I..YAMAGWA Juichi, PhD ffoorr iittyy05aannddNNaattuurreeRReesseeaarrcchh IInnssttiittuutteeHHuummaannDDiirreeccttoorr--GGeenneerraall,,Ochi: Dr. Yamagiwa, I have been privileged to know you personally through our engagements with the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) and the Science Council of Japan (SCJ). Today, Iʼd like to talk with you about your years as the President of Kyoto University, your childhood, your research on gorillas and how exciting that must have been, and so on and so forth. Now, how do you occupy your days, now that you have left the post of President of Kyoto University after six years of service?Yamagiwa: I work as the Director-General of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), which is located in Kyoto. The RIHN is one of the six research institutions that constitute the research structure focusing on human culture within the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation. It may sound like a natural science research center, but its main research interests are in the humanities, which we pursue by placing environmental issues in the main framework of research on human culture. We publicly solicit and fund research projects that combine Humanities and Natural Sciences.Ochi: While you were the President of Kyoto University, you also served as the President of the JANU and the SCJ. I myself served as a JANU trustee and a member of the SCJ while being a university president. It was quite tough juggling these roles.Yamagiwa: There was a myriad of issues to be worked on at the JANU and the SCJ. I used to go to Tokyo almost every week. One Kyoto University board member sarcastically asked me when I could be found in Kyoto. Since there were many decisions that had to be made by the Board of Directors, I made sure to talk with directors in charge of differ-ent issues at least once a week and communicate my views to them. Looking back now, I regret not having spent more time at Kyoto University.Ochi: Instead, you spent so much of your time for the sake of Japan as a whole, as I understand it. In 2015, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) presented the national universities with a framework of focused support that would divide them into three categories: universities in the provinces that promote research and human resource develop-ment to meet local needs, single-discipline or discipline-specific universities that form high-level education and research centers and networks in specific domains, and research-oriented universities that pursue excellence in education and research at levels rivaling the worldʼs best universities. The 86 national universities of Japan were required to identify themselves as one of these three types. Hiroshima and Kyoto chose that of research-oriented universities. How did you find this, as the JANU President?Yamagiwa: The MEXT had said that it would be a superficial matter and that the universities would remain essentially unchanged. However, it has brought about tremendous change. In those days, the Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society and the Regional Revitalization Council were still active, and the Central Council for Education and the Council for Science, Technology and Inno-vation (SCTI) were quite vocal. All government-re-lated committees were unanimously and loudly calling for university reform. Up until then, the Japanese national universities had their respective distinctive characteristics. Quite a few provincial ones were active internationally, and many were living up to their unique traditions. They were now neatly confined within a three-part frame-work, as the government intended to guide them to pursue their designated missions. To begin with, the original objective of the reorganization of Japanese national universities as corporate bodies was to allow them greater freedom in university operation, particularly with regard to how to attract and utilize funding and human re-sources. A shift was now being made to align the universities along those courses toward unified goals. Obviously, we put up fierce resistance. I think we can say that the discontinuation of the MEXTʼs yearly reduction of operational subsidies was one achievement, but now universities have ended up having less funding at their disposal.Ochi: You also took a strong position as the Presi-dent of the SCJ on the question of how so-called military research should be handled.Yamagiwa: In March 2017, immediately before I assumed the post of the President, the Executive Council of the SCJ issued a statement on its position on military research, in response to public calls for research projects by the Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency of the Ministry of Defense. The statement basically reiterated the SCJʼs previous statement of its unconditional com-mitment to the refusal of scientific research for war purposes. In response to the various reactions trig-gered in society by this statement, universities, sci-entific associations, and the industrial community reflected on the issue. As a result, it was decided that universities would establish an organization that determines whether or not to approve externally funded research projects suspected of having military purposes based on the respective universitiesʼ guidelines. The SCJ led the debate that finally concluded that, instead of simply questioning the legitimacy of certain research projects, researchers must take ownership of and be responsible for their own research results. As another example of the SCJʼs achievements, at the time of the revision of the Basic Act on Science and Technology, our insistence led to the removal of the parenthetical phrase in the Act excluding humanities from “science and technology” (“… other than science and technology whose sole concern is the humanities…”). We also decided that we should express our views directly to the Cabinet Office, which is the command center of the government, and succeeded in getting SCJ members appointed to sit on some committees Feature:Leading JANU and SCJin times of turmoilSpecialTalkTalking about leadership in th
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