A number of science-related projects have suffered budget cuts or have been eliminated by the waste-cutting panel of the Hatoyama administration's Government Revitalization Unit.
Some of the panel's decisions are shortsighted and appear likely to sap Japan's strength in science and technology over the long term, a prospect that has prompted strong protests from prominent scientists. The administration should override the panel's shortsighted decisions and ensure that policies are implemented to nurture new scientists and sustain development of science and technology.
The government will have spent ¥56 trillion by the end of fiscal 2009 for its science and technology basic plan, which began in 1996. But this plan, mainly intended for large projects, has not nurtured new scientists as hoped, and that is what this country needs most. Universities, which have been the traditional centers of scientific research in Japan, have been weakened by budget cuts. The government must pick up the slack.