being a future person, her daughter became afourth grader in elementary school. Although Yumi has a child who doesn’t like the school, she decided
to become a PTA board member because she wanted to contribute to making the school better for
all children (even if just a little) so that they can think of school as “incredibly enjoyable.” She wants
parents and guardians and local people to understand the benefits of thinking about things from theperspective of a future person. This hope was expressed clearly in a newsletter message which she
wrote as a PTA board member.
Appendix D. The Story of Satoshi in Uji City
There is a tea house on the approach to Byodoin Temple. The tea house is on the first floor of aJapanese-style modern building that was built using bare concrete and wooden materials. The building
harmonizes with the surrounding buildings while also being unique. Satoshi, a main character of thisstory, is serving tea to customers while talking cheerfully at the tea counter. He is in a good mood whencustomers are attracted to the building and enter the tea house. The reason is because he designed thebuilding and has an attachment to it.
Actually, Satoshi is not the owner of the tea house. He runs an architectural design office on thesecond floor of this building. When the tea house is crowded with customers, he comes down thestairs to help. He designed the building when he was 38 years old and ran a design office outside Uji
City. He wanted to build a building with a distinctive presence and make the approach to the temple
more attractive by having the building harmonize with the other shops. That was his wish.
When Satoshi was 50 years old, he had a chance to move his design office to the second floor of thebuilding. After that, he became the chairman of an association of 60 members, including shop owners
and neighbors located around the front approach to the temple. The members cannot always agree on
every issue, including how to regulate traffic during tourist peak hours or how to receive newcomers.
Satoshi happened to get a leaflet recruiting participants for a series of citizen workshops. He wasattracted by the theme of the workshops, Future Design, which has a positive meaning, as it is associatedwith designing and creating the future. After the participants were divided into groups of four at theworkshop, they were given the following instructions by the City Hall employee: “Imagine that you
could time travel 30 years into the future to Uji City and live there are your present age. Then, envision
what the city’s local community would look like.”
For members of Satoshi’s group, this task was more difficult than they expected. They had
trouble imagining themselves in a future 30 years from now, and envisioning Uji in the future, as well.
The reason was that they tended to discuss solutions for the problems of the present, such as how tobest use parks in the city. However, one of the other groups was imagining a future where people fly
with Take-copters (Hopters). When he saw this, he thought, “They have become true future people,”and was envious of them.
This experience made him think that imagining the future as a future person means considering
things that people of the present cannot even imagine. So, for example, he had the following thought.
The youth in Uji City are reluctant to join neighborhood and community associations. Therefore,
instead of coming up with a simple stopgap measure, it would be better to come up with an exciting
plan that could naturally bring the youth and elderly together.
One of the other groups envisioned a future in which the local elderly would set up a small private
school at home to provide a learning place for children. By establishing such places, a bond between
people would be built naturally. Consequently, many issues that are caused by the poor membershipin neighborhood and community associations would also be resolved automatically. This idea taught
Satoshi that we can envision an exciting future if we simply adapt new ways of thinking. Indeed,
we don’t need to imagine a dreamlike future with technology such as Take-copters.

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Now that the series of workshops is over, Satoshi is still doing his best to apply this approachas the chairman of the association. He realizes that participation of the workshops improved his
thinking process. The present area in front of the temple has many issues to solve, including regulating
vehicles and pedestrians, and how to receive newcomers. However, attempting to solve these issues
with stopgap measures is not enough. It is necessary that everyone can agree on a future vision,
saying “We want to approach this problem in this way.” By doing so, the present issues can besolved naturally.
What then is “the approach like that we in the association want?” The exact answer is not yet
known, but the approach would be something where “people can consider the whole of Uji City as
attractive due to the presence of the approach.” When Satoshi was 38 years old, he thought, “I wish to
make the whole front approach to the temple more attractive by constructing one building.” He is now
62 years old and is looking forward to the future of Uji City as a whole.
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