Volume 3 of the four-volume A Social History of Science and Technology in Contemporary Japan examines the period of high economic growth, when Japan emerged as one of the world's leading scientific and technological powers. It explores how government, universities, research institutions, and industry collaborated to build a modern research and development infrastructure that supported rapid economic expansion and technological innovation.

The volume covers the growth of corporate and government R&D, the creation of Tsukuba Science City, the expansion of higher education and international scientific cooperation, and the rise of new industries including nuclear power, space development, petrochemicals, and computers. It also examines the transformation of Japanese society through the development of the Shinkansen, expressways, telecommunications, urbanization, environmental protection, television, and science journalism. Written by more than fifty leading Japanese historians of science and technology, this English edition makes a landmark work of Japanese scholarship available to an international audience for the first time. It is an essential resource for researchers and students of the history of science, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Japanese Studies, economic history, and postwar East Asian history.

About Editors and Authors

NAKAYAMA Shigeru

NAKAYAMA Shigeru was a leading Japanese scholar specializing in the history of science. He was Professor Emeritus at Kanagawa University and Vice-Chairman of the International Academy of the History of Science. In 1945, he joined the Hiroshima High School Science Class (now Hiroshima University), and was exposed to the atomic bomb at his residence. In 1948, he moved to Tokyo to join the Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, and upon graduating in 1951 was employed by the publisher Heibonsha. In 1955, he joined the Graduate School of Harvard University as a Fulbright Scholar and was awarded a PhD in 1960. After returning to Japan, he served in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo as Lecturer, and later went on to become Assistant Professor. He retired from the University of Tokyo in 1989 and became Professor at Kanagawa University. His career produced a wide range of research achievements, including in the history of science and technology in China and Japan, the history of universities and the social history of science. He passed away in 2014.

GOTO Kunio

GOTO Kunio is a scholar in the history and philosophy of science and technology and a science educator. He graduated from the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Nagoya University, in 1955. After working as an assistant at Nagoya University and as Lecturer and later Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at Momoyama Gakuin University, he went on to become Professor in 1968. He retired in 2001 and became Professor Emeritus at Momoyama Gakuin University, Osaka.

Table of contents

Introduction: High Economic Growth and the Road to Becoming a Power in the Fields of Science and Technology

Part I: Construction of R & D Infrastructure

1 The Central Laboratory Boom and the Rise of Corporate R&D, Shigeru Nakayama

2 The Expansion of Government Research, Shūichi Tsukahara

3 MITI’s National Programme of Large Scale R&D Projects, Shūichi Tsukahara and Chikayoshi Kamatani

4 The Creation of Tsukuba Science City, Shūichi Tsukahara

5 The Expansion of Science and Engineering Education at Universities and the Role of Manpower Planning, Katsuhiro Arai

Part II: Enrichment and Reorganization of the Academic Research System

6 The Restructuring of Academic Research Administration, Shigeru Nakayama

7 US–Japan Scientifi c Cooperation: Japan’s Changing Role in the International Scientifi c Community, Shigeru Nakayama

8 Future Plans for Nuclear Physics Research, Hitoshi Yoshioka

9 The Rise of Nuclear Fusion Research, Hitoshi Yoshioka

10 Establishment of Computer Centers and Computer Engineering Departments in Universities, Shūichi Tsukahara

Part III: The Emergence of New Industries

11 The Development and Utilization of Nuclear Reactors, Hitoshi Yoshioka

12 The Establishment of Space Development Organizations, Hitoshi Yoshioka

13 Development of the Petrochemical Industry, Shūichi Tsukahara

14 The Birth of Japan’s Computer Industry, Kiyoshi Nakamura

15 The Motorization of Japan, Tsutomu Demizu

16 The Industrialization of the Food Processing System, Koyu Furusawa

Part IV: Changes in Transportation and the Urban Environment

17 The National Land Comprehensive Development Act, Kunio Gotō

18 Construction of a Nationwide Network of Expressways, Tōru Koyama

19 Construction of the Rapid Transit Railway Network, Tōru Koyama

20 The Shinkansen (Bullet Train): A New Era in Railway Technology, Tōru Koyama

21 The Rapid Growth of Civil Aviation, Hitoshi Yoshioka

22 The Growth of a Nationwide Telecommunications Network, Minoru Terasaki

23 Evolution of the Housing Industry, Shōichi Honda

24 Transformation of Cities, Takaji Mizushima

25 Anti-pollution Measures, Zenji Suzuki

Part V: Cultural Change and the Growth in Technology

26 Military-Academic Cooperation during the Vietnam War, Hitoshi Yoshioka

27 Dr. Takemi: President of the Japan Medical Association, Shirō Sakaguchi

28 Drug Induced Sufferings, Shirō Sakaguchi

29 Science in Popular Culture, Kenji Kōsaka and Ryōichirō Motohama

30 The Effects of Television on People’s Consciousness, Ryōichirō Motohama and Kenji Kōsaka

31 The ‘Buy Japanese’ Campaign and Progress in Japanese Technology, Ryōichirō Motohama and Kenji Kōsaka

32 The Growth of Science Journalism, Yukio Wakamatsu