Upstart centers lead Japan in new directions

摘要

In Japan, not many females or foreigners head major institutes. Nor are there many researchers with joint positions overseas. And who would think to force physicists and mathematicians to have tea together? For the country's World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), such oddities are becoming commonplace. And they are unleashing a creative burst of science. Japan has long tried to get more impact from its formidable scientific achievements. Various programs have promoted research excellence, interdisciplinary studies, internationalization, or administrative reform. Usually these are empty words. "Internationalism, interdisciplinary- these things are easy to say but very hard to achieve," says Toshio Kuroki, WPI program director at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.