The National Science Foundation's
Tokyo Regional Office periodically reports on develop-ments in
Japan that are related to the Foundation's mission. It also provides
occasional re-ports on developments in other East Asian countries.
These reports are intended to provide information for the use
of NSF program officers and policy makers; they are not statements
of NSF policy.
On Tuesday, December 7, 1999, the House of Representatives (Lower House) of Japan's National Diet passed the second supplementary budget proposed by the Obuchi Cabinet, amounting to 6.79 trillion yen in total (US $64.7 billion at an exchange rate of 105 yen per dollar) for the General Account and forwarded it to the Upper House (House of Councilors) for its approval. The supplementary budget will raise the total general account budget to 89.02 trillion yen, up from the initially prepared 81.86 trillion yen.
Of the 6.79 trillion yen included in the supplementary budget, 3.5 trillion yen is earmarked for social-infrastructure improvement, 773.3 billion yen for expanded credit-guarantees for small and midsize firms, and 200.1 billion yen for government housing loans.
Most of these expenditures represent the central government's real spending in the 18 trillion yen stimulus package unveiled November 11. The package is aimed at putting the economy on a full recovery track in the second half of fiscal 2000.
According to an estimate made by the Science and Technology Agency, the 6.79 trillion yen supplementary budget includes 588 billion yen ($5.6 billion) for expenditures related to science and technology (S&T); an increase of 18.6% over the 3,155.2 billion yen earmarked for S&T in the initial JFY 1999 budget.
The table below shows the JFY 1999 S&T-related budgets of each government ministry and agency, as compared with the initial and supplementary budgets.
|
|
Initial |
1st Sup.** |
2nd Sup. |
Total |
| Ministries and Agencies | ||||
| Cabinet Office |
- |
- |
25.7 |
25.7 |
| Ministry of Education, Science, Sports & Culture (Monbusho) |
1,348.7 |
- |
194.2 |
1,542.9 |
| Science and Technology Agency |
773.8 |
0.8 |
164.7 |
939.3 |
| Min. of Int'l Trade & Industry |
508.3 |
- |
97.3 |
605.6 |
| Defense Agency |
146.5 |
- |
- |
146.5 |
| Min. Agricul., Forestry & Fish. |
109.2 |
- |
12.8 |
122.0 |
| Ministry of Health and Welfare |
101.7 |
- |
10.9 |
112.6 |
| Ministry of Posts & Telecomm. |
74.4 |
- |
48.2 |
122.6 |
| Ministry of Construction |
41.3 |
- |
2.5 |
43.8 |
| Ministry of Transport |
23.7 |
- |
5.8 |
29.5 |
| Environment Agency |
23.5 |
- |
6.5 |
30.0 |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
13.7 |
- |
15.8 |
29.5 |
| Ministry of Labor |
4.4 |
- |
0.1 |
4.5 |
| Ministry of Finance |
2.3 |
- |
- |
2.3 |
| National Police Agency |
2.2 |
- |
0.3 |
2.5 |
| Ministry of Justice |
2.1 |
- |
- |
2.1 |
| Science Council of Japan |
1.3 |
- |
- |
1.3 |
| Economic Planning Agency |
1.1 |
- |
0.3 |
1.4 |
| Ministry of Home Affairs |
1.0 |
- |
1.4 |
2.5 |
| National Land Agency |
0.9 |
- |
0.2 |
1.1 |
| National Diet |
0.9 |
- |
- |
0.9 |
| Hokkaido Development Agency |
0.2 |
- |
1.3 |
1.5 |
| TOTAL* |
3,155.2 |
0.8 |
588.0 |
3,744.0 |
* Note: The sum of the individual budget figures slightly exceeds the total because funds for the Japan Key Technology Center are double-listed in the budgets for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
**Note: The first supplementary budget amounting to 519.8 billion yen in total was approved last July, primarily to cope with the unemployment problems due to stagnation in economy. The only S&T-related expenditure approved as part of the first supplementary budget was STA's project to publish government laws and regulations and some of the major government reports in digitized electronic forms - amounting to 77 million yen.
The table below compares the S&T-related budgets for the past several years.
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While details on how the supplementary S&T budget will be expended are yet to be announced, the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho), for example, has proposed to spend a large proportion (185.1 billion yen) of its supplementary budget primarily for the promotion of "advanced and creative scientific research" through a variety of programs including the following:
- Development of "centers for advanced research" and "centers for university-industry collaboration"; provision of state-of-the-art research equipment; and increased support by "dynamic funding" for competitive research projects: all for advancing research frontiers in selected priority areas such as bio- or life science and information-related sciences
- Improvement of research infrastructure in national universities, including, in particular, research facilities and equipment for bioscience or life sciences
- Increased support for developing advanced research centers in private universities
- Expansion of scientific research grants to support advanced genomic research and brain research
- Promotion of university-industry research collaboration through joint support by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) under Monbusho and by the New Energy and Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under MITI.
On the other hand, the Science and Technology Agency (STA) plans to spend 72% (118.6 billion yen) of its supplementary budget for (1) supporting new types of R&D programs for the 21st century, and 28% (46.1 billion yen) for (2) reinforcing safety measures for nuclear-power related facilities in the country. As part of the first category, STA will increase support for a) human genome studies, b) development of innovative "venture businesses" based on research results obtained in universities and national research institutes, and c) human resources development for S&T workforce, as well as development of university-industry joint research centers and state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure for "strategic development of S&T knowledge base," and promotion of R&D for increased safety in people's daily life. As regards the nuclear power related programs, STA proposes to take all possible measures for preventing recurrence of any nuclear-related accidents or disasters such as the accident recently experienced at Tokai-mura in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Further information on S&T-related expenditures to be covered under the second supplementary budget will be announced later by the various ministries and agencies concerned.
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(M. Miyahara, NSF/Tokyo)