Opinion | Universities in Japan and China are becoming tools of national strategy

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi entered office with an unusually strong political mandate following her decisive election victory on February 8. Among her early signals was a renewed emphasis on science, including a call for a substantial expansion of investment in basic research. For a country grappling with demographic decline, fiscal pressure and intensifying technological competition, the message was clear: knowledge and talent are once again central to national strategy.

The political symbolism matters. In an era when industrial policy, security concerns and innovation agendas increasingly overlap, research funding has become a proxy for state ambition. Yet beneath this renewed rhetoric, Japan’s universities face a more complicated reality. While funding signals have improved, the institutional structures that sustain academic careers – particularly for younger researchers – remain fragile.

This gap between political ambition and institutional capacity is not unique to Japan. It reflects a broader transformation reshaping how higher education functions as a strategic asset across Asia, where universities are no longer judged only by scholarly output, but by their contribution to national resilience and competitiveness. Nowhere is this clearer than in the contrasting trajectories of Japan and China.

The recent increase in annual stipends for Japan Society for the Promotion of Science research fellows to 2.76 million yen (US$18,000) has been widely welcomed. It helps address rising living costs and sends an important symbolic message to early-career researchers. However, financial adjustments alone do not resolve deeper problems.

For young researchers, international experience remains essential yet increasingly uncertain, regulated and risky. Mobility is encouraged rhetorically but often unsupported institutionally, creating a paradox at the heart of Japan’s internationalisation strategy. This is where higher education policy intersects with geopolitics.