JAPAN:
Mixed Grades for 5-Year Science Plan
Dennis Normile
TOKYO--A 1995 law that led to Japan's first-ever 5-year plan for science and technology has helped boost spending and the number of scientists being trained, but it has been less successful in ensuring that the increased funding is well spent. That's the preliminary verdict of a committee of the country's top science policy-makers, in an interim report released last week. The committee hopes to submit a final report in about a year.