Last year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PRNFDC). It was planned from the beginning to develop two types of reactors, the fast neutron breeder and the hot neutron reactor. With regard to the hot neutron reactor however, a debate ensued as to whether to adopt the 'light water reactor' developed in the United States or the heavy-water cool reactor that enabled a more efficient use of uranium. The electric power companies favoured the former whereas the project team opted for the latter. The views of the project team prevailed and in 1966 the approval of the National Atomic Power Committee was obtained. Subsequent to the discussion on this undertaking at the Diet, the PRNFDC began its operations in 1967. The fast neutron breeder became known as "Monju" and the hot neutron reactor as "Fugen". The timing of this project coincided with Japan's period of high economic growth. Consistent with the general outlook prevailing during that period, it enjoyed widespread support among government, industry and academia who looked forward to their implementation. This is no doubt a major reason for the overall success of the power reactor development efforts in Japan. In twenty-five years, society's views on the subject have changed considerably, but the long0term nature of nuclear reactor development cannot easily accommodate such social variability. It is now time however to conduct an evaluation of the management and control methods developed during the quarter of a century since the project was started.

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This article presents a survey of statistical data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan revealing the growth in the number of R&D facilities established by Japanese companies outside Japan during the last twenty years. Yet, most of the R&D activities of these facilities relate to design and development and the collection of pertinent information, with only a small share being allocated to research proper. Four reasons are given for the rapid increase of such facilities abroad. First, the need for speedy market access through the gathering of information and the identification of market trends. Second, the need to provide support to the company's local factories. Third, the need to seek new technology seeds, capture new product concepts, and cope with technonationalism. And, lastly, the need to make products to fit local conditions. Finally, the author indicates a number of future trends, these being the increase in the number of R&D facilities especially for basic research, the increase in Japan in the number of entities such as university research centres and other research bodies that will be linked by satellite facilitating thereby their support of the R&D efforts of corporations, the building of networks among R&D facilities, the enlargement of the R&D facilities, the establishment of Japanese R&D facilities in Asia, the gradual autonomy of the R&D facilities, and the levelling off of differences among the R&D management methods of Japan, the United States and Europe with the consequent emergence of a new single method encompassing the best aspects of its predecessors.

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This article presents the overseas R&D facilities of Kobe Steel, including their purposes, historical background, R&D themes and management. Kobe Steel has one research laboratory in the United Kingdom and two research laboratories and one development centre in the United States. They carry out R&D on electronic materials, high polymer composite materials, and diamond thin film. The main reasons that have pushed Kobe Steel to set up R&D facilities overseas are to develop new technologies through alliances with overseas R&S entities, to come up with new businesses through accrued access to leas uses, and to enhance the worldwide exposure and activity of its researchers, engineers and R&D managers. Numerous steps were gone through before setting up those facilities. The most crucial factor is to establish a relationship with neighbouring universities and research centres as well as to contribute to these institutions. With regard to the management of overseas R&D facilities, the most important issues to consider are the orientation of R&D themes along corporate or business strategy, the allocation of resources, and the accumulation of technological information given the high mobility of R&D staff. To discuss these matters, Kobe steel holds annual meetings of its Steering Committee made up of representatives from its laboratories in the UK, USA and Japan. Concerning transfers of technology across borders, Kobe Steel adheres to the different regulations governing the management of technological information in each country while pursuing its own policy on intellectual property matters. Further, Kobe Steel has specific programmes to allow researchers, R&D managers and legal staff to study abroad, and to receive researchers from abroad.

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This article provides an account of the Hoechst Group's research and development activities in Japan as well as the overall R&D setting in which they are conducted. Foreign-affiliated chemical companies in Japan cannot limit themselves to the mere sale of their products but as a result of the nature of the relation between users and suppliers are forced to manufacture as well as conduct R&D in Japan itself. Several reasons are given; first, some of the most advanced components of carious chemical products are produced in Japan; second, suppliers and users interact according to a cyclical pattern consisting in the provision of the product to the users for their evaluation and suggestions, to which follows production according to the new requirements and the subsequent renewed handing out of the improved product to the users. This interaction pattern permits a smooth adaptation of the product to the demand of the consumers and their speedy acceptance of it once placed in the market. Third, Japanese consumers are very demanding in their quality requirements. Fourth, foreign-affiliated chemical companies require speedy communication between the headquarters in the country concerned and the technological development division in Japan. The Hoechst Group conducts R&D in Western Europe, the United States and Japan to make the best use of R&D resources available in these regions and to position itself close to the market. Hoechst Japan undertook pharmaceutical research in the 1960's, applied R&D on electronics materials, fine chemicals and agricultural chemicals in the 1980's, and research on the technology of advanced materials in 1990.

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Sharp's first R&D centre outside Japan was its basic research laboratory established in 1990 at the Oxford Science Park in the United Kingdom. It has a staff of thirty-five who conduct research in the fields of opto-electronics, artificial intelligence, and information and image processing; more specifically, current research is on semiconductor lasers, machine translation systems, and high-resolution printing systems. Three development centres were subsequently set up in the United States and Taiwan to provide technological support to Sharp's local production in these countries. Sharp has a policy of giving a high degree of autonomy to its R&D centres abroad. Further, Sharp seeks to establish relationships with universities or research centres to ensure the sucess of its own R&D centres. Besides contributing to global R&D efforts, Sharp expects that the technology developed by its centres overseas will also contribute to the enhancement of its R&D centres in Japan. Sharp's R&D facilities abroad are not classified according to the field of technology they concentrate on but rather by the level of research they perform. The host governments would prefer those facilities to perform advanced research. In line with this policy, Sharp's laboratory at Oxford will be alloted tasks beyond exploratory research to carry out actual research.

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In order to clarify disclosing procedures of scientific and technical information in Japanese academic and industrial communities and to provide guidelines to efficiently collect Japanese science and technology information, we conducted among high-level Japanese scientists and engineers a survey on functions of Japanese academic societies, when they publicize their research and development results. We have elucidated the order of importance of information disclosure opportunities by surveying opinions and realities in main industrial fields. Efficient means of collection of Japanese scientific and technical information are described.

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