Materials education and research in Japan, and Japan-India cooperative science program

National universities and national laboratories in Japan are changing quite rapidly and drastically. National universities are not directly under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) after April 2004. Many national laboratories became Independent Administrative Institutions on October 1, 2003. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) supports Japan-India Cooperative Science Program with the Government of India, Department of Science and Technology. C 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc