Go west, young postdoc Western Japan

摘要

Japan's political and economic power is largely concentrated in the greater Tokyo region on Honshu Island's east coast. But much of its research strength, especially in biological and medical sciences, lies in western Japan, stretching from Osaka and Kyoto to the southern island of Kyushu. Many of the region's immunologists and developmental biologists, for example, are world leaders, and five of Japan's nine natural-science Nobel prizes were won by Kyoto University graduates. But leaders in the region have not been content to live on bygone glories. The past five years have been marked by generous initiatives to build and invigorate academic research. The changes, in combination with university reforms, are meant to make Japanese academic research younger, more dynamic, flexible and industry-friendly. Research leaders are looking to foreign scientists and industry to help them to achieve those ends.