Editors' Column
Analytical Chemistry in Japan Analytical chemists in Japan generally belong to the Japan Society of Analytical Chemistry, with nearly 7000 members, as well as to one of three other societies, the Chemical Society of Japan, the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, and the J a p a n Society of Agricultural Chemistry. Inasmuch as the amalgamation of the Society for Analytical Chemistry in Great Britain with the Chemical Society has brought the analytical chemist into closer professional contact with his colleagues in other branches of chemistry, it is interesting to speculate whether a similar change should be forthcoming in Japan. There is a vast difference between these two countries in t h a t in Japan, academic chairs of analytical chemistry exist in faculties of science and of engineering, in institutes of technology, and in faculties of agriculture and of pharmacy, whereas in Britain the academic chair of analytical chemistry is relatively rare. T h e U.S. represents roughly a geometric mean between these two extremes. In the past there was a sharp contrast in the approach to analytical research, corresponding to the source. In faculties of science and occasionally in faculties of engineering, a basic approach was taken, whereas in the other faculties, research was applied rather directly to specific problems in the area of interest. In recent years the trend has been toward a more fundamental approach regardless of the origin, although differences can still be detected in the various universities. These differences tend to reflect differences in the background and approach of the individual professors rather than in the institutions as a whole. The vast majority of Japanese PhD's in science are granted in just nine public institutions. These consist
of seven institutions known before World War II as Imperial Universities. Of these, the Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto are regarded as the Oxford and Cambridge of J a p a n in terms of prestige. T h e others are Tohoku University in Sendai, Hokkaido University in Sapporo, and the Universities of Osaka, Kyushu, and Nagoya. T h e two other principal PhD granting institutions are Hiroshima University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1972 these nine institutions granted 286 out of a total of 341 science PhD's, the remainder coming from some 30 private, prefectural or city institutions. This apparent imbalance is not quite as great as would appear from these statistics, because some PhD's are granted by the major universities on thesis research done at non-PhD granting institutions. A significant point in the employment of PhD's is t h a t only a small minority (less than 10%) are hired by industry, the majority going to university positions and some to governmental research institutes. During the past decade, inflation has hit J a p a n rather severely. For example, in 1966 when the U.S. dollar was worth about 360 yen, the basic taxicab fare in Tokyo was 90 yen; now it is 280 yen at an exchange rate of 300 yen per dollar. Most of the inflation has come about during the past few years since the 1973 oil crisis. In recent years the job prospects for new PhD's have been poor. The postdoctoral position, especially in the U.S., has become increasingly popular, and the influence of this foreign training is clearly evident, especially among the younger generation. Considering the Japanese tradition t h a t industry hires few PhD's, it appears to this observer t h a t it would be beneficial to Japanese science to expand domestic support of
postdoctoral research associates, to decouple the performance of basic research from the training of graduate students. This problem is by no means unique to Japan, but it seems especially acute in t h a t country. There is evidence of a departure from the old traditions of the koza system [see A. F. Findeis, Science, 177, 583 (1972)], at least among electroanalytical chemists. An informal group of academic research workers was organized from four institutions in the Tokyo area in 1966, following the meeting of CITCE (now ICE, the International Committee of Electrochemistry) in that year. T h e group has gradually grown to about 40 faculty people in about 10 institutions in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. It meets monthly, with perhaps 20 or 30 people attending for a one-hour presentation followed by at least an hour's discussion and research. Participation of students is encouraged, and a highly informal discussion is carried out. In this group there is a great deal of cooperation, extending from provisions of unusual materials and apparatus to colleagues to help on theoretical aspects of the subject. There are signs that similar discussion groups are being organized in other specialties such as chromatography and spectroscopy. As in other countries, there is a trend toward increased participation by analytical chemists in interdisciplinary problems of wide societal impact, such as environmental science, oceanography, and the biomedical sciences. In summary, analytical chemistry is healthy in Japan; its problems are those common to all branches of chemistry, and its status is ascending as its approach is becoming broader and more fundamental. H. A. Laitinen
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 48, NO. 8, JULY 1976 · 703 A
