As this year’s Nobel Prizes were announced in early October, once again Japan’s scientific community held its breath... and once again they came away empty-handed.
At some universities, preparations for Nobel Week begin long in advance, with staff updating the profiles of scientists on the list of hopefuls nominated by each faculty. The PR team drafts a congratulatory statement, books a venue for a press conference and coordinates everyone’s role beforehand so they can respond smoothly to the onslaught of media attention in case someone wins.
The Japanese press hypes the awards, though its attention is almost exclusively focused on whether a Japanese national or a researcher of Japanese descent wins. Scientific accomplishments are more newsworthy, it seems, if they can spur patriotic sentiments.
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