(3)The Strengthening of the Academic Structure and the Ministry of Education in the Prewar Years of the Showa Era

In December 1932 a donation from the Emperor for the purpose of promoting the sciences had led to the establishment of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Constituted as a foundational juristic person, the Society was funded by an annual government subsidy of 700,000 yen and by private contributions. The functions of the Society included 1) the award of financial assistance to scholars to cover research expenses; 2) the foundation and administration of investigatory committees that would search for solutions to important problems; and 3) the publication of scientific and other literature. Through 1939 the Society had an annual budget nearly ten times the amount that the Ministry of Educational located for scientific research, and thus played a major role in this area.

Governmental promotion of scientific study was greatly strengthened during the early years of the Showa era (1926- ), particularly after the Manchurian Incident of 1931.Especially after the outbreak of the China Incident in July, 1937, the importance of scientific techniques in conducting war was dramatically highlighted. Thus the national government intensified its efforts to establish a comprehensive administration for scientific and technological matters.

As a start, the Committee to Investigate the Promotion of Science (Kagaku Shinko Chosakai) was created within the Ministry of Education in August, 1938. Based on the recommendations of this Committee, a new system of government scientific research grants was initiated by which government subsidies for scientific research were greatly increased; a sum of three million yen was appropriated for this purpose by the Ministry of Education in its budget for the 1939 fiscal year. Compared to the earlier Ministry of Education subsidies, which from 1931 annually amounted to only 73,000yen, this appropriation represented an abrupt change of policy. Though the money was originally available only for research in the natural sciences, in the years following 1940 the humanities also benefited from the increased amount of the subsidies.

The Ministry of Education also took steps to strengthen the administrative structure pertaining to scientific affairs. In February, 1940, the Science Division (Kagakuka) was established independently of the earlier Arts and Sciences Division (Gakugeika) of the Higher Education Bureau (Senmon Gakumukyoku). This Division was further elevated to the status of the Science Bureau (Kagakukyoku) in November, 1942. The Science Bureau provided such services as the maintenance of communication between research institutes; investigation of researchers and research-related affairs; acquisition and dissemination of foreign scientific literature, which had ceased to be available after the imposition of a blockade of scientific and technological information into Japan; supply of research materials and paper, which had become difficult to obtain, as well as operating expenses for scientific research projects. These services greatly strengthened the administrative network over scientific affairs. The formation of another division, the Research Mobilization Division, in the Science Bureau shortly there after, in February, 1943, illustrates the extent to which the government placed importance on the promotion of scientific development in the face of the increasingly strained national circumstances.

In addition to these structural changes within the Ministry of Education, the Planning Agency (Kikakuin) was established under the administration of the Prime Minister in October,1937, to coordinate general planning of Japan's wartime policy. The Science Department (Kagakubu) was set up under the Planning Agency in May, 1939, specifically to administer "affairs concerning science mobilization and scientific research." As the war progressed, the Technology Agency (Gzjutsuin) was created under the administration of the Prime Minister in January, 1942, to further stimulate the mobilization of technology on behalf of the war effort. In November, 1943, the National Research Council was reorganized from an agency primarily concerned with the coordination and promotion of international scientific research to one whose basic purpose was to mobilize scientific scholars and distribute materials related to scientific research.

The deterioration of the war situation from the middle of1942 greatly reduced Japan's productive capacity and made it difficult to obtain essential research materials. The mobilization of scientific materials remained an important part of the general planning effort since defeat seemed certain unless scientific developments continued to produce results.

During these years under the direct control of the Ministry of Education were set up institutes in the fields of resource sciences (1941), electronic physics (1942), ethnology (1943), and statistical mathematics (1944). Institutes of academic excellence affiliated with universities were established for the purpose of pursuing pure research as well. In addition, many institutes directly related to the war effort were established during this period.

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