In this article, we quantified Japanese residents' potential preferences for public participation, specifically public meetings, concerning regional environmental issues in Yodo River watershed decision-making process. We conducted a choice experiments (CE) survey in the Yodo River watershed in Japan. Our findings confirmed that residents assign a certain value to public participation, in particular, public meetings. We also found that when residents are given opportunities to speak, they show a strong desire to have experts and, especially, government officials in charge to be present at the meetings. Thus, we indicated Japanese residents' potential preferences for public meetings using the CE with discrete choice model. (Contains 4 tables and 2 footnotes.)