NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE

June 14, 2001

The National Science Foundation's Tokyo Regional Office periodically reports on developments in Japan that are related to the Foundation's mission. It also provides occasional reports on developments in other East Asian countries.

Tokyo Office Report Memoranda are intended to provide information for the use of NSF program officers and policy makers; they are not statements of NSF policy.

CENTER FOR GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP SCIENCE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Under the Center for Global Partnership (CGP) Science Fellowship Program, 75 American scientists and engineers ranging from the postdoc to the senior level visited Japan between October 1992 and March 2001. The following describes how the program started and ended, with an emphasis on its unique features. A list of all American researchers who visited Japan under the CGP Science Fellowship Program is appended. (This report was prepared by Ms. Kazuko Shinohara in the National Science Foundation's Tokyo Office, who may be reached at kshinoha@nsf.gov.)

Unique Feature: This program was different from other fellowship programs offered to foreign scientists by the Japanese Government in three respects:

First, it had flexibility in the duration of stay in Japan from 3 to 24 months, and thus allowed American professors easily to arrange to visit Japan during their sabbatical years. After returning to the United States, many became catalysts for sending their students to Japan, under the auspices of postdoctoral fellowship and summer programs sponsored by the Japanese Government.

Second, this program enabled American researchers to work in industrial, university, and government laboratories, whereas all the other Japanese government-sponsored fellowship programs made it possible to visit only one or another of these three categories of institutions.

Third, fellowship funds were provided in dollars to the fellows through the National Science Foundation (NSF). CGP provided a lump sum amount to NSF each year based on which candidates NSF selected as fellowship awardees from the applications received by the deadline of September 1 of each year. In other words, NSF was given the autonomy to administer and monitor this program and could use the funds received from CGP in dollars in the same manner as NSF normally supports American researchers. Expenditures were reported from NSF to CGP annually.

How the program started: In late December 1990, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) proposed a new fellowship program for American scientists to visit Japan for research activities and requested that NSF be the agency for administering and monitoring the program in the United States. This new scheme was established to replace the so-called Takeshita Fund, and MOFA designated the Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership (CGP) as the Japanese funding organization for the program. However, it took more than one year to stipulate the details so that the first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NSF and CGP was not signed until September 1992. The MOU stipulated that the fellowship program be in effect through March 31, 1995, with possible extensions thereafter based on written agreements.

Takeshita Fund: In December 1987 the Government of Japan decided to provide the U.S. government a lump sum amount of ¥600 Million (ca. $4 million) for the purpose of promoting research visits by American scientists and engineers to Japanese laboratories. It also requested NSF to administer and monitor such fellowship programs on behalf of the U.S. government. When Japan's Prime Minister Takeshita visited the United States in January 1988, he informed NSF and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) about his intention regarding this scheme. This is the reason these funds came to be called the Takeshita Fund.

The Japan Foundation was established in 1972 as a special legal entity under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purpose of promoting mutual understanding and friendship at the international level. It was the first specialist organization for international cultural exchange in Japan, and it carries out a broad variety of cultural exchange programs with personnel exchange as its basic raison d'être, ranging from such academic pursuits such as Japanese studies and Japanese-language education, to the arts, publication, audio-visual media, sports, and general culture. Its activities are financed by profits on government endowments, aid from the government (including the Overseas Development Assistance or ODA budget), and funding and donations from the private sector.

The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP) was established in 1991 to help achieve closer relations between Japan and the United States, and to contribute to a better world through the cooperative efforts of both countries. The idea for CGP originated with the late Mr. Shintaro Abe, former Minister for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Abe first proposed the establishment of a Global Partnership Fund in June 1990, while visiting the United States as a special envoy of the Japanese Government. The idea was welcomed by the leaders of both countries. The operation of CGP is financed entirely with the interest from a ¥50 billion (ca. $450 million) endowment created within the Japan Foundation.

How the program ended: The year in which the CGP was established (1991) was also the year when the bubble economy in Japan began to collapse. CGP's operations are totally dependent on the interest from the endowment. Due to the continuing stagnant economy in Japan, interest rates kept decreasing. CGP had to face increasing financial constraints. In the year 1995, its total budget was 75 percent of the budget it had had at the time of establishment. Thus, when the original MOU between CGP and NSF expired in March 1995, CGP was having difficulty in foreseeing its future financial status, and decided to extend the MOU by one year with a possibility of annual extension thereafter. In this way, the MOU began to be extended annually starting in April 1995. In 1997 CGP's total budget was roughly half of its original 1991 budget, resulting in a decrease in CGP's budget for the Science Fellowship Program by about 40 percent. With further declining interest rates which eventually approached zero, CGP had to face very serious financial realities, particularly after 1998. As suggested above, the Japan Foundation is involved primarily in exchange activities for human and social sciences, which obliged them to prioritize their programs in these fields. Due to these reasons, in the year 1999 the budget for the Science Fellowship Program became less than one third of the original budget in 1992. Finally, in 1999 CGP decided to terminate the funds to the Science Fellowship Program as of the end of JFY2000, that is March 31, 2001.

APPENDIX

American Researchers Who Visited Japan under the CGP Science Fellowship Program

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