Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Japanese universities dragged into military research

A graduate school at the University of Tokyo revised its research guidelines last year. Some media reported that the university lifted the ban on military research, causing repercussions among the general public. What is going on in Japan’s academic community?

The University of Tokyo had banned research for military purposes “without exception”, based on reflection on Japan’s past war of aggression. The university had also warned its teachers and students about the possibility that they may be unintentionally involved in military research in the process of joint studies.

In December last year, the Tokyo University’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology amended its scientific research guidelines. The new policy notes that scientific research tends to be “ambiguous”, while stating that the university will “not carry out research for military purposes whose results are secret to the public”. The document expects individual researchers to act in a manner “deeply considering the ambiguity”.

Following this revision, the Sankei Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the university removed its conventional ban on military research. The president of the university issued a statement to deny this.

The statement says that the ban on any military-related research is “one of the most important principles” at the university and that whether a research project is proper should be discussed “individually”. This wording has been toned down and less explicit compared with its former policy.

In the meantime, the government led by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is promoting collaborative activities by the defense authorities and research institutions. The National Defense Program Guidelines approved by the Cabinet in 2013 states that the Defense Ministry will “strive to make effective use of civilian technology that can also be applied to defense (dual-use technologies)”.

Since the second Abe administration started in December 2012, the number of technological exchanges between the Defense Ministry and research institutions has increased sharply. They are engaged in joint projects to develop various military devices including drones and explosive detectors.

The government allocated 300 million yen for the defense budget for fiscal 2015 with the aim of subsidizing research projects where the results can be used for military purposes. University of Tokyo Staff Union Chair Endo Motoo said, “Researchers cannot conduct any research without external financial support as the government has continuously cut its budget for national universities. Some researchers would be attracted by the state subsidies.”

With regard to the guideline revision of the University of Tokyo, Nagoya University Professor Emeritus Ikeuchi Satoru said, “Even though they claim that they won’t be involved in any research for military purposes in which the findings are kept secret from the public, military research is always conducted in profound secrecy. I think the university should proclaim that it will never be engaged in any military-related studies.”

Endo also pointed out that the Abe administration’s pro-war stance has led this to become an issue. “I hope that the public will encourage universities to maintain their peace-oriented policies,” he said.

Past related articles:
> Scholars are opposing Abe gov’t move to further involve universities in military research [December 24, 2014]
> Gov’t pushes Univ. of Tokyo to support weapons research and development [July 8, 2014]