Japanese universities are applying for defence research funding in record numbers, in a sharp break from an academic tradition that has kept military research at arm’s length since the Second World War.
The Ministry of Defense’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) received 560 applications this year to its security technology research programme, the most since the scheme began in 2015. Of these, 291 came from universities and other educational institutions, more than double last year’s 123, Times Higher Education reported. Nineteen universities won funding, 11 of them for the first time, including Nagoya University and Osaka University. The agency will allocate 12.9 billion yen (about £61 million) this financial year.
The rise has been steep. Only around ten university applications a year were made before 2022, rising to 23 in 2023 and 44 in 2024, according to figures reported by The Japan News. The defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, has welcomed the shift, The Japan Times reported.
For decades, Japan’s universities were among the most reluctant in the developed world to work with the military. After the war, the country’s constitution renounced war, and in 1950 the Science Council of Japan, which represents the country’s scientists, pledged never to carry out research for military purposes. It reaffirmed that position in 2017, when it criticised an earlier version of the ATLA programme and urged universities to protect academic freedom.
That stance has softened. In 2022, the council said it was “unrealistic” to draw a sharp line between technologies with military and civilian uses, and the government’s latest Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Plan explicitly promotes such dual-use research. Much of the funded work is in basic science, including artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
Academics who study Japanese higher education say the trend should not be read as wholesale enthusiasm. Futao Huang of Hiroshima University told Times Higher Education that tight university budgets make defence grants more attractive, and that “the purpose and conditions matter”, including who sets the research agenda and whether results can be published openly. Akiyoshi Yonezawa, another higher education specialist, described the response as cautious but realistic, and said money alone did not explain the change.
The shift also brings new checks. From this financial year, Japan’s research security rules, set out by a Cabinet Office expert panel in December 2025, apply to new projects under ATLA’s programme and several other government-funded schemes. Universities must carry out due diligence on the people involved, which can include students, covering matters such as outside funding, affiliations and participation in foreign talent programmes, according to a guide to the new regime. The rules state that there must be no discrimination on grounds of nationality.
Universities already screen the sharing of sensitive technology under Japan’s export control laws. Guidance from Kobe University, for example, tells international students and researchers that the rules depend on a person’s residence status and ties to foreign governments or organisations rather than their nationality, and asks them to consult their supervisor before sharing controlled technology. Ordinary conference presentations and journal publications are generally not affected.
Japan is a popular destination for international PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, many of them supported by government scholarships. For those considering a laboratory in engineering, computing or the physical sciences, it is now reasonable to ask a prospective supervisor where the lab’s funding comes from, whether any projects are defence-funded, and whether that affects who can take part or what can be published. Asking early avoids surprises later, and most universities have export control offices that can explain how the rules apply.
Sources: Times Higher Education, 30 October 2026; The Japan News via Asia News Network, July 2025; The Japan Times, 20 October 2026; Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency; Cabinet Office research security procedures (December 2025), as summarised by TIMEWELL; Kobe University security export control guidance (October 2022). Checked on 10 November 2026.