Japanese Academia Research Articles

Gender gaps in STEM in Japanese academia: The impact of research productivity, outside offers, and home life on pay

To understand differences in labor market outcomes between genders, economists must examine a complex array of potentially significant factors, such as institutional context, productivity differences, child-bearing and home production, and bargaining behavior. Many of these factors are not well captured by standard data sources. We use a new survey of academics in Japan to better understand the sources of gender pay differences. We find a 6% pay gap which persists when we control for research productivity, despite an institutional context shaped by explicit salary tables. We do not find a motherhood wage penalty, and the gender salary we document is not affected by differences in outside job offers.

Drug Discovery Support Processes from Japanese Academia -An Innovative Drug Development Support Measure from 1990 through 2017-

Drug Discovery Support Processes from Japanese Academia -An Innovative Drug Development Support Measure from 1990 through 2017-

Recent Japanese Scholarship on the Multi-State Order in East Eurasia from the Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries

Recent Japanese Scholarship on the Multi-State Order in East Eurasia from the Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries Endō Satoshi 遠藤総史, Iiyama Tomoyasu 飯山知保, Itō Kazuma 伊藤一馬, and Mori Eisuke 毛利英介 A conspicuous divergence exists in the pre-1990s and post-1990s Japanophone scholarship on Song China. While earlier generations of scholars perceived historical China as a culturally homogeneous polity that constituted the sole center of a multi-state order in pre-modern East Asia, recent research has attempted to contextualize Song China within a much broader East Eurasian history in terms of both its relations with neighboring states as well as its status as a culturally and socially diverse empire. By the 1990s, to a large extent, Nishijima Sadao's 西嶋定生 (1919–1998) interpretation of the "East Asian tributary system" (higashi Ajia sakuhō taisei 東アジア冊封体制), in which the Chinese emperor stood at the pinnacle of an East Asian multi-state order comprised of multiple tributary relationships with monarchs of the (mostly nominally) vassalized neighboring states, was the prevalent model within Japanese academia. Yet, as Nishijima plainly admitted, with the powerful Khitan Liao, Tangut Xi Xia, and Jurchen Jin militarily overmatching the Song dynasty, his explanation of a "tributary system" is not applicable to the era between the tenth and thirteenth centuries.1 Failing to offer an alternative [End Page 193] perspective, pre-1990s Japanophone scholarship of Song history remained dormant in exploring the East Asian multi-state order. Benefiting from and stimulated by the publication of new sources, both printed and epigraphic, as well as the emergence of Mongol Yuan studies since the mid-1990s, the new generation of Japanese scholars of Song, Liao, and Jin history has challenged and greatly changed the course of Chinese historiography in Japan. This essay aims to trace the trajectory of the major Japanese-language discussions, from the 1990s through April 2018, of the multistate order in East Eurasia from the tenth century to the thirteenth century. Changing Geographical Settings:From East Asia to East Eurasia To circumvent unwieldy explanations, it is convenient to begin with a definition of a new geographical setting for inter-state diplomacy, East Eurasia (tōbu Yūrashia 東部ユーラシア or Yūrashia tōbu/tōhō ユーラシア東部/ 東方), and the scholarly background of its emergence. It was not a mere coincidence that the term East Eurasia emerged in Japanophone scholarship almost simultaneously with Anglophone and other scholarship that was relativizing Eurocentric viewpoints in an effort to construct a genuinely global history. In the field of Japanese scholarship on Asian history (tōyōshi 東洋 史), where a clear and nearly insurmountable demarcation had customarily been drawn between East Asian history (higashi Ajia shi 東アジア史, that is, mostly Chinese history) and Inner Asian history (nairiku Ajia shi 内陸アジ ア史), these vocabulary choices also reflected an unmistakable intention to rectify a Sinocentric perspective. It was also during the 1990s that scholars of Mongol Eurasian history in Japan began vigorously advocating the argument that Chinese history should be perceived as an integral part of Eurasian history and that historical China should be treated as simply one of a number of coexisting East Eurasian states. The works of one of the preeminent figures in this academic movement, Sugiyama Masa'aki 杉山正明, have played a decisive role in promoting a "Central Eurasian" perspective on Chinese history. Stimulated by this movement, since the beginning of this century, a group of scholars have sought to divest Song China of its status as primus inter [End Page 194] pares within conventional Japanophone historical narratives of Asian history.2 The rise of Sogdian studies also had a remarkable impact on Japanophone Song scholarship after the 1990s. Shedding light on the migrations of Sogdian traders, soldiers, and diplomats across the Eurasian continent from the sixth to the tenth century, scholars inevitably questioned the discursive boundaries that had been drawn between Tang China and other states in the accepted historical narrative.3 The new geographic setting of East Eurasia also enables scholars to bridge the gaps amongsr Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song histories with a practical awareness of the spatial changes that "China" underwent. By blurring the boundaries of "Chinese" history, the majority of the books and articles included in this essay, to various degrees, take a stance against postulating a "Tang-Song transition," a...

The Origins of the Understanding of Ancient Korea-Japan Relations in Japanese Academia －The Studies of the Nihon Shoki(日本書紀) by the Scholars of Kokugaku(国学)－

본고에서는 유럽에서 한국학 및 동양학 연구가 본격적으로 시작된 19세기 말에 주목하여, 이에 영향을 준 일본에서의 國學연구에 대해 주목해 보았다. 초기 유럽의 고대 한･일관계사 인식에서 일본 국학의 역할이 결정적이었기 때문이다. 따라서 국학자들의 『일본서기』 연구를 중심으로 그들의 인식과 국학의 특징에 대해 살펴보았다. 『일본서기』에는 한‧일관계사 인식에 결정인 영향을 미치게 되는 신공황후의 ‘삼한 정벌’이 기술되어 있다. 이 신공황후 설화에 기반 한 일본의 神國思想과 대외의식은 대외적 긴장감이 높아질 때마다 강렬하게 표출되었다. 국학자들의 『일본서기』 연구 이전인 鎌倉시기에서 南北朝시기에도 『일본서기』는 황실에서 중요한 역사책으로 간주되었다. 그러나 근세와 『일본서기』를 단독으로 연구한 것은 아니었다. 근세에 들어 국학의 출발은 중국의 고전적 텍스트에서 고대 일본의 텍스트로의 변화에 초점을 두었다. 국학자인 荷田春満는 고전으로의 회귀를 기본으로 『일본서기』 神代紀기사가 道를 알기 위한 인간에게 필요한 모든 것이라고 하였다. 賀茂真淵는 『고사기』와 『일본서기』 등에서 고대인의 ‘마음’을 읽을 수 있는 ‘고전’으로서의 의의를 보기 시작하였고, 텍스트에 대한 엄격한 문헌학적 방법론과 일본 중심주의적 세계관을 보여주었다. 『고사기』와 『일본서기』에 대한 문헌학적 연구가 발달하기 시작한 것은 국학의 집성자인 本居宣長를 통해서다. 그는 『고사기』와 『일본서기』의 내용을 문자 그대로의 역사적 사실로서 받아들임으로써 일본중심주의적 세계관 및 역사 인식을 형성하였다. 이러한 그의 주장은 平田篤胤에 의해 계승되었다. 그러나 平田篤胤는 本居宣長까지의 『고사기』에 대한 절대적 정통성으로부터 이탈해 나갔다. 국학자들은 점차 『고사기』와 『일본서기』의 세계관을 절대적인 것으로 받아들이며, 이를 통해 고대의 언어와 신화에 대한 맹목적인 신봉과 일본 중심주의적 세계관을 형성해 나갔다. 그러나 고대의 일본 중심적 세계에 대한 맹목적인 신봉이라는 국학의 특징에도 불구하고, 국학자들에게서 보이는 문헌에 대한 실증주의적이고 합리적인 태도는 서양의 학자들이 일본의 역사와 문화, 그리고 『일본서기』에 관심을 가지는 계기가 되었다.

Japanese political science at a crossroads? normative and empirical preconditions for the integration of women and diversity into political science

Japan combines demographic challenges of decreasing childbirths and an ageing population, yet political unwillingness to use immigration to ease labour market and caregiving shortages. Paying attention to gender, diversity, and inclusion would seem to be a ‘rational’ political choice. Although Prime Minister Abe (Abe II) understands the need to appear to be responding to Japanese women qua equal citizens, women remain more an ‘object’ of LDP policy than a substantive beneficiary. To improve his image, Abe has incorporated ‘Womenomics’ into his strategy of economic revitalisation; the result has been a rather incoherent blend of ‘equal participation’ and ‘women’s utilisation’. In 2016, the dearth of diversity and anti-feminist sentiment within Japanese politics continues to be mirrored in both passive and active ways within the discursive and institutional political climate, including within academia. It is largely premature to assume a shared normative or scientific commitment to inclusion and diversity in Japan. Japanese Political Science (JPS) is no exception, and this has obvious implications for what constitutes a ‘serious’ political issue worthy of study, what gets funded, who gets hired, and the extent to which critical debates within feminist political science (FSP) on gender, race, and diversity are taken seriously. In this article, I offer a preliminary evaluation of JPS in light of three indicators: the under-representation of women in Japanese academia generally and political science specifically; the access of FPS to large-scale government funding grants (2003–2013) and its impact on the discipline; and recent efforts by feminist political scientists in Tokyo to create a ‘home’ for debates on gender, diversity, and political representation. I conclude with a hopeful expectation that increasing numbers of political scientists in Japan will begin to genuinely problematise the dearth of diversity in Japanese politics and to approach this fundamental puzzle of Japanese democratisation with the intellectual curiosity that it deserves.

Special Issue on the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) – Public Forum

Participants in the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in Sendai, Japan, March 14–18, 2015, discussed the successor framework of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) adopted at the 2005 Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction. These two frameworks were based on the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World adopted at the First World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 187 United Nations member states attended the WCDRR, together with over 6,500 participants and over 100 minister-level officials, including the heads of state of seven countries, prime ministers of five countries (including Japan), vice-presidential officials from six countries, and deputy prime ministers from seven countries. Related events included 150,000 attendees from Japan and abroad. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) and the Sendai Declaration were adopted by consensus as the outcome documents. One feature of the WCDRR was the large number of citizens taking part. These included governments, international organizations, NGOs, private-sectors groups and universities. They took part in 398 symposiums and seminars, plus over 200 exhibitions and other events. WCDRR discussions continued even after the conference, activating the Miyagi Roundtable for Disaster Risk Reduction, whose collaborators were from industry, government, academia, regular citizens, and the media. The Sendai Future Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in March 2016, one year later. Information sharing and discussions on disaster risk reduction and reconstruction are now in progress. The most remarkable aspect of the SFDRR as a WCDRR outcome document is the identification of seven global targets on disaster risk reduction. These targets were not included in either the Yokohama Strategy or the HFA. Two reasons why the target setting is significant are as follows: 1. Targets were determined considering the arguments on sustainable development goals. Although disasters have been major obstacles hampering economic growth, millennium development goals did not mention disaster risk reduction goals. Disaster risk reduction projects were thus not prioritized in many developing countries, where disaster risk is high. Disasters have continuously caused huge human and economic loss and required huge amounts of humanitarian assistance – an ongoing negative spiral. 2. Setting global targets are clearly different from the HFA. Voices from Japanese academia have suggested, for the first time, setting numerical targets in the HFA’s preparatory process. It was too early, however, to put it on the negotiation table because it lacked majority support. Western countries did not positively support the idea because it lacked a clear procedure for achieving such targets. It was reasonably pointed out that these targets could not be monitored without a yardstick, but member states reached the consensus to set seven targets at the SFDRR, although specific numbers were not clearly described. SFDRR targets were described as “substantial.” This “substantiality” has been negotiated continuously following the WCDRR. The member states meaningfully agreed to encourage investment in global disaster risk reduction and to demonstrate performance numerically, which is why target setting is considered the SFDRR’s core component. Note that articles in this special issue are categorized and briefly introduced corresponding to SFDRR priorities for action (Table 1). Many of these articles deal with “educational” aspects. Priority 1 includes educational issues, and SFDRR target C mentions education. Educational matters are thus clearly one of the most important topics in the disaster risk reduction context. The SFDRR explicitly describes the ‘build back better’ concept, and two articles examine the concept (Iwasawa and Onoda, and Iuchi and Maly). This special issue also contains studies on the business continuity plan (BCP) relating to investment in disaster risk reduction (Maruya, Haraguchi et al.). An article contributed by Ito et al. states the need to develop disaster databases in order to evaluate achievements of targets. This issue contains articles on all of the SFDRR’s priorities for action, and issue contents are well-balanced in reviewing the SFDRR and better understanding WCDRR’s significance. The editors thank the reviewers for their hard work and incisive suggestions. [editorialFig src='t1.png' width="600px" text='Table 1. SFDRR Priorities for Action and articles.' ]

Job stress in Japanese academia: The role of relative income, time allocation by task, and children

We examine the role of income relative deprivation, time allocation by task, and children in the job stress experienced by Japanese academics. Males’ job stress increases when their incomes are lower than that of their peers’, but females are not susceptible to such income comparisons. Job stress decreases with hours spent on research, provided the hours are not excessive; however, hours spent in teaching and on administrative tasks always increase job stress. The presence of young children increases job stress only for females, and children largely explain the observed gender differences in job-related stress.

Chosŏn-Centrism and Japan-Centrism in the Eighteenth Century: Han Wŏn-chin vs. Motoori Norinaga

ABSTRACTThe eighteenth century was a peaceful era for East Asia, ruled by the emperors of Ching. However, intellectuals who refused to accept the Great Ching order appeared in Chosŏn and Japan. They developed homeland-centric ideologies. This article compares the Han Wŏn-chin (韓元震, 1682–1751)‘s Chosŏn-centrism with the Motoori Norinaga (本居宣長, 1730–1801)’s Japan-centrism. There is a lot of research about the Norinaga’s Japan-centrism in Japanese academia, which contains both aspects of the culture theory and order theory. In Korea, however, discourse about Chosŏn-centrism is still ongoing argument under the concept of ‘Chosŏn’s Sino-centrism (朝鮮中華主義)’. I would like to pay attention to that, although homeland-centrism is constructed with two aspects, which are theories of international order and culture, the Chosŏn’s Sino-Centrism related discourse only discuss about culture theory aspect. Therefore, comparing Japan-centrism, which contains both culture and order parts, I will point out the problem of Chosŏn’s Sino-centrism discourse has, and assert that when Han Wŏn-chin came up with the idea of a Chosŏn-led world, Chosŏn-centrism had born with both aspects of culture and order. In order to reveal the Chosŏn-centrism, I will use a new concept called ‘Zhonghua Community (中華共同體)’.

産学連携による工学教育の更なる振興に向けた一提案

Promoting engineering education by academia industry collaboration is the original mission of JSEE. It has been kept and challenged for more than sixty years. The importance of engineering education was further elevated by the persisting trade deficit of Japan in the past several years. To raise engineers to answer the true needs of Japanese industries, what should be taught and why they should be taught are the two most important things the Japanese industries should tell to the Japanese academia. Based on the discussion in “Kanto Salon” , an annual meeting of KTSEE, Kanto Society for Engineering Education, and a careful study of existing activities on this theme outside KTSEE, the following new academia industry collaboration is proposed in this paper. (1) Comprehensive development of a standardized curriculum containing reasons why those subjects should be taught. (2) Early development of a specific lecture for Japanese engineering schools. (3) Collaboration with other institutes to develop it.

Gender promotion differences in economics departments in Japan: A duration analysis

Using a unique data set from our survey of academic economists in Japan, we present the first detailed study of gender promotion gaps in Japanese academia. The length of time from initial appointment to promotion to associate professor is greater for women than men, largely due to women spending more time as lecturers, the lowest academic rank. The gender gaps in promotions from associate professor to full professor are more complex. Childless women are promoted faster than childless men. However, since the effects of marriage and children are negative for women, this ‘reverse gender gap’ disappears for childless married academics, and women's time to promotion becomes substantially longer than men's if they have children.

Japan's “Nuclear Village” Beyond the Border: The Japan-Indonesia Network of Nuclear Engineering

In this paper, the authors analyze the formation of a network of Indonesian nuclear experts. Their investigation of Indonesia's major institutions of nuclear engineering—the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Badan Tenaga Nuklir Nasional, BATAN), the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Badan Pengawas Tenaga Nuklir, BAPETEN), and the Bandung Institute of Technology (Institute of Technology in Bandung, ITB)—reveals a visible Japanese influence in Indonesia. Through extensive interviews with Indonesian nuclear experts, the authors demonstrate the close ties between the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the ITB. This analysis illustrates the firm relationship between the two institutions in an academic nexus, resulting in the formation of the Japan-Indonesia nuclear network. Further, the collective biographies of Indonesian nuclear physicists, including Zaki Su'ud and his followers, show that the tightly woven academic complex between Japan and Indonesia has pushed the transfer of nuclear research from Japan to Indonesia. This collection of ties has led to the establishment of a so-called science community of nuclear engineering in Indonesia by the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The authors argue that this science community forms a subsidiary of Japan's “nuclear village,” which has expanded beyond its national boundaries. The authors’ research on Japan's technopolitical expansion through the establishment of a science community in Indonesia reveals the manner in which close ties between Japanese and Indonesian academia have been built. The authors suggest that this Japan-Indonesia network should be understood within the context of Japan as a United States techno-imperial sub-system, forming an extension of the US-centered international structure of nuclear engineering in the framework of models proposed by Togo Tsukahara.

Short History of Risk Communication in Japan

The notion of risk was introduced in Japanese academia in the 1970s. Following this initial period of interest, the Society for Risk Analysis, Japan, was launched in 1988, coinciding with the first study of “risk communication.” However, the concept was not widely embraced by the public at that time. This situation changed after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and risk communication gradually came to be acknowledged in Japanese society. Following the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant incident ofMarch 11, 2011, a boom in risk communication occurred due to anxieties among residents about the possibility of low-level radiation exposure. Regrettably, however, the government’s risk communication system did not work well, and consequently, the general public did not know who or what to believe. Underlying this confusion, we can observe the differences between the “risk cultures” of Japan and the West. Thus, it remains to be seen in what manner Japanese people will come to accept risk communication.

Ranking Regime and the Future of Vernacular Scholarship

World university rankings and their global popularity present a number of far-reaching impacts for vernacular scholarship. This article employs a multidimensional approach to analyze the ranking regime’s threat to local scholarship and knowledge construction through a study of Japanese research universities. First, local conditions that have led to the perpetuation of the world university rankings are examined. Next, the use of bibliometric indicators in performance assessment, a critical consequence of the popularization of the world university rankings, is tested against two prevailing factors in Japanese academia: the bipolar character of academic publishing and institution-centered audit. Despite high-flying idealism, the quest to improve positions in the rankings may fall short of addressing real needs of enhancing individual performance in pursuit of globally relevant research and ensuring equity among different generations of scholars. The study also points to the precarious future of vernacular scholarship, as the rankings celebrate audit culture and export its norms as well as an increasingly inward-looking propensity of Anglo-American academic circles to the rest of the world.

Recent Collaborative Endeavors by Historians of Women and Gender in Japan

The collaboration between historians of Japanese women and those who focused on women’s and gender history in other areas of the world has been crucial for changing the conservative nature of historical studies in Japanese academia. The main focus of this article is on two benefits that the collaborative relationships of historians of women and gender as well as scholars in other disciplines have made possible: the establishment of the Gender History Association of Japan in 2004, and the project to effect change in secondary history education and textbooks. In spite of the bleak picture in Japan’s gender gap, as the Global Gender Gap Index of Japan demonstrates, it is important for one to understand the efforts made by historians of women and gender in Japan in making a difference in the field of history, and to promote a gender-equal society through collaborative activities nationally and internationally.

Going places: exploring the impact of intra-sectoral mobility on research productivity and communication behaviors in Japanese academia

This study analyzes the impact of intra-sectoral mobility of academics on research productivity and R&D information exchange dynamics in Japan. The analysis shows intra-sectoral mobility impacting positively both research productivity and information exchange dynamics, but that this effect—except for information exchange with peers based abroad—has a threshold. This result highlights the importance of academic job mobility but also alerts for cases of “overloads of mobility,” leading us to argue for some degree of stability in academic careers, supported by policies fostering temporary international mobility spells. We also find that the role of foreign academics in the Japanese higher education is one of national and international gatekeepers being this role shaped by where the doctorate was obtained (Japan vs abroad). Japanese academics that have performed the doctorate abroad are also key international gatekeepers.

A Preliminary Study on the Shi in the Period of Disunity, China: Reexamining of the Kizoku Theory Popular in the Japanese Academia

A Preliminary Study on the Shi in the Period of Disunity, China: Reexamining of the Kizoku Theory Popular in the Japanese Academia

Techno-Science and the State in the Japanese Empire: Yang Daqing, Technology of Empire Janis Mimura, Planning for Empire

Techno-Science and the State in the Japanese EmpireYang Daqing, Technology of Empire Janis Mimura, Planning for Empire Togo Tsukahara (bio) It is a pleasant surprise to find two serious English-language scholarly works on Japan’s period of empire-building and the Japanese state’s use, appropriation, and management of technology. Together, these works suggest that the Japanese attempt at expansion and empire-building in the twentieth century and the conceptualization of its claim to the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” should be characterized by its application of techno-science and not simply attributed to nationalism and fascism. The Japanese political management of a combined science and technology was in many senses remarkable, and it holds great interest as the first non-Western case of the appropriation and globalization of modern Western science and technology. Yet it has been underexamined; except for a few English-language works, such as Mizuno Hiromi’s Science for the Empire: Scientific Nationalism in Modern Japan (2009), most studies of techno-science and empire in Japan have been limited to Japanese academia or to Chinese, mainly from Liang Bo and his group. Yang Daqing’s Technology of Empire: Telecommunications and Japanese Expansion in Asia, 1883–1945 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, Harvard East Asian Monograph 219, 2011. Pp. 468. $49.95) is a straightforward history of telecommunications in Japan: well-documented, descriptive, and thorough. This is an impressive work, starting from Japan’s first contact with Western communications technology on the occasion of its forced encounter with American gunboat diplomacy, and ending with [End Page 461] Hirohito’s radio broadcast. Those points are marked to signify the beginning and the end of a distinctive period in Japanese telecommunications, both coerced by the Americans. Chronologically ordered and encyclopedic, this book surely will be a standard in the field. One should note, however, that the subtitle is somewhat misleading. This is not really a book covering Japanese imperialism and communications from 1883 onward; it is much more concentrated on 1930–45, with the earlier story being more of a backdrop. Part 1 discusses the “Genesis” of Japanese telecommunications in the period 1853–1931, when Japan was an emerging empire in the age of submarine telegraphy; it also covers the subsequent technology of wireless. The author pays attention to Japan’s so-called informal empire, the building of its telecommunications network, and that network’s function as a tool of control. Part 2 deals with “Technology,” covering the period after Japan’s commitment to China in the period between 1931 and 1940. Yang states that telecommunications were oriented toward a new order on the continent, and he analyzes new Japanese communication technologies in connection to the way Japanese bureaucrats and engineers envisioned imperial integration. Part 3 discusses “Control” in the more intensified war effort, during 1936 to 1945. How did Japan negotiate and establish control at home, and consolidate media and telecommunications control in China? It also further describes how Japan gained control in Southeast Asia. Finally, part 4 explains the final stage of Japan’s telecommunications from the viewpoint of “Network” in 1939–45: how systematic integration into the disastrous total war was organized and disrupted, up to its final operation and meltdown. In this part, the aftermath of the whole story is briefly discussed. This is the first full-scale book on this topic in English, but it is not clear what is new to Japanese and Chinese historians of technology already familiar with this history. In part, this is because it is much more descriptive than theoretical. I understand that the author needed to explain what is what to English readers, but I, for one, would have liked to see a sharper theoretical edge. The descriptive approach, however, surely has laid a firm foundation for further analysis. There is also an editorial issue of some significance: there are too many mistakes in Japanese. To name just a few notable ones in the earliest part: Hirohito’s radio broadcasting of Japan’s defeat is “Gyoku On Hoso,” not “Gyo’on Hoso” (p. 2), and the standard resource work edited by the Japanese Society of History of Science is Nihon Kagaku Gijutsu Shi...

The many faces of Religious Studies and the multiplicity of religious traditions in Japan

The Japanese Association of Religious Studies (JARS) had 2112 members in 2006, a fairly large number. On the other hand, among 756 universities in Japan, there are only ten universities with departments or courses in Religious Studies or the academic study of religion. In spite of this unfavorable situation, JARS has been quite active and Religious Studies is widely recognized within Japanese academia. Because religious traditions in Japan are multiple and interconnected to each other in complicated ways, scholars have been working on them from various perspectives and by various methods. JARS is recognized by a wide range of scholars as an appropriate institution for discussing various topics related to multiple traditions. This has become possible because Religious Studies in Japan has been dealing widely with various religious traditions; it is one major academic institution for comparison and dialog among various traditions.

Distribution of academic research funds: a case of Japanese national research grant

Drawing on a database of the competitive research funds in the Japanese academia, this study examines the distribution of research grants at the university and individual levels. The data indicates high inequality at the university level and slightly lower inequality at the individual level. Over the last three decades, the total grant budget has greatly increased and an increasing number of researchers have received the funds. Simultaneously, large-size grants have become more common and multiple awarding (i.e., one researcher receives more than one grant simultaneously) has become more frequent. These changes taken together, the level of inequality has not been changed substantially. The extent of inequality largely differs between scientific fields; especially high in basic natural sciences and relatively low in social sciences. A close examination of inequality over researchers' career indicates different patterns of transition between fields and cohorts. Finally, both at the university and individual levels, the funding distribution is found more unequal than the distribution of publications as an output indicator.

Academic Cooperation in Japanese Academia : Sharing of research tools in life science and material science

Academic Cooperation in Japanese Academia : Sharing of research tools in life science and material science