Co-hosted by Japanese University Graduates Association of Singapore (JUGAS) and Japan Creative Centre (JCC), Embassy of Japan in Singapore, the 2018 Monbukagakusho (MEXT) Scholarship Briefing Session was held at JCC on 10 June 2017. This event was held to provide students with the necessary information for applying for the Japanese government scholarship (MEXT Scholarship) as well as studying in a Japanese university...(Click here to read more)

A talk on the relevance of Yayoi Kusama’s art today was conducted by Mr Reuben Keehan at JCC (Japan Creative Centre) on Thursday, 15 June 2017. More than 60 guests attended the talk to learn about the relevance, popularity and cultural implications of Ms Yayoi Kusama in the present day, which was held in light of Yayoi Kusama: Life is the heart of a rainbow exhibition at...(Click here to read more)

We had a positive response for our JCC Cinema 57 at Japan Creative Centre (JCC) on Saturday, 24th July 2017, where over 50 guests came to watch the screening of Bushido Sixteen. Based on a novel by Tetsuya Honda and starring Riko Narumi and Kie Kitano, Bushido Sixteen is a movie filled with thrilling swordplay, comedy, and touching moments of friendship surrounding two high school kendo fencers. Be sure to stay tuned for our upcoming...(Click here to read more)

A talk event by Singaporean participants who went for the JENESYS2016 (Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths 2016) was held at JCC (Japan Creative Centre) on Saturday, 1 July 2017. Under the theme of ‘Economics’, a total of 9 speakers from 4 different organisations came and shared about their journeys, experiences and takeaways from the programme and their stay in Japan. Ms Junko Minagawa, Third...(Click here to read more)

Congratulations to the Republic of Finland on the centennial of its independence! The Japanese community participated in Moomin Day at the Central Public Library on 3rd June 2017, and joined in the celebration of this 100th year anniversary. There were storytelling sessions of Moomin picture books in a total of three different languages: English, Japanese and Chinese. The storytelling group from The Japanese Association...(Click here to read more)

Ikebana International Singapore Chapter 135 (I.I.) turned 48 this year! I.I has been committed to strengthening cross cultural relations through the appreciation of Ikebana, a traditional Japanese art of floral arrangement. Indeed a reason to celebrate, a reception commemorating the 48th year of establishment of the I.I. Singapore Chapter 135 was held at the residence of...(Click here to read more)

The opening ceremony of 25th Anniversary Exhibition of Ikenobo Ikebana Society, Singapore Chapter was officiated by H.E. Kenji Shinoda on Saturday, 24 June 2017. Held at Chinatown Point, both the Ambassador and Mrs Yuko Shinoda were further accompanied by Dr Leonard Lim, President of Ikenobo Ikebana Society, Singapore Chapter, and had a tour around the...(Click here to read more)

The 4th Japan-Singapore Inter-Professional Collaboration Symposium 2017 was held at The Academia in Singapore General Hospital on 1st July 2017. The theme of the symposium this year is “Diet, Health & Aging”. This symposium was organised by College of Family Physicians Singapore, Bright Vision Hospital, MURAYAMA Singapore Pte. Ltd and supported by Japan Primary...(Click here to read more)

On 8th June, JUGAS (The Japanese University Graduates Association of Singapore) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2017/2018 visited H.E. Ambassador Kenji Shinoda and discussed the current status of "Studying in Japan" in Singapore...(Click here to view more)

On 16th June, Mr. Hideyuki Uchida, Director, Baseball Development, Singapore Baseball & Softball Association (SBSA) visited Japan Creative Centre (JCC) . He has contributed to the promotion of friendship between Singapore and Japan in the field of baseball for more than 20 years! (Click here to read more)

On 22nd June, H. E. Ambassador Kenji Shinoda and Madam Yuko Shinoda visited Kranji Marshes and were welcomed and given a tour by Mr How Choon Beng, Director, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, National Parks and other senior experts. Kranji Marshes is home to a rich array of flora and fauna, including more than 170 species of birds, 54 species of butterflies and 33 species of dragonflies. Together with Sungei Buloh Wetland...(Click here to read more)

H.E. Ambassador Kenji Shinoda and Minister for Transport and Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, Mr Khaw Boon Wan visited the indoor vegetable farm at Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific on Friday, 23 June 2017. Welcomed by Panasonic Asia Pacific Managing Director Mr Toru Nishida and his team, both the Ambassador and Minister were introduced...(Click here to read more)

JS “IZUMO”, Japanese Helicopter-loaded Destroyer and JS “Sazanami” came back to Singapore again! Rear Admiral Yoshihiro GOKA, Commander, Escort Flotilla One and his delegation visited Japan Creative Centre (JCC) on 24th June 2017, and enjoyed touring JCC's current JENESYS2016 exhibition! Mr. Masanori KAWABATA, Second Secretary (Education, Culture...(Click here to read more)

The Culture Of “Omotenashi” By Ms Han Lilin

8 Seasons in Japan on the Monbukagakusho Scholarship By Mr Low Hong Ee

Summer vacation at most Japanese public elementary and middle schools now starts on Marine Day on July 20 and usually lasts for around six weeks through the end of August. In some regions like Hokkaido, though, where winters are very cold, summer vacations are sometimes a little shorter and winter breaks longer. The Japanese school year begins in April, so summer...(Click here to read more)

The H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 34 with the MICHIBIKI No. 2 (QZS-2) onboard lifted off at 9:17 a.m. on June 1, 2017 (Japan Standard Time) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch vehicle flew as planned, and at about 28 minutes and 21 seconds after liftoff, the separation of the "MICHIBIKI No. 2" was...(Click to read more)

QZSS is a Japanese satellite positioning system composed mainly of satellites in quasi-zenith orbits (QZO). However, the term “Quasi-Zenith Satellite (QZS)” can refer to both satellites in QZO and geostationary orbits (GEO). For that reason, the name “QZO satellite” is used when it is necessary to specifically refer to satellites in QZO. Satellite positioning systems use satellite signals to calculate position information. One famous example is the American Global Positioning System (GPS); the QZSS is sometimes called...(Click to read more)

The video of protein crystallization is up on Innovation Japan, Cabinet Secretariat's website - conducted by JAXA's astronaut Takuya Onishi in KIBO module on his last long term International Space Station expedition. JAXA's strategic partnership with Japanese biopharma, PeptiDream Inc. has been crystallized into this innovative experiment under near zero G. It is part of JAXA's...(Click to watch video)

PeptiDream Inc. (PeptiDream), a Tokyo-based public biopharmaceutical company, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a national research and development agency, has established a strategic partnership for the High-Quality Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) experiment on the Japanese Experimental Module ("Kibo") of the International Space Station (ISS). This strategic partnership agreement (this Agreement) is a renewal of the current fee-based contract and represents a...(Click to read more)

Demonstration tests on snow and ice monitoring sensors, which JAXA has led the way in researching and developing, have begun at Kitami Institute of Technology (Kitami, Hokkaido) in December 2016. For the tests, researchers have created outdoor, underground installations of the sensors to demonstrate the technology's ability to detect the thickness and quality of the snow that accumulates on the glass covering the sensors. By illuminating snow or ice with laser light, the sensors measure the accumulation, density...(Click to read more)

Through RIKEN Research, our quarterly magazine and website, we present the best of research from RIKEN to the international community. Our research is shown in an accessible, easy-to-read format, providing regular insights into the people, facilities and programs that make up RIKEN. The core component of RIKEN Research are short, easy-to-understand Research Highlight articles explaining for a broad scientific audience some of the latest research articles published by RIKEN researchers...(Click to read more)

For past issues of the print magazine please visit this archive.

K computer takes first place for the second consecutive time on HPCG benchmark

On June 19, the K computer took first place for the second consecutive time in the HPCG benchmark, a new index developed to create a more realistic view of supercomputer performance compared to the commonly used LINPACK benchmark. This success, which surpasses the second place achieved in 2014 and 2015, was made possible by subsequent improvements...(Click to read more)

How biomolecules behave in crowded cellular environments has been an important question in life science. Researchers at RIKEN and Michigan State University made an atomic model of the bacterial cytoplasm using the existing experimental information. They also developed highly-parallelized MD software, GENESIS, and carried out large-scale MD simulations of the model by using GENESIS on K computer. From detailed analysis of the...(Click to watch video)

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) have discovered a new, yet simple, way to increase drought tolerance in a wide range of plants. Published in Nature Plants, the study reports a newly discovered biological pathway that is activated in times of drought. By working out the details of this pathway, scientists were able to induce greater tolerance for drought-like conditions simply by growing plants in vinegar...(Click to read more)

SAKURA Exchange Program in Science (SSP) by JST

Asia is undergoing a period of dramatic progress. Promoting science and technology is a key engine to materialize a bright future of Asia and it is vitally important to enhance the exchange of Japanese and Asian youths who will play a crucial role in the field of science and technology. Based on this concept, “Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science” (SAKURA Exchange Program in Science) is the program for enhancing exchanges between Asia and Japan of the youths who will play a crucial role in the future field of science and technology through the close collaboration of industry-academia-government by facilitating short-term visits of competent Asian youths to Japan. (Click here to read more: Website | High School Student Special Course Videos | Pamphlet)

Miraikan is a place where we can understand the things happening in our world today from a scientific point of view, and have discussions while considering the future that awaits us. In addition to exhibitions that provide people with a chance to enjoy hands-on contact with science and technology, Miraikan's colorful line-up of offerings includes experienced based classes, and talks. Visitors can experience the technological progress of today, from simple day-to-day questions, to the latest technologies, the global environment, space exploration and...(Click here to read more: Website | Video)

This report relates to the Summit "Future Serices & Societal Systems in Society 5.0" held by the Center for Research and Development Strategy (CRDS) Japan Science and Technology Agency(JST) on November 7. (Click to read more)

AMED New Brochure 2017-2018 has been uploaded!

• English
• Japanese

This project contributes to the reconstruction of regional healthcare by carrying out a long-term health survey focused on areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and provides the research infrastructure for the development of personalized genomic medicine by building up a biobank including materials and information from 150,000 individuals...(Click to read more)

The Drug Discovery Support Network (DDSN) is a collaborative framework that pulls together 3 public research organizations, i.e., RIKEN, the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (NIBIOHN), and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science (AIST), to contribute to the “iD3 Booster” program by providing with their cutting edge technologies for high throughput screening (HTS) and lead optimization and...(Click here to read more)

Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) in collaboration with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have identified three outstanding R&D projects in the field of “Biological and Molecular Determinants of Human Ageing” under the Strategic International Collaborative Research Program (SICORP). This is the first joint grant call since an MOC between AMED and A*STAR was signed in...(Click here to read more)

Recently, emerging nonvolatile-memories with low power consumption (MRAM, ReRAM, PC-RAM, and so on) have been developed actively and their production is going to be launched onto the market. Among them, MRAM has received much attention with the infinite endurance, excellent data-retention characteristics and extremely low power consumption with the drastic progress of the materials, device structures and processes for a new...(Click here to read more)

"Student Guide to Japan" is an essential book for international students planning to study in Japan.

(Click to read more: English | Mandarin)

"Scholarships for International Students in Japan 2017-2018" contains details about scholarships provided by various organisations that have responded to a questionnaire survey carried out by JASSO. (Click here to read more)

Our new Student Advisor Ms Regina provides free student counselling for people interested in studying in Japan. The counselling will be held at the Embassy of Japan, 16 Nassim Road, Singapore 258390. No appointment is necessary. Please call 62358855 if you have any queries. There will be no counselling sessions on Embassy holidays. (Click here to read more)

Job Hunting Guide for International Students 2018 was released by Japan Student Service Organisation (JASSO). (Click here to read more)

Japan Student Service Organisation (JASSO) publishes Japan Alumni eNews every month. The contents are as follows:

1. Life in Japan by Photo
2. Alumni News
3. Academic News
4. Business News (Job Hunting)
5. Visit Japan
6. NIPPON Information
7. JASSO News
8. From the Editor

The Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU) is used to evaluate whether international students who wish to study at the undergraduate level at universities or other such higher educational institutions in Japan possess the Japanese language skills and the basic academic abilities needed to study at those institutions. (Guidelines for the 2017 EJU | (Click here to read more))

JASSO holds Study in Japan Fairs outside Japan with participation of Japanese universities to provide information on study in Japan to high school students, university students and educators.

Target: High school students, university students and graduate students.
Exhibitors: Japanese universities
(Click here to read more)

Information related to application qualifications, major field of studies, medium of instruction and on-campus scholarships of Japanese graduate schools, universities and junior colleges is available for searching through Excel files posted online. (Click here to read more)

Since 2014, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has been carrying out the Top Global University Project to provide prioritized support to those universities that are leading the internationalization of Japan’s education by launching new programs to encourage and deepen interactions and partnerships with the world’s top universities, reforming personnel and educational systems, enhancing educational systems to help students develop the ability to act globally and accelerating other globalization initiatives. Under the Top Global University Project, 13 universities were selected as Type A (Top Type) universities that are conducting world-leading education and research and 24 universities were selected as Type B (Global Traction Type) universities that are leading the globalization of Japanese society. These 37 universities have been working hard on internationalization and university reform. (Click here to read more)

EDU-Port Japan is a public-private, nationwide initiative to proactively disseminate Japanese-style education overseas by providing a platform from which the public and private sectors collaborate in achieving this objective. The platform is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and many other organizations including NGOs and private businesses.
(Click here to read more)