The founding of the All Japan Educational Debate Association, of which the author is a committee member, was the catalyst for a national debating contest, which was started in the Tokai, or central region, of Japan. This contest, having been sponsored for some years by Chubu Electric Power Company, debates energy-related issues. High school students have faced each other over topics such as “Japan should abandon nuclear power: for or against?”; “Television broadcasting time in Japan should be limited to save energy: for or against?” Although the topic of energy, as well as many other policy issues, needs to be thought about by the next generation, it is just such issues that the younger generation does not appear eager to tackle face on. This is where debate, with its game-like, competitive element can serve an important role. In the context of debate, young people have been shown to engage seriously with such issues.

With this in mind, the author organized a debate for her class of university students. They debated the following motion, suggested originally by Chiba University’s Assistant Professor, Daisuke Fujikawa: Japan should scrap the plan to store high-level radioactive waste underground: Do you agree or disagree? (1) This paper describes the procedure of the debate in the classroom, assesses its effectiveness, and discusses certain problems that emerged from this activity.