Japan realizes they are behind in the scientific world, so one of their few Nobel Laureates is devising a plan to get them back on track. In a NY Times article, Dr. Hideki Shirakawa offers an explanation for a cultural lack of individual initiative: “Fundamentally, Japanese culture is based on rice farming. Rice cultivation requires a lot of water, and water must be shared evenly by everyone. Planting rice also required teams of people walking from row to row, at the same speed. And all of this has meant that uniqueness had to be suppressed.” Peer reviews don’t work well because colleagues don’t wish to openly criticize each other’s work. The ministry is trying to create a more competitive atmosphere and upward mobility, but they are fighting a strong culture. Perhaps there’s a way to work within the current system? There’s some irony in the reality that Japan as a country feels competitive enough to want to keep up with the U.S. and other countries in scientific advancement, and yet that lack of competitiveness within their scientific community is what they believe is holding them back.