all ministries and agencies involved 

 in science and technology, (3) direct 

 a system of more than 80 govern- 

 ment research institutes, (4) admin- 

 ister the national university system, 

 and (5) oversee an assortment of 

 public corporations. 



The actual development of Japa- 

 nese S/T policy is a combination of 

 consultation, consensus, decentral- 

 ization, and coordination. The pri- 

 mary authority, the Council for 

 Science and Technology, consults 

 with the Prime Minister and Cabinet 

 and recommends long-term na- 

 tional policy objectives. STA is re- 

 sponsible for coordinating the 

 individual S/T policies of the various 

 ministries (except Monbusho) and 

 their affiliated research institutes. 

 STA also contributes to the devel- 

 opment of national S/T policy. Fi- 

 nally, Monbusho influences the R&D 

 activities of the national university 

 system and its associated research 

 institutions. 



The council for science and tech- 

 nology. The Council for Science and 

 Technology is the foremost Japanese 

 institution for promoting a compre- 

 hensive national S/T policy; it also 

 bridges the activities of STA and 

 Monbusho. The Council is chaired 

 by the Prime Minister and is com- 

 posed of several cabinet ministers, 

 the Chairman of the Science Council 

 of Japan, and prominent experts on 

 science and technology. In fulfill- 

 ment of its role, the Council peri- 

 odically delivers key recom- 

 mendations to the Prime Minister. 

 In 1965, the Council recommended 

 that Japan should "seek relief 

 through indigenous research and 

 development from overdependence 

 on foreign technology"; this rec- 

 ommendation was followed by a 

 rapid increase in both government 

 and private R&D funding. The 

 Council's 1971 advice stressed the 

 need for research on means to pre- 

 serve the environment; the 1977 rec- 

 ommendation, following in the wake 

 of the oil shock, focused on energy 

 research. In November 1984, the 

 Council released its Eleventh Rec- 

 ommendation, which identified the 



need for a "basic shift in Japan's R&D 

 effort towards the fostering of cre- 

 ative breakthroughs in fundamental 

 research that should benefit not only 

 Japan but the international com- 

 munity."'^ This latter recommen- 

 dation is expected to have a major 

 impact on future Japanese R&D 

 planning both in the character of re- 

 search supported and the involve- 

 ment of foreign researchers in its 

 performance. 



The science and technology 

 agency. STA provides policy re- 

 search and planning inputs for the 

 Council, but its major responsibili- 

 ties also include the management and 

 conduct of S/T activities in basic re- 

 search and the "big sciences." Most 

 of this work is carried out in research 

 institutes attached to the agency; 

 these perform work in such fields as 

 aerospace, inorganic materials, and 

 radiological science. Other work is 

 performed by quasi-autonomous 

 public corporations within STA's 

 authority such as the Institute of 

 Physical and Chemical Research (RI- 

 KEN) and the Japan Atomic Energy 

 Research Institute. 



Affiliated with STA is the Japan 

 Information Center for Science and 

 Technology (JICST), which collects 

 S/T publications from around the 

 world, summarizes these, and stores 

 the abstracts in an on-line service ac- 

 cessible to most Japanese research- 

 ers and now available in the United 

 States.'-' Another STA-directed pub- 

 lic corporation is the Japan Research 

 and Development Corporation, 



whose main function is to encour- 

 age the commercialization of prom- 

 ising R&D developed at the national 

 universities and research institutes. 



Among numerous other projects, 

 STA publishes an annual "White Pa- 

 per on Science and Technology" and 

 sponsors a Delphi Survey adminis- 

 tered every 5 years. This survey is 

 sent to approximately 2,500 indus- 

 try, university, and government 

 leaders and asks them to identify 

 those research areas deserving the 

 highest emphasis. The results of the 

 most recent survey are presented in 

 chapter 6, "Possible Future Direc- 

 tions" (p. 39). 



The ministry of education, sci- 

 ence, and culture. Monbusho is re- 

 sponsible for administering Japan's 

 system of 95 national universities and 

 their affiliated research institutes, and 

 accounts for the largest portion of 

 government R&D expenditures.'* In 

 order to foster interuniversity re- 

 search cooperation, Monbusho es- 

 tablished several research institutes 

 for joint use by staff from all uni- 

 versities during the seventies. These 

 institutes are both university-affili- 

 ated and independent national joint- 

 university centers; by 1985, there 

 were 24 such institutes covering most 

 major fields of investigation (a list of 

 the institutes is provided on p. 24 in 

 chapter 4, "Higher Education").'^ 

 Similarly, Monbusho issued a direc- 

 tive in 1983 urging universities to 

 open up their facilities to industrial 

 researchers; since then it has initi- 

 ated several programs promoting this 



'-Council for Science and Technology, Compre- 

 hensive Fundamental Policy for Promotion of Science and 

 Technology to Focus Current Changing Situations from 

 the Long-Term View: Recommendation on the Uth In- 

 quiry (Tokyo, Japan, November 1984), 



'■*The on-line service provides abstracts both in 

 Japanese and English. It is available through the 

 National Technical Information Service, Spring- 

 field, Va. 22161; phone number (703) 487-4819. 



'■'Monbusho also sets the establishment and ac- 

 creditation standards for Japan's public and private 

 universities. 



''An English-language description of these insti- 

 tutes is in the Tokyo Office of the US. National 

 Science Foundation, Directory of Selected Japanese Sci- 

 entific Research Institutes: Goi'ernment, National Uni- 

 versities, and Special Corporations, Report 

 Memorandum #114, December 1986. The report may 

 be obtained from the National Science Foundation, 

 Office of International Programs, 1800G Street, N. W., 

 Washington, D.C. 20550. 



12 



