At the training seminar of the Youth Bureau of the Liberal Democratic Party, BSPI provides a support report on the initiatives of Web3.0, including SBT distribution and voting using governance tokens.
On May 28, 2023, at the 8th floor hall of the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, the “National Council Meeting and National Training Seminar for Student Divisions” were held. We supported the implementation of new initiatives, such as distributing SBT (Soulbound Token/NFT) as participation certificates, conducting voting for policy presentation contests among the student divisions of each branch federation using governance tokens, and facilitating the participation of student division members in a dedicated Discord platform, all utilizing Web3.0 technologies. These Web3.0 initiatives were supported in collaboration with IndieSquare Inc., which provides the web3 platform “HAZAMA BASE.”
Approximately 200 participants, including student division members, party officials, and members of the National Diet, attended the event at the hall. There were lectures on “A Message of Peace to Japanese Students” by Ambassador Korsunsky, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan, and on “Reconsidering the Way We Communicate: Political Issues from the Perspective of Communication” by Mr. Togawa, the Creative Director of GO Corporation. In the main program, students representing five prefectural federations—Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi, Mie, and Kumamoto—delivered passionate policy presentations on their respective themes within a five-minute time frame. After all the presentations, voting was conducted using governance tokens. Although it was the first attempt at such a voting system, some students were unable to vote due to skipping the necessary steps. However, alternative methods were prepared, and the students were able to vote using those methods. The voting was successfully completed, and the results were tabulated.
The winning team was the Aichi Prefecture Federation, which presented “Shin-National Defense Theory.” The winning team received a certificate of commendation and a prize of 100,000 yen as the President’s Award, presented by Mr. Suzuki Norikazu, the Youth Bureau Director. The SBT awarded to the winning team contained a QR code that allowed it to be transformed into a special SBT using the “Burn To Redeem” feature. This SBT was handed over to the winners in a box (crafted from Yamanaka lacquerware, a traditional craft from Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture) by Mr. Kawasaki Hidekazu, the Deputy Chief of the Youth Bureau’s Student Division.
Finally, Mr. Kawasaki Hidekazu and Mr. Hoshino from IndieSquare CEO explained the participation in a dedicated Discord platform for students using SBT. Immediately after the explanation, students joined the Discord platform and started posting their impressions of the training seminar.
Although there were some minor moments of confusion, the experience of implementing the series of Web3.0 initiatives in real-time with the participation of 200 individuals was extremely valuable. We will reflect on the content of this Web3.0 project and aim to utilize it in future similar projects.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Suzuki Norikazu, the Youth Bureau Director, and everyone at the Youth Bureau of the Liberal Democratic Party for allowing us to implement the initiatives using Web3.0 technologies (such as SBT and voting functions), which are still not widely adopted. We especially appreciate the tremendous support from the Youth Bureau staff, starting from the preparatory stage. Thank you very much.