The decision of Japan's prime minister Keizo Obuchi to retain Akito Arima, a physicist and former president of Tokyo University, as minister of education and also appoint him as head of the Science and Technology Agency in his new coalition government (see page 188) is a wise move that should help smooth the complex impending merger of the agency and the ministry.

Arima, a champion of reform of Japan's public-sector research system with experience of working with both the education ministry and the agency in his former roles as presint of Tokyo University and head of the agency's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), is ideally qualified for the job. He is also rare among Japan's scientists in having the political savvy and determination to carry out his difficult task.

The merger of the education ministry and agency scheduled for 2001 will not be easy. The organizations are as alike as oil and water and have often clashed in the past. The education ministry is large, conservative and devoted primarily to issues of education in schools and universities rather than scientific research. The much smaller and younger Science and Technology Agency is a comparatively lightweight organization in the political world that has devoted most of its resources to large-scale science and technology projects in space, marine science and nuclear energy.

One area where rapid progress can be expected under Arima will be the introduction of a much-needed nationwide system for assessing research in universities, as well in institutes of the agency. Arima has been a pioneer of such assessment in his former roles at Tokyo University and RIKEN. He is also a strong advocate of building greater public awareness and understanding of science and of more creative science curricula in schools. All of which is heartily to be welcomed.

A delicate task for Arima will be rationalization of overlapping functions of the agency and ministry, particularly in the areas of marine and space science. While a case might be made for greater sharing of resources between the agency's Japan Marine Science and Technology Center and the Ocean Research Institute of Tokyo University, there is greater need for caution with space science, where the internationally renowned Institute of Space and Astronautical Science under the ministry of education could be seriously impaired by any attempt to merge it with the agency's huge National Space Development Agency, which is run by engineers. Arima must retain the best interests of science in dealing with these complex issues.