In this article I want to again emphasize the importance of higher creativity. In the next century, Japan is expected to become an "intelligence network society", in which people can more freely share knowledge and learn to the limits of one's ability. In this society it will be important to create new information through the shared knowledge. In the short term, Japan must increasingly contribute to basic research. To do so, we need a well developed philosophy blending the many facers of science and technology. For example, in describing the nature of living things we need to not only understand the physical characteristics of how organisms are materially constructed and process energy, but also how information flows. Now the requirements of higher creativity demand that we consider a new philosophy. It is important to study how organizational conditions can bring higher creativity into play. It is also important to cultivate the personal creativity. This demands not selection through examinations but education in the growing stages. However, even those with exceptional abilities cannot bear the fruits of creativity without effort. These days, it seems that children in Japan have been less persevering and it is possible that if this trend continues, it may be an obstacle to the production of a "creative society".

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It is often argued that Japan has been taking a free ride on foreign basic research. As a result, Japan has entered into new phase of "brain friction" in its relations with the United States. Therefore, we must make clear the mutual relations between science, technology and industry, and understand differences between Japan and the United States.Regarding Japan's low level of contributions to basic research which is often criticized, we must consider problems of creativity in science and technology, and elucidate important conditions to raising the level of creativity in the curriculum. Above all, various socio-cultural factors, such as the importance of image (or aesthetic sense) and concept formation, must be recognized.Present day Japan is often compared to the United States in the 1920-1930's. In those days, large quantities of products, based on the results of European basic science, poured into the European market, and the United States was severely criticized. Japan needs to learn historical lessons from the situation of the United States in that age.

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This article is about the hierarchical structure of paradigms. The author argues that, with regard to the creative process of scientists, there is no difference between normal and abnormal science which is contrary to the theory of Thomas Kuhn.The objects of normal science then should be modelled and approximated according to fields. These models and approximations become "common-sense as a matter of course" in due time. The author terms this the second-order paradigm, which is not led by a basic paradigm. Paradigms, therefore, have a hierarchial structure and normal science is not merely puzzle-solving as asserted by Thomas Kuhn, although normal science might be expressed as a puzzle-solving after research is finished, it is more importantly an activity which brings about the creation and change of a paradigm.Finally, the author shows two demonstrative examples from his own experience and leads several lessons.

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Management engineering treats organizations as work systems and aims at improving the organization through the system. The work system includes all the activities of the managers, administrators and staff. In the system creativity plays an important part in improving the productivity and humanity of the organization.In this paper, the author first examines Japanese creativity, comparing the creativity of R&D in Japan with that of other advanced countries and reviewing the trend of dependency on R&D in foreign countries.The approaches to construct or improve the work system are classified into an analytic approach and a creative approach. The author next explains the theory and method of developing creativity focussing on the latter approach. In this approach, one takes up the existing problem, extracts the function of the system having that problem, pursues the functions (function development), develops the ideal system fulfilling the functions, seeks a solution considering actual constraints and introduces the solution into the problem. The author explains the improvement to tooth brushing as a simple example of this approach. He also investigates, theoretically, the problem of the removal or rebuilding of a factory and also describes the example of a dispensary in a university hospital having 1200 beds.Lastly the author emphasizes the importance of education for developing creativity. He stresses that the construction or improvement of a work system has to aim at not only at productivity increase but also at the advancement of humanity.

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This paper introduces the DTCN method; an new method for creative R&D that attempts to achieve the following three aims: (1) to create a new sense with regard to certain values; (2) to develop a useful method to deal with both R&D and the commercialization of its results; (3) to develop a method by which creative thinking finds concrete expressions. In the DTCN method, the origin and the norms for thinking and action are located in the customer. These thinking and action are systematized through DTCN. This method is thus a tool to stimulate and systematize the creativity of an organization and its members so that it may be rendered operational.

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Increasing the productivity and creativity of knowledge intensive staff members (KIS) is an urgent problem for the firms who desire original value added in their products.Research on the organizational culture and its influence on the productivity of KIS is very important, because the organizational culture affects to a high degree the enhancement and realization of their abilities. Moreover, in the current of research on organizations about productivity, it has new aspects, as it applies the organizations activities which are based on expert knowledge.This article consists of three parts.1) An introduction to the diagnosis of KIS organizational culture, showing the total framework applied to practical management.2) A categorization of the structure of the organizational culture. This is the basis of a questionnaire for the investigation, providing a logical structured frame to seize complex phenomena of the KIS organization,3) Case studies of two firms in the machinery industry. Here, the author points out some organizational problems suggested from the analysis.

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The need for creativity is felt in all corporate divisions and consequently corporate-wide policies to enhance it should be adopted. In Japan, however, measures to foster creativity are mainly designed for employees in the lower ranks. Those measures should also apply to the more qualified employees on account of the fact that they have all undergone the same years of schooling and received similar education as required by the Japanese educational system. The methods used to foster creativity in the business environment remain the same, with brain-storming being the most widely used, followed by the KJ., Checklist and NM methods. Other methods have been devised but they have not yet found their way into the corporate world. For a company to be creative it needs to recruit creative people and to set up an environment conductive to creativity by adopting systems such as internal recruitment and flex-time. On a general basis, to enhance the creativity of employees they must be instilled with the sense that "imitating things done by others is shameful". Further, enhancing the creativity of a company requires adopting the Total Corporate identity(TCI) strategy which involves renewing various aspects concerning the organization, personnel, business methods and information system of a corporation through a reassessment of its identity, culture and domain of activities.

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A turning point in Japanese science policy for the promotion of the basic research has come, and research of the organizational features of research activities may contribute to the reformation of the system for scientific research in Japan.The methodology and concepts of the cultural anthropology have offered many suggestions regarding the social environment producing scientific knowledge. Its inductive approach identifies social factors of creative research activities and its methods are effective for the creation and modification of hypotheses and the verification of the validity of concepts and measurements.This article presents the author's research project in which he has observed participants in laboratories in Japan from September 1990.the project investigates organizational features, such as research autonomy, research-networks, and inter-organizational relationships, through participant observation, interviews, and descriptions of researchers, daily activities. Through this project, the author intends to clarify the cost/benefit for one researcher considering all of the individual's research activity.

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