RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE POLICY IN JAPAN
MASAO ITO
In 1995, the Science Council of Japan (JSC) urgently requested that our government solve a number of problems inherent in our research systems in order to meet the high expectations of national and international communities regarding achievements in science and technology. We tried to convince not only the administration but also researchers in Japan that the concept of strategic research is useful in bridging the gap between fundamental and applied research, and thereby in restructuring the relationships between science and industry, and science and society, in Japan. This effort led to the creation of a new category of government grants for strategic research. Radical restructuring of Japanese research systems will be accelerated as a result of the "Science and Technology Basic Law" enacted in the fall of 1995, which requires the Japanese government to form a basic science and technology plan every 5 years in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology. The first plan, adopted in June 1996, includes a number of important proposals such as a 60% increase in government investments within 5 years, drastic deregulation, and concrete plans for increasing the number and lifting levels of skills of researchers and technical staff. In April of 1996, JSC made recommendations to the government concerning a systematic, integrated program of brain science which is one of the most important strategic research fields. A 20-year-long research project entitled "The Age of the Brain" will therefore be launched in 1997, which is aimed at the parallel advancement of basic, clinicopathological and informatics investigations on the brain.