A remote island best known for its US military base, scuba diving and goya (an intensely bitter melon) might not seem the obvious place to build a cutting-edge research institute from scratch. But the Japanese government has been pouring cash ―￥3.3 billion (US$30 million) over the past two years―into a new institute to be based in a resort village called Onna on the island's west coast. The research community in Japan, including those who are involved with the project, is largely sceptical, but success here could mean a new model for an ailing university system. For the cabinet minister who has been put in charge of not only science and technology but also Okinawan affairs, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology was a marriage of convenience. But it is set to grow into a fully fledged research university, and is a beacon of success for current efforts to fix the country's core university system.
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