Japan Press Weekly

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2015 July 8 - 14 [POLITICS]

Two-thirds of Japanese researchers oppose military-university cooperation

A majority of Japanese researchers are opposing the Abe government move to involve universities and research institutions in military-related research and development projects.

The central government has been reducing the amount of subsidies provided to national universities. On the other hand, the Defense Ministry appropriated 300 million yen for military research in the 2015 fiscal year budget, with the aim of enticing universities and research institutes into state projects. In June, four Japanese research groups, including university teams, entered a “disaster-response” robot contest which was sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

A survey released at a meeting held in June by national test and research institutions shows that 64% of surveyed researchers said they should not get involved in study projects funded by the defense authorities of either Tokyo or Washington.

Those respondents said: if we take part in such projects, our research activities may come to depend on the annual military budget; military research goes against the spirit of the war-renouncing Japanese Constitution; and classified research will not contribute to scientific progress.

Some researchers seeking to study peace and democracy are planning to hold a public symposium this month in Tsukuba City in Ibaraki Prefecture to consider and evaluate the issue of military-university cooperation.

Past related article:
> Japanese universities dragged into military research [March 13, 2015]