NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE

October 21, 2005


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.


Report Memorandum #05-05

The following report was prepared by Ms. Kazuko Shinohara of the National Science Foundation’s Tokyo Regional Office. She can be reached at kshinoha@nsf.gov

 

Rating of S&T-related Budget Requests - JFY2006
Skeleton of the Third S&T Basic Plan

The CSTP (Council for Science and Technology Policy) reviewed the S&T-related projects proposed within the JFY2006 budget requests made by all the Japanese ministries and agencies. The deadline for the budget requests was the end of August 2005, and CSTP made public their rating results on October 18, 2005.

On the same day, CSTP revealed the skeleton of the Third Science and Technology Basic Plan that will be finalized in December 2005.

I. Rating of S&T-related Budget Requests - JFY2006

As in 2004 (see http://www.nsftokyo.org/rm04-09.html), CSTP gave a rating of S, A, B, or C as follows to each of the S&T-related projects:

S: Very important projects and to be proactively implemented
A:
Important projects and to be implemented
B:
Some problems to be solved but efficient and effective implementation is expected
C:
To be reviewed

The highlights of the requested budgets for JFY2006 are:

CSTP also reviewed the national university corporations and independent administrative corporations without rating. Its results will be reported under a separate NSF Tokyo Office Memorandum.

Table 1: S&T-related budget requests - JFY2006

 

 

S&T-related Budget Requests 2005

S&T-related Budgets 2005 (A)

S&T-related Budget Requests 2006 (B)

(B)/(A)

MEXT: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

2,618.1

2,305.6

2,396.7

104.0

METI: Ministry of Education, Trade and Industry

632.7

590.7

623.1

105.5

DA: Defense Agency

150.9

144.6

189.1

130.8

MHLW: Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare

148.2

129.1

148.0

117.4

MAFF: Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries

139.0

119.1

140.6

119.9

MLIF: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation

92.0

82.9

85.0

102.6

MIC: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

85.0

82.8

83.2

100.4

CS: Cabinet Secretariat

69.9

62.5

66.7

106.9

ME: Ministry of Environment

38.2

29.2

32.3

110.7

Cabinet Office

18.4

13.7

20.3

148.4

MOFA: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

11.3

10.9

11.1

101.4

PA: Police Agency

2.3

2.2

2.4

109.1

MOJ: Ministry of Justice

2.2

2.2

2.2

101.5

MOF: Ministry of Finance

1.6

1.5

1.7

111.4

Diet

1.2

1.0

1.4

140.8

TOTAL:

4,011.0

3,578.0

3,803.8

106.3

 

Table 2: Rating of the projects

 

 

JFY2005 Budget

JFY2006 Request

 

PROJECT

Ministry

Yen Million

Yen Million

 

BASIC SCIENCE (UNIVERSITIES)

 

 

 

A

COE Program in the 21st Century

MEXT

38,171

40,163

S

Private University Education and Research (for those items that require review, e.g., research funds)

MEXT

54,016

54,348

B

Private University Education and Research (for those items that do not require review, e.g., facilities, items that can be counted by the number of students or faculty members)

MEXT

114,797

117,664

 

BASIC SCIENCE (PHYSICS/ASTRONOMY)

 

 

 

A

ALMA

MEXT

2,817

2,924

A

Establishment of operation system of SPring-8

MEXT

7,567

7,340

A

High intensity proton accelerator for Nutrino, Material/Life Science experimental use

MEXT

20,620

24,536

B

High intensity proton accelerator for other uses than above

MEXT

4,447

6,486

 

LIFE SCIENCE

 

 

 

 

Genome

 

 

B

Projects for materializing tailor-made medical care

MEXT

3,164

3,348

A

Genome network project

MEXT

2,315

2,465

B

Protein 3000 project

MEXT

9,771

9,244

S

protein analyses basic technology development

MEXT

0

1,150

C

Comperative genome analyses project

MEXT

0

124

S

Comprehensive database project

MEXT

0

300

B

Pharmacogenomics [Competitive funds]

MHLW

564

677

C

Bio-information transmitting moledule analyses [Competitive funds]

MHLW

0

1,100

C

Toxicogenomics [partly competitive funds]

MHLW

1,150

1,381

B

Disease-related protein analyses

MHLW

661

662

A

Agriculture/forests/fisheries-related comprehensive genome database

MAFF

0

463

 

Regenerative Medical Care/Genetic Treatment

 

 

 

A

Materialization of regenerative medical care

MEXT

1,110

1,112

B

Human genome/regenerative medical care (regenerative medical care) [Competitive funds]

MHLW

985

1,225

B

Human genome/regenerative medical care (Human genome/genetic treatment) [Partly competitive funds]

MHLW

2,288

2,288

 

Cancer, Allergy/immunity disease, life-style caused disease

 

 

 

A

Small-scale heavy ion radiation facilities

MEXT

0

1,025

B

Cancer translational research

MEXT

960

962

A

Comprehensive research on life-style caused diseases, including cardiovascular diseases [Competitive funds]

MHLW

2,254

2,586

S

Third anti-cancer comprehensive strategic research [Competitive funds]

MHLW

4,865

6,060

A

Cancer research grants

MHLW

1,850

1,850

B

Comprehensive research on longevity science

MHLW

2,077

2,155

A

Hard-to-cure diseases research [Competitive funds]

NHLW

2,239

2,563

A

Prevention/treatment of immune allergy diseases [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,140

1,589

A

Comprehensive research on children in families (newly expanded research) [Competitive funds]

MHLW

0

400

B

Comprehensive research on children in families (continuing research) [Competitive funds]

MHLW

645

645

 

Mental, Brain Research

 

 

 

A

Mental health science research [Competitive funds]

MHLW

2,037

2,287

 

New/Recurring Infectious Diseases, Medical Safety

 

 

 

A

Center for studying new/recurring infectious diseases [Competitive funds]

MEXT

2,299

2,700

C

Promotion of international cooperation for social security/strengthening network for managing international health crisis [Partly competitive funds]

MHLW

110

134

S

AIDS/hepatitis/new and recurring infectious diseases [Competitive funds]

MHLW

4,527

5,647

A

Comprehensive research on policy-oriented pharmaceuticals [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,997

2,528

B

Comprehensive research on medical safety/medical technology evaluation [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,432

1,878

 

Food supply. Food security/safety

 

 

 

A

Risk analyses of food and pharmaceutical products [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,352

1,695

A

Development of Japanese-style technology for life stock feed

MAFF

0

900

A

Development of technology for stable supply of low-cost and good-quality agricultural products

MAFF

0

800

A

Advancing agriculture/forests/fisheries research by using frontier technologies [Competitive funds]

MAFF

3,823

7,816

B

Designated experimental research

MAFF

1,068

1,050

C

Agriculture/Forests/Fisheries: Research on food in industries

MAFF

2,927

1,425

B

Agri-bio research and industrialization

MAFF

982

2,832

B

Highly functional food and safety/reliability of food

MAFF

934

1,628

B

Pharmaceuticals/medical equipment regulatory science [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,278

1,466

S

Safety for recombinant DNA and other frontier technologies

MAFF

523

599

 

Production of Useful Materials and Their Relation to Environment

 

 

 

B

Analyses of soil bacteria

MAFF

0

200

 

Interdisciplinary Area and Medical Equipment

 

 

 

B

Molecular imaging research [Competitive funds]

MEXT

1,147

1,165

B

Analyses of body functions and development of supporting equipment [partly competitive funds]

MHLW

1,113

1,318

 

Treatment/Clinical Research

 

 

 

B

Clinical application of basic research results [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,004

1,191

B

Clinical research for children's diseases [Competitive funds]

MHLW

223

315

A

Promotion of clinical experiments [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,082

1,514

A

Establishment of infrastructure for clinical research [Competitive funds]

MHLW

0

1,081

 

Bio Genetic Resources

 

 

 

A

National Bio Resource Project

MEXT

1,668

1,670

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

 

 

 

Ubiquitous/Electronic Tag

 

 

 

A

R&D on ubiquitous network

MIC

2,608

2,400

C

Information technology for ubiquitous network society

MIC

0

190

B

Electronic tag technology development

METI

Part of 3,100

500

A

Identification experiment for electronic tag

METI

Part of 3,100

550

 

Network

 

 

 

A

Next-generation backbone

MIC

2,000

2,100

B

Advanced use of e-life

MIC

0

250

A

Advanced joint use of electric wave in mobile communication system

MIC

3,254

Part of 16,418

A

Shift of wireless system to yet-to-be-used frequency areas

MIC

2,058

Part of 16,418

B

Radar in narrow band areas

MIC

781

Part of 16,418

B

Good use of FPU frequency

MIC

0

Part of 16,418

B

Joint use of frequency via satellite communication system

MIC

0

Part of 16,418

B

Wavelength Division Multiplexing Satellite communication technology

MIC

0

Part of 16,418

A

Infrastructure of e-life

MIC

1,500

1,950

S

Prevention of cyber attacks, including spam mail and phishing

MIC

0

1,250

A

Detection/recovery/prevention of route hijacking

MIC

0

300

B

Autonomous control of electronic data

MIC

0

180

B

Detection of super high-speed/high-precision cyber attack

MIC

0

120

A

Early-stage caution of computer security

METI

882

1,880

B

Industrial and individual security countermeasures

METI

920

1,903

 

Software

 

 

 

B

e-society software

MEXT

1,034

1,034

 

Robot

 

 

 

C

Elucidation of high-level dialogue mechanism

MEXT

0

158

S

Commercialization of service robots

METI

0

420

 

Large-scale/High-speed calculation

 

 

 

A

R&D for future supercomputing

MEXT

1,454

1,391

S

Innovative simulation software

MEXT

1,160

1,160

 

Electric Device

 

 

 

B

Materialization of world advanced IT nation

MEXT

1,596

1,420

B

Next-generation high-speed communication equipment

METI

2,619

2,619

 

Others

 

 

 

A

Strategic information communication [Competitive funds]

MIC

3,181

3,400

A

Fostering of leading IT specialists

MEXT

0

1,000

B

Personnel fostering for advanced simulation by industry/university/government

MEXT

0

200

C

IT basic technology

METI

0

200

B

Comprehensive research information infrastructure to promote industry/university/government cooperation

MAFF

0

462

 

ENVIRONMENT

 

 

 

 

Sustainable society, Compatibility of environment and economy

 

 

 

B

Coexistance of man/nature/earth: Japan Model

MEXT

2,097

2,371

C

Coexistance of man/nature/earth: Simulation of water environment

MEXT

1,216

1,196

B

Risk analyses of food and pharmaceutical products [Competitive funds]

MHLW

1,866

2,263

A

Evaluation of global warming effects on agriculture/forests/fisheries

MAFF

402

597

B

Underground confinement of CO2

METI

950

1,380

B

CO2 molecular gate membrane

METI

0

120

C

Recycling technologies for platinum group metals

METI

0

200

A

Recovering tideland along major cities' coastal areas

MLIT

26

15

S

Evaluation and countermeasures for heat environment in urban areas

MILT

170

158

C

Effect of soil/underground water pollution to water areas

MILT

0.1

40

C

Save-energy type cities, using already existing urban facilities

MLIT

0

244

A

Research grant for waste disposal [Competitive funds]

ME

1,150

1,650

 

Biomass

 

 

 

A

Safety measures to cope with new technologies and new materials

MIC

76

90

A

Bio-recycle of agriculture/forests/fisheries

MAFF

1,395

1,395

A

Countermeasures for global warming [Competitive funds]

ME

Part of 2,676

Part of 2,714

 

Earth Observation

 

 

 

S

Comprehensive earth observation/monitoring system: data compilation/analyses system

MEXT

0

600

A

Comprehensive earth observation/monitoring system: green house effect gas observation satellite (GOSAT)

MEXT

2,801

5,427

B

Comprehensive earth observation/monitoring system: Precipitation observation (GPM/DPR)

MEXT

754

1,501

B

Comprehensive earth observation/monitoring system: Global environment change observation mission (GCOM)

MEXT

Out of operational funds from the Gov. funds 592

1,495

B

Global observation system [Competitive funds]

MEXT

1,017

1,219

A

Antarctic observation

MEXT

7,933

13,393

S

Global change monitoring/evaluation network

ME

0

400

 

Others

 

 

 

B

Prediction and reduction of damage to wild animals by agriculture/forests/fisheries businesses

MAFF

0

132

B

Research cooperation to developing countries

METI

1,484

2,008

S

Comprehensive promotion of global environment research [Competitive funds]

ME

3,015

4,326

A

Environment technology development [Competitive funds]

ME

815

1,369

B

Experimental research, including pollution prevention

ME

1,233

1,233

 

NANOTECHNOLOGY/MATERIALS

 

 

 

 

Materials

 

 

 

A

Nanotech fire-protection clothes for fire fighting

MIC

0

21

A

Evaluation of new structure buildings, using innovative structural materials, including highly intensive steel

MLIT

139

132

B

Building of new structure system, using innovative structural materials

MLIT

0

200

 

Interdisciplinary Area

 

 

 

A

New interdisciplinary areas, using nanotechnology/materials (new budgets) [Competitive funds]

MEXT

0

741

B

New interdisciplinary areas, using nanotechnology/materials (Continuing budgets) [Competitive funds]

MEXT

1,450

1,450

 

Measurement/Processing

 

 

 

B

Nanotechnology Center

MHLW

2,393

2,192

 

Nano Biotechnology

 

 

 

S

Nano medicine [Partly competitive funds]

 

1,416

2,153

 

ENERGY

 

 

 

 

Nuclear Energy

 

 

 

A

ITER

MEXT

2,546

2,768

B

Nuclear energy system [Competitive funds]

MEXT

12,145

12,524

B

Nuclear energy experiments

MEXT

1,463

1,439

C

Innovative nuclear energy system

MEXT

4,232

2,980

A

Full MOX core facilities

METI

3,980

4,000

A

Centrifuge uranium condensation

METI

1,409

3,060

B

Innovative technologies for commercializing nuclear energy [Competitive funds]

METI

2,183

2,183

C

Quick maintenance of nuclear energy generation facilities

METI

0

515

A

Investigation of disposal of radioactive wastes in soil

METI

3,682

3,386

 

Use of Hydrogen/Fuel Cell

 

 

 

A

Verification of fuel cell system

METI

0

1,375

S

Frontier science for fuel cell

METI

1,000

1,200

B

Countermeasures for global warming [Competitive funds]

ME

Part of 2,676

Part of 2,714

 

Others

 

 

 

S

Save-energy and environment-friendly solar energy generation system

METI

0

250

C

Advanced technology development, including oil refinement

METI

3,800

3,400

B

Advanced use of future-type fuel

METI

1,360

1,360

A

Oil fuel: next-generation environment countermeasures

METI

1,420

1,350

B

Oil refinement: merging advanced functions

METI

0

6,000

A

Integrated coal gastification combined cycle

METI

8,191

7,491

B

Environment-friendly fuel conversion technology

METI

3,332

2,200

B

Methane hydrate development

METI

3,981

5,000

 

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

 

 

 

 

None that is eligible to be rated

 

 

 

 

SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

 

 

 

 

Terror Attack

 

 

 

B

Damage simulation program

CS

46

105

A

Detection of explosives used for international terror attack

PA

33

30

A

Detection of Bio terror attack

PA

34

50

A

Countermeasures for terror attack to transportation system

MLIT

9

20

 

Crime

 

 

 

S

3-dimensional face image

PA

0

18

B

New method for identifying speakers

PA

0

35

A

Analyses of linkage of series of crimes

PA

0

8

A

Advanced profiling system by DNA analyses

PA

30

29

B

New detection guidelines for crimes by foreigners in Japan

PA

24

22

B

Pill-type drug profiling

PA

43

13

C

Prevention of juvenile delinquencies and support to the victims

PA

23

20

 

Safety Countermeasures/Fire Fighting

 

 

 

C

Cognitive science on drivers' information processing capabilities

PA

20

25

B

Fire fighting/disaster prevention science [Competitive funds]

PA

370

390

B

Cost reduction/safety security of airport by preventive maintenance

MLIT

16

17

 

Earthquake Disaster

 

 

 

S

Earthquake/Tsunami observation/monitoring system

MEXT

0

2,583

B