Nowadays, governments in many countries around the world have been competing to focus their efforts to increase the budget of science and technology, reform the related systems and develop human resources. It has become widely acknowledged that economic competiveness of a country is highly dependent on the progress of science and technology, and I believe that is the primary factor. However, in addition to such a policy, it is actually essential to build a culture which places a high value on science and creativity. This is what is often emphasized in Europe and the U.S. Perhaps this means that such culture gets forgotten unless it is stressed.

When we say such things, the government and people in my previous position (Council for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office), which is part of the government, get criticized whether Japan was really enthusiastic about science and technology policy. I would like to affirm that we were earnest, but unfortunately, public spending (in relation to GDP) on research and development or higher education still remains small among major countries. Of course we should cooperate to improve the budget deficit of our country, but have people lost the spirit to invest in education and research at a truly difficult time like this? If the trend to compare the budget to develop creativity or science with the budget for routine measures and policies that produce visible achievement in the short term, using the same yardstick to decide their increase or decrease becomes generalized, I feel that this could be somehow related to the weakening of the culture which I stated above. I wonder how people feel about this.

The Novel Prize is a representative example of creativity. As for the 3 scientific awards in particular, the U.S. after World War II has produced about half of the winners. The superiority of the U.S., where the world’s top-level researchers are gathered at dozens of universities or research institutions and competing with each other is literally overwhelming the other countries, not just in the fields covered by the Nobel Prize but in other fields as well. American research universities are certainly filled with atmospheres which focus on creativity. This atmosphere is probably the reason why researchers in advanced fields around the world keep their eyes on the research trend of the U.S.

The social/cultural elements to develop creativity include acceptance of different cultures and diversity. American universities are truly the melting pots of multiethnic people. They have a tradition that does not favor a pure culture. Switzerland, which is number one in Novel Prize winners in terms of ratio to the population, is a multicultural nation with 4 official languages. The Europe and the U.S. often asserted about the effect of different cultures on creativity.

So, how are things in Japan? We have 16 people who won the Novel Prize, including the Peace Prize. Aside from future prospects, there is no country other than those in Europe and the U.S. which produced so many winners. Once I was asked by one of the developing countries about why only Japan is so special, and what the social/cultural foundations are. In a nutshell, I believe we can say that the environment to nurture creativity has been fostered by our predecessors over many years. However, it is being said that this environment has been getting weaker in recent years. There has been a rapid increase in the number of young people who avoid creative jobs such as scientists or engineers, and unfortunately, this is not a common phenomenon among advanced countries.

Next, I would like to present my own opinion about the future-oriented culture. The first thing to do is to build an atmosphere that appreciates creative works or professions. Along with that, it is necessary to focus on the education to cultivate creativity. The impact of university entrance examination on elementary and middle school education is well known, but it also has a large impact on higher education. If we were to pick two characteristics of university entrance examination in Japan, one would be the excessive emphasis on the fairness of marking, and the other one would be the entrance examination with limited subjects. The former leads to marking by computers, and the latter intentionally produces young people with narrow specialties. European countries and the U. S. took note of both negative aspects seriously, and to compensate for them, they are exercising their ingenuities in various ways to cultivate creativity. It might be too late for Japan, but it seems that the time has come to seriously consider this problem by drawing upon overseas wisdoms as well. If I were to personally pick three keywords on education that I would like the leaders of the 21st century knowledge society to focus, they would be creation, ethics, and culture.

Professors at Japanese universities are mostly Japanese. Participation of outstanding non-Japanese people is desired, but it will take some time if we think about getting various conditions in order. In light of such current conditions, how we introduce different cultures or diversity into the Japanese educational and research environments such as universities is a fundamental issue.

These days, humankind is trying to solve all kinds of difficult problems related to the global environment, food, population, infectious diseases, disparities, etc., and seeking for ideas on how to create the 21st century society at the same time. Under these circumstances, what sort of society or country is Japan aiming to create? Needless to say, the role of science and technology is important. Also in the process of innovation, qualitative selection of science and technology is desired. In such a case, the ability to persuade that transcends national borders and getting the understanding of the local community is indispensable. These things are closely related to how well we can communicate the attractiveness of Japanese society/cultural environment, and how much trust we can gain.

As knowledge gets more specialized, it becomes hard to see the whole picture. The reason why I emphasized the previously stated keywords of creation, ethics and culture is because they will help to overcome this problem. And the foundation to support these three keywords is the ethos of knowledge, or in other words, the spiritual culture of knowledge. However, building the spiritual culture should not be done hastily, and it is essential to consider and discuss from multiple aspects.

People tend to look toward Europe and the U. S. on science and technology civilization, but our predecessors in Japan also left us various knowledge and wisdom. I believe that the role of us in the current generation is to look toward such knowledge again, draw upon overseas wisdoms as well, create an intellectual spiritual culture which is appropriate for the 21st century, and to hand over this world and Japan which we happen to be looking after for now, to our descendants.

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