DPJ government to slash budgets for scientific research and military recruitment
Remember the Ground Self-Defense Forces PR Center that sells cute moe cookies in its gift shop? It seems it has been targeted as a source of wasteful spending by the DPJ-led government’s budget-cutting panel.
A few days ago, Ren Ho of the DPJ visited the center, inspecting the exhibits and trying out the simulators:
The center, which has no entry fee, is meant to improve the public image of the SDF and encourage young people to enlist. However, it’s free attractions cost the government millions of yen in upkeep fees without generating any easily measurable benefit.
Ren Ho was impressed with the realistic helicopter flight simulator and the gift shop, but that didn’t stop her from going on the offensive against the Defense Ministry bureaucrats who appeared before the budget-cutting panel the next day:
She wanted to know why the PR Center was not crowded with visitors when theme parks that charge considerably expensive entry fees are able to attract many customers, including people willing to make repeat visits. The Defense Ministry bureaucrats acknowledged the need to improve their efforts at promoting the center, but Ren Ho was unconvinced by their vague statements. After an hour of interrogation, it was decided that the SDF’s recruitment and PR budget will be slashed.
If you want to enjoy the stuff at the PR Center, do it soon, because it’s doubtful it will be as impressive next year (if it even still exists).
In recent weeks, the budget-cutting panels have also decided to cut funding for for scientific research programs, including a project meant to develop supercomputers. Scientists and academics have been expressing dismay over the news. Yesterday, a group of Noble Prize winning Japanese scientists held an emergency press conference to declare to the media that Japan may soon lose its status as a leader in science and technology.
Within the English language Japan blogosphere, eco-blogger Martin J. Frid has commented on a plan to cut research subsidies for organic farming:
This is a really bad idea. If the government decides to go ahead with slashing the budget for research and development in the agricultural field, there must be a large number of other projects that would be less important than finding ways forward for sustainable food production that is not relying on chemicals and fossil fuels.
Frind believes that the 300 million yen being spent on such subsidies is actually far less than what the government should be spending on something so important.
I have mixed feelings about the budget-cutting panels. While it is certainly about time somebody started seriously going after wasteful government spending, the nature in which the cuts are being decided makes me question the motives of the new DPJ government. Inarticulate bureaucrats with little experience in appealing to the public are brought before TV cameras to justify their budgets. In almost every case, the bureaucrats are smacked down by Ren Ho and the other panelists, creating perfect soundbites for the evening news broadcasts. Lots of cuts take place, the DPJ gets dramatic footage of its politicians acting decisively on the news, the bureaucrats who waste our tax money are humiliated, and the Hatoyama cabinet approval rating stays above sixty percent. It’s great theater, but it may be resulting in some unwise spending cuts.
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Thanks for posting this story, more than anything else this has pretty far-reaching implications on the way things are done in Japan. I agree with your view as well; it’s good to examine wasteful spending, but it’s not good to make it the examination into a soap opera. There is no time to make considered judgements. It’s like an episode of some perverse reality show, with real world consequences. If the recommendations are all about the bottom line then that is really not a good way to do science. The potential payback is too long-term to be able to judge.
I think also that the committee recommended slashing the budget of the new science museum, because it doesn’t generate enough revenue or visitors. It’s new, so you don’t expect it to be a rip-roaring success in its first year or two. By cutting its budget your ensuring that it cannot attract new visitors. Finally these kind of educational projects are all about stimulating the next generation into aspiring to use their intellects and talents for the common good. It can’t be measured using spreadsheets and normal metrics.
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Let’s stop wasting money on another scientific research, whaling.
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That’s already taken care of.
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Without scientific research, what does Japan have?
2 things.
Jack and shit.
No natural resources, no food self-sufficiency, shrinking labor pool, etc, etc.
Without science and engineering, Japan would be nothing.
But hey, leftist politicians have never really been fans of hard science and engineering, those things just “destroy the planet”, and that math is so HARD!!! Plus technology can end up with evil corporations making evil profits by selling really cool shit to people. But corporations are evil, and technology is evil, and profits are very very evil, so fuck that, eh?
Why give funds to something so hard to understand when there are so many perfectly good and easy-to-understand ways to throw money away with zero benefits.
And what a great way to commemorate (or acknowledge) the “Japanese” Nobel Prize winners this year, than to say “Fuck you!” to science, and drive even MORE talent out of Japan and to America where they will be taken seriously and rewarded for their efforts.
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But hey, rightist politicians have never really been fans of hard science and engineering, those things just “destroy morals”, and deny GOD!!!
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rightist politicians have never been fans of hard science and engineering? really Overthinker? reallllly. If you have a butt, I think you’re talking out of it right now. But then again I assume you’re going to blurt out a google searched stem cell comment after this.
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saying that, I disagree with the leftist comment as well, if you crack open a newspaper you’d probably see that the Obama administration just increased funding for Energy research by 18% bringing the funding to 4.76 billion. Created like 1,500 jobs or something. But before that funding was really flat…
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“I assume you’re going to blurt out a google searched stem cell comment after this”
Since your idea of an erudite riposte is “reallllly” then I won’t even bother.
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As far as extremists and science, some rightists do object to a things involving biotech (human cloning, embryo use), but so do leftists (human cloning, GM foods, and use of ANY animal testing at all, other than humans).
Leftists make an exception for pie-in-the-sky energy research, especially if it involves things that are non-solutions, like wind or solar. But even then object to any actual energy development, claiming it would “destroy” the “habitat of a threatened species” (which they can claim over 99% of the Earth’s surface) or spoil the view of the beach from their Nantucket mansions.
Leftists also reserve a place in their heart for climate research. And we’re all seeing how leftist climatologists operate right now via the leaked files. Doesn’t really count as “science” anymore. Why work hard to make a realistic climate simulator when it’s just so HARD, and cherry-picking or making-up data is just easier, more convenient, and gets you awards from leftist groups, grants from leftist billionaires, and interviews on CNN?
It’s one reason I hope Japan does more climate research. There’s less politics here in the environmental research labs.
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This really shows that politics should be kept out of science all together. The moment politics enters science it becomes cherry-picking to suppport preconceived notions. And while you are right about the NIMBY aspect of alternative energy, they are not all “non-solutions.” Respectable progress is being made in solar, at the very least (ref. Sept. 09 National Geographic Magazine).
“some rightists do object to a things involving biotech, but so do leftists” –> Let’s keep this even: “some rightists do object to a things involving biotech, but so do some leftists.”
I get pissed off at silly leftist ideas like paying carbon offsets to fly airlines, but silly rightist ideas about religion piss me off more. If politics and science are bad, religion and science are a deathtrap – despite Gould’s “overlapping magisterium” idea.
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Hmmmmmm…….. it seems that our decreased American military-industrial complex spending has hit the Japanese too! All part of the poor global economy, I suppose. I guess we’ve stopped shelling out money to have foreign countries like Japan do our research for us. Of course, with the Dollar the way it is, I’m also not too surprised – things must seem extremely, unbelievably expensive to do anything in Japan at the moment, looking at it from the US Dollar perspective.
The money is being funneled over to India and Pakistan, you can just see it happening right in front of our eyes.
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Well, I’m not sure that the dollar is the reason, Asian countries are actually attempting to boost the dollar’s worth. If the US really wanted to boost the dollar’s worth it would be pretty simple, bring up interest rates, but nobody wants that. Problem is no one wants to invest in currencies, because you really can’t expect any big returns and no dividends, its lame.
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Here you go, Kevin:
http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/4475160/
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Ren Ho got spammed the crap out of on Twitter regarding the supercomputer issue from many many concerned citizens who thought that the cut was a VERY dumb idea, and I assume many people were quite vocal about it through many other channels.
I don’t know if that actually worked or some more sensible DPJ politicians (!) recognized it for the bad idea that it was, but the decision looked like it was already getting reversed two days after it’s announcement.
スパコン「凍結」せず…菅戦略相、仕分け見直し
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20091122-OYT1T00815.htm
But Ren Ho will be remembered for a long time to come as the idiot who uttered “Do you need to be in 1st place? Why can’t you be satisfied with being in 2nd place?” in regards to the rat race to develop faster and faster supercomputers. The DPJ is already being regarded in many discourses as crippling Japan from the inside out, and comments like these are symbolic in that sense.
I keep on saying the DPJ doesn’t know how to run a country and they have no plan, and it’s things like these that highlight my point.
Strangling a vital interest out of sheer shortsightetedness and ignorance, and then quickly reversing it’s decision when people whine about it. It’s fortunate the latter worked in this case, but it’s still worrisome about what they’ll do in the future on reflex just to try to keep whiners happy.
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Not even 2nd place. According to the Top 500 supercomputer list, Japan is already in 6th place (after the US, UK, Germany, France and China).
http://www.top500.org/stats/list/34/countries
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I must not have read it right… did that DPJ tard compare SDF exhibits to help recruitment to Disney World?
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http://genkienglish.net/teaching/eigo-note-or-even-english-to-be-abolished-gov-wants-you-to-choose
Apparently DPJ is trying to reverse the English language reforms the LDP put through. I admit that the elementary school English textbook is pretty bad, but at least it was an attempt in the right direction.
CHANGE INDEED!
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