JSPS Newsletter

N0. 32 July 2000

On July 1st, 2000, I became Director General of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, succeeding Dr. Ken Kikuchi in that post. Dr. Kikuchi, other senior directors and administrative officers of JSPS have made tremendous strides in their efforts to promote and advance scientific research in Japan. It is upon their achievements and with a strong desire to meet the expectations of the Japanese people that I take on the weighty responsibilities of this post. In this endeavor, I seek your most generous guidance and encouragement.
It goes without saying that, as an intellectually creative activity, scientific research is carried out in pursuit of the truth. As such, it constitutes the matrix for creating culture and developing society as well as for advancing technology and promoting industry.
While in the midst of a transition period from the system that supported its postwar development to a new generation of systems, Japan also finds itself caught up in a riptide of crosscurrents, including globalization and the advent of the IT revolution, at a time when its population is aging and birth rate are declining. To cope with these trends, Japan must be a country committed to the promotion of science and technology. Of particular urgency will be the promotion of richly creative research aimed at achieving "the next generation" of scientific advances-that is, advances of a kind that will help to revitalize the Japanese economy and promote national competitiveness while realizing a high quality of life for the Japanese people. This imperative is manifest both in the decision to reorganize early next year the Monbusho (Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture) and the Kagaku Gijutsucho (Science and Technology Agency) into a single combined organization, the "Monbu Kagakusho" and in this year's public debate on the government's proposed next version of the Science and Technology Basic Plan.
Within this context, JSPS has been carrying out programs to foster young researchers, conduct international scientific exchanges, and to promote cooperation and linkage between the scientific community and society. Added to these programs, it has recently begun to implement activities under the Research for the Future Program, the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Program, the Fureai Science Program, and the (matching funds operated) Research Development Program of University-Industry Alliance. Through these and other formats and initiatives, JSPS is working vigorously to contribute to the advancement of science.
JSPS's budget has been more than tripled over just the past three years, with its current budget totaling ¥135.2 billion. In the scale of its funding, JSPS does not take a back seat to any of the major science-promotion agencies around the world. For its activities and achievements as well, JSPS is highly appraised both at home and abroad.
It may be said that this rapid development of JSPS and its programs reflects the interest and expectation that Japanese people have in meeting the demands of the quickly evolving times-times which require the re-creation of "knowledge" through quantum leaps in scientific research.
Amidst such societal transition and expectation, JSPS is striving to promote scientific research at the world's highest standards so as to establish Japan as a country with a strong intellectual presence in the international community and to give Japan the ability to take the lead among nations in a variety of scientific fields.
In assuming the post of Director General, I will endeavor to enhance JSPS's programs and to improve its organization and operation in such a way as to enable JSPS to even more effectively fulfill its important roles and responsibilities, both domestically and internationally, as a core agency in promoting scientific advancement.
Again, may I ask each of you for your support and cooperation as JSPS pursues its agenda of initiatives and objectives in the months and years ahead.

Grants-in-Aid are used to support the promotion of scientific research in Japan. Their purpose is to advance outstanding initiatives in creative and leading research across a spectrum of fields from the humanities and social sciences to the natural sciences. They are awarded to individual researchers and research groups at Japanese universities and other research institutions, particularly those doing or planning basic research in critical fields attuned to advanced research trends.
For the FY2000 program, a total of approximately 108 thousand applications were received from last year by the Monbusho and JSPS. They were reviewed by the Science Council and the JSPS Committee on Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research.
The distribution of FY2000 awards of Grants-in-Aid was announced as follows: Approximately 37 thousand grants in the aggregate amount of about 98.8 billion yen.

Two Inter-Research Centers Cooperative Programs (IRCPs) were launched by JSPS on April 1, 2000. The important studies to be carried out in the two subject fields will continue for three years until March 2003.
In one of the programs, Japanese and Italian researchers are embarking upon a collaboration, titled Studies of particle and nuclear physics including theoretical and experimental research by means of advanced accelerators. The two teams (Japanese representative: Dr. Sakue Yamada, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK); and Italian representative: Prof. Paolo Laurelli, Lab. Nazionali de Franscati dell' (INFN)) will work together on themes in the fields of particle and nuclear physics and in accelerator technology.
The researchers in this program will conduct studies on theoretical particle physics and computational particle physics and will perform neutrino oscillation experiments with an aim at contributing to solutions of contemporary problems germane to particle and nuclear physics.
The Japanese side considers Italy to have a long history of achievements in these fields. The Italian team has a number of talented researchers who are playing an active role not only in Italy, but in the wider European community and in the United States as well. Japan has accrued expertise in these areas through previous projects, making it more capable of both competing and cooperating in the world arena. Although Japanese and Italian researchers have collaborated in several international joint research projects at Europe's CERN and DESY and the U.S.'s FNAL, they seldom have had the chance to work together in joint research projects on a large scale in one country or the other. The researchers look forward to the Japan-Italy IRCP giving them the opportunity to challenge and stimulate each other while achieving tangible results through the project's joint implementation.
The other IRCP is organized between Japan and China. It has been launched under the title Studies of tropospheric and stratospheric physical chemistry on the basis of balloon-borne measurements of ozone and aerosols. The program (led by Prof. Yasunobu Iwasaka, Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, and Prof. Shi, Guangyu, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) is being undertaken to elucidate the atmospheric chemical functions of mineral particles (yellow dust) by surveying a wide variety of aerosol properties, ozone density, and water vapor using a balloon-borne measuring system in the atmosphere above China.
It is recognized that aerosols are closely associated with radiation processes in the atmosphere and with the atmospheric composition of the biogeochemical cycle. There has not, however, been enough detailed studies conducted as yet on these phenomena, leaving ample room for more observations and experiments in the future.
The largest research initiative under the program will be the Ace-Asia Project, to be carried out by NASA and others in 2001. The collaborators intend to survey aerosols over the East-Asian sector of the Pacific Ocean using aircraft-borne systems of measurements. The Japan-China IRCP will proceed in concert with these subsequent studies, as it focuses on technical combinations not yet tried and attempts to better exploit the characteristics of observation points.

To commemorate the tenth year of the Japan/Korea Science Cooperation Program, the Korean Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) and JSPS co-convened a symposium, held at the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul on 30 May.
JSPS has been conducting a researcher exchange program with KOSEF since 1979. Then, in 1990, the two agencies signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) inaugurating programs of joint research and joint seminars to be supported under the collaborative framework. Seven fields were stipulated for coverage under these programs: (1) mathematics and physics, (2) chemistry and material science, (3) biology, (4) informatics and mechatronics, (5) geo-science (including space science), (6) medical science, and (7) humanities and social sciences. Specific research themes are selected by the Japan/Korea Basic Scientific Research Joint Committee, made up of 14 members (one in each field from both sides).

Attending the symposium were the 14 committee members and some 100 others, mostly Korean scientists and members of science-promotion agencies. At the opening, Dr. Chung-Duk Kim, President of KOSEF, and Dr. Ken Kikuchi, Director General of JSPS, both gave presentations, in which they noted that the implementation of the cooperative program over this 10-year period has yielded a great number of tangible research fruits, which is also being highly evaluated for the role it plays in fostering close inter-personal and collegial relationships between Japanese and Korean scientists. Both emphasized that, at the threshold of the 21st century, it will be imperative to enhance further scientific exchange between the two countries.
Keynote speeches were given by representatives of each side. From the Japanese side, Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President of JSPS, gave an address entitled "Science and Technology for the Future-Design and Synthesis."
From the Korean side, Professor Sook-Il Kwun, former minister of the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology, delivered a speech on the theme "New Paradigm of Science Policy for the 21st Century in Korea." In it, he stressed the need for advancing basic and fundamental research, and expressed his hope for Korean-Japanese cooperative ties to create an axis for wider vistas of scientific collaboration in East Asia.

In celebration of the 400-year relationship between the Netherlands and Japan, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and JSPS will jointly organize and hold five bilateral Dutch-Japanese Seminars in the current fiscal year. These seminars will address various topics in the fields of medical science and natural science, and will be held in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagasaki and Leiden.
The first seminar, entitled "Gratama Workshop-Chemistry and Chemical Technology for a Sustainable Society" was held at Osaka University on April 21, and the second was convened at United Nations University in Tokyo on April 24, 2000.
At the opening ceremony of this second seminar, entitled "Japan-the Netherlands 400 Years Symposium on Recent Advances in Glycobiology," JSPS Director General Dr. Ken Kikuchi remarked that deep historical roots exist between the two countries. Stating that the significance of this bilateral scientific collaboration over the span of four centuries cannot be overstated, he pointed out that the agreement concluded in 1996 between the Japanese and Dutch governments on cooperation in science and technology has strengthened the collaborative matrix and will usher the two countries across the threshold of yet another century. Dr. Kikuchi said that he looks forward to each of the subsequent seminars in the series being very successful both in terms of their scientific contributions and of their marking new milestones in the growth of this bilateral relationship.

Since 1996, the JSPS Liaison Office Bonn has been holding the annual Japan-Germany Symposium, which is organized with the Deutsche Gesellshaft der JSPS Stipendiaten (Alumni Association of Former JSPS Fellows). Celebrating the association's fifth anniversary this year, the symposium was held on May 12-13 in Berlin, Germany's new, still vibrantly growing capital 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Subsequently, another symposium was held on May 15 in Leipzig, a city with a rich history in science and culture (also well-known for its peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations that led to the fall of the Wall). It was jointly organized with the University of Leipzig. Both symposia were officially recognized as part of "Japan Year in Germany," which began last year.
The symposium in Berlin, entitled "Communication and Understanding," was held in the auditorium of a suburban hotel. At the opening, welcoming remarks were delivered by Japanese Ambassador Mr. Kunisada Kume and Mayor of Kleinmachnow Dr. Wolfgang Blasig. Secretary General of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Dr. Manfred Osten and JSPS Director Prof. Kanichiro Kato greeted the participants.
In the following session, lectures were given by three Japanese lecturers: Prof. Tadamitsu Kishimoto (President, Osaka University), Prof. Tetsuhiko Ikegami (Vice President, University of Aizu) and Dr. Katsuki Miyauchi (Executive General Manager, Corporate Technology Group, Hitachi Europe Ltd), and by three German lecturers: Prof. Ervin Laszlo (President, Club of Budapest), Prof. Constantin von Barloewen (European University for Research, Paris), Prof. Hans Markowitsch (University of Bielefeld). These lectures covered various subjects in the natural sciences as well as in the humanities, each being of excellent quality and stimulating many questions and lively discussions.
The participants also enjoyed a reception held in the heart of Berlin on the first evening, featuring a friendly speech by Mr. Volker Klein (Secretary General of the Japan-German Center Berlin) and a musical performance.
This symposium was a great success as it was attended by about 180 researchers and guests, including 86 former JSPS Fellows and 12 Japanese researchers currently staying in Germany as fellows of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
The other symposium in Leipzig, entitled "Crossing the Frontiers of Science," was held at a hotel in the center of the city. The welcoming remarks, delivered by Prof. Volker Bigl (Rector, University of Leipzig), Mrs. Gabriele Bock (Director, City of Leipzig) and Prof. Kanichiro Kato, were followed by six lectures. The three Japanese lecturers were the same as in Berlin. The lecturers on the German side were Prof. Tilman Butz (Vice Rector for Research, University of Leipzig), Prof. Mark Stoneking (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) and Prof. Patrick Bruno (Director, Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics). All the lectures addressed trends on the frontiers of specialized fields, and were followed by active discussions. After the symposium, Rector Bigl hosted a reception at Senator Hall of the University. On that occasion, he expressed his strong wish for the symposium to mark the start of a concerted development of scientific exchange and cooperation between Japan and the new federal states of Germany.

Prof.Patrick Bruno delivers a lecture at Leipzig.

This symposium was also very successful, with about 50 researchers from Leipzig and other cities in the State of Saxony participating and displaying a strong interest in scientific activities being conducted in Japan.
This year's symposia are notable in that they were the first to be convened in the new federal states of Germany. Many of the participants expressed praise for the great success of these symposia and for JSPS's effort to promote scientific cooperation between Japan and Germany, and in particular with the new federal states of Germany.
We are happy to witness these symposia stimulating mutual communication and understanding between the scientists of the two countries while promoting a further expansion of scientific cooperation.

Participants of the Symposium at Berlin.

This Forum was held at the Cosmos Club in Washington D.C. on June 16, 2000. It was organized and sponsored by the JSPS Washington Liaison Office and co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The office holds this series of "Science in Japan" forums to provide current, first-hand information on science in Japan as one of the office's activities to promote academic exchange between the U.S. and Japan.
The forums consist of two sessions in each of which three or four scientists from the U.S. and Japan deliver presentations related to various themes of science in Japan.
The speakers and their topics in each session of the Fifth Forum were as follows:

Morning Session: Physical Science in Japan

　Dr. Keiichi Kodaira (National Astronomical Observatory)
　　　"Recent Progress in SUBARU and Prospects of Astronomy in Japan"
　Dr. Yasuo Fukui (Nagoya University)
　　　"How Stars Are Formed: What We Have Learned from Mm and Sub-mm Studies"
　Dr. Tuneyoshi Kamae (Hiroshima University)
　　　"Astrophysics and Particle Physics with Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST)"

Afternoon Session: Biological Science in Japan

　Dr. Yoshiro Shimura (Biomolecular Engineering Research Institute)
　　　"Recent Topics in RNA Research in Japan"
　Dr. Ko Shimamoto (Nara Institute of Science and Technology)
　　　"Molecular Biology of Rice"
　Dr. Kiyotaka Okada (Kyoto University)
　　　"Plant Molecular Biology in Japan-Past, Present, and Future"
　Dr. Barbara A. Schaal (Washington University at St. Louis)
　　　"The Origins and Diversity of Crops: An Evolutionary Perspective"
About 150 persons (members of science-related committees of the U.S. House and Senate, government officials, university and research institution heads, distinguished scholars, ambassadors, science attaches, and media representatives) attended and participated in this forum.

Lecturers of the Forum

Prof. Yasuo Fukui delivers a presentation.

The JSPS London Liaison Office held a series of small-scale seminars on specialized topics on 1, 2 and 15 June at Imperial College, the University of Bath and the University of Cambridge respectively. They were co-sponsored by The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), and The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The seminar at the University of Bath.

The aim of these seminars was to promote scientific discussion and cooperation between Japan and the U.K. by introducing the latest research advances in Japan.
The JSPS London Liaison Office invited the project leaders of the Research for the Future (RFTF) Program to be speakers at these seminars. This program involves highly creative future-oriented research themes and researchers from leading university scientists in Japan.
The seminars were divided into two sessions, in each of which one Japanese scientist from an RFTF project delivered a presentation.
The topics selected and speakers in each of the seminars were as follows:

Session 1:

Research on Micro and Soft-mechanics Integration for Bio-mimetic machines
Prof. Hirochika Inoue (The University of Tokyo) and his co-researcher, Dr. Hiroyuki Shinoda (Tokyo University of Agriculture & T echnology)

Session 2:

Distributed Micromachines Composed of Many Different Kind Elements
Prof. Masayoshi Esashi (Tohoku University) and his co-researcher,
Dr. Shuji Tanaka (Tohoku University)

University of Cambridge: Next-generation Process Technologies

Session 1:

Control of Abnormal Growth in Materials Processing―
Structurizing Knowledge and the Knowledge Infrastructure
Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama (The University of Tokyo)

Session 2:

Next Generation System Integration and Packaging―
Materials Interfaces and Interconnection
Prof. Tadatomo Suga (The University of Tokyo)

The lectures were all followed by lively discussions, reflecting the strong interest of the participants. About 30 academics including postdoctoral researchers attended each seminar.
The JSPS London Liaison Office hopes to continue to hold this kind of seminar at other U.K. universities in the future.

Office Building

The JSPS London Liaison Office was established in June 1995 and is the newest of JSPS's overseas offices. The office is located in the Mayfair district of London. This location is close to JSPS's three counterpart agencies in the U.K.: The Royal Society (RS) in the field of natural science; The British Academy (BA) in the fields of humanities and social sciences; and The British Council (BC).
There are five staff members currently working in the office, led by the director, Mr. Kunio Sato, who was previously a managing director at JSPS's Head Office. Other members of the office include Mr. S. Tamura, Ms. Z. Whittle, Mr. T. Minegishi, and Ms. E. Kaga.
The JSPS London Liaison Office works to promote international academic exchanges between Japan and the U.K. in the following ways:
(1) It is actively engaged in gathering information, materials and resources on Japanese universities and research communities and in disseminating them to U.K. researchers and other interested persons.
(2) It liaises with counterpart agencies in the U.K. in relation to its bilateral programmes.
(3) It provides assistance to visiting Japanese researchers.
(4) It offers information and assistance to researchers interested in JSPS's activities, those wishing to apply for Joint Research Projects, and to JSPS fellowship awardees.
Recently, the number of researchers going to Japan from the U.K. as participants in JSPS programme is decreasing. To remedy this, the JSPS London Liaison Office has embarked on a new outreach programme of seminars through which the latest Japanese research is introduced and increased cooperation is encouraged from its counterpart agencies and other academic institutions throughout the U.K.
Firstly, since it opened in 1995, the Office has organized three bilateral symposiums on 'Science and Society' at the University of Oxford in 1995, the University of Birmingham in 1996, and the University of Cambridge in 1998.
From September 1999, the Office started a new initiative by organizing seminars on specific disciplines. The chosen field of the last seminar was 'Engineering'. It was organized in conjunction with The Royal Society (RS), The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), and The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
In December 2000, the JSPS London Liaison Office will hold symposium on the 'Control of Cell Growth' at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge. The Office hopes to continue to develop its outreach programme so as to encompass other academic fields in the future.
Secondly, starting this year the Office has held a series of small-scale seminars on specialized topics. (Please see related articles.)
Thirdly, the Office held presentations at four universities throughout the U.K.

Mr.Kunio Sato(2nd from right)and staff members at the London office.

(Birmingham, Cardiff, Sheffield, Edinburgh) in collaboration with The Royal Society and The British Council Tokyo at the end of February and the beginning of March of this year. They highlighted the role of the three organizations and their international programmes and included talks by former JSPS fellows. There were between 20-30 attendees at each presentation. In 2000, the Office would like to hold more such presentations at other U.K. universities.
Next year, "JAPAN 2001" will take place in the U.K. Accompanying it, a wide-ranging series of Japan-related events will be held throughout the country.
The JSPS London Liaison Office hopes to take part in this event by holding scientific seminars to further promote scientific cooperation between Japan and the U.K.

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