Science Report WebSite

Akaike Guest HouseThe ROIS publishes an online magazine, SCIENCE REPORT, toinform the audience overseas about Japan’ s latest
academic research activities and achievements. SCIENCEREPORT focuses on a speciﬁc research topic for six months
at a time with monthly feature articles introducing diﬀerent
aspects of the ﬁeld. The magazine is intended to provide
insights into some of the major ongoing research projects
and how the country uses the Team Japan approach tobring together all the expertise and resources it has to oﬀer
to advance studies incertain areas. The site
oﬀers links to the news
releases and publicationsof various universities
and other academic
institutions from acrossJapan.
https://sr.rois.ac.jp/en/

The ISM opened Akaike Guest
House in June 2010 in thesuburban city of Tachikawa inTokyo to oﬀer researchersvisiting from out of the region/
country a place to stay that haseasy access to their researchsites. The facility was named after the late Dr. Hirotugu Akaike, arenowned statistician, to pay tribute to his wide-reaching andinﬂuential achievements in the ﬁeld of Statistical Science. We
hope Dr. Akaike is watching us over as we strive to advancescience and try to carry on his legacy.
https://www.ism.ac.jp/guest_house/index.html

Activities for Gender Equality
The ROIS has the Oﬃce for Gender Equality set up at each of its
research centers to promote a fair and equal work environment
where both men and women researchers can thrive and accessthe support they need. As part of the initiative, the ROIS also
publishes on its website a directory of female researchers who
can be found through the ROIS researchmap search engine.

Online Public Access
ROIS has been working to provide online public access tovarious events such as open houses and online courses. In
addition to streaming videos and images of lectures, we are
hosting a wide range of poster presentations in virtual spaces.
❶ Inter-University Research Institute Corporation
Research Organization of Information and Systems
Tokyo Head Office
Hulic Kamiyacho Bldg. 2F, 4-3-13, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan
Phone: +81-3-6402-6200
https://www.rois.ac.jp/en/❷ National Institute of Polar Research

10-3, Midori-cho, Tachikawa-shi, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
Phone: +81-42-512-0647
https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/

Inter-U ni versi ty
Resea rc h Insti tute Corporati on

Saitama Prefecture●●❷❹❻ Tokyo❸●●❶
National Institute ofInformatics
Chiba Annex

Yamanashi Prefecture❸ National Institute of Informatics

Kanagawa Prefecture

2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430, Japan
Phone: +81-3-4212-2000
https://www.nii.ac.jp/en/

Chiba
Prefecture

ShizuokaPrefecture●❺❹ The Institute of Statistical Mathematics

10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8562, Japan
Phone: +81-50-5533-8500
https://www.ism.ac.jp/index_e.html❺ National Institute of Genetics

1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Phone: +81-55-981-6707(Administration Office)https://www.nig.ac.jp/nig/❻ Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research(ROIS-DS)

Data Science Building, 10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-0014, Japan
Phone: +81-42-512-9254
https://ds.rois.ac.jp/en/

The Arctic
National Institute of Polar ResearchNy-Ålesund Research Station

National Institute ofPolar Research
Syowa Station

Research Organization ofInformation and Systems
2020 / 2021

National Institute of Polar Research
Dome Fuji Station

The Antarctic

National Institute of Polar Research
National Institute of Informatics
The Institute of Statistical Mathematics
National Institute of Genetics

https://www.rois.ac.jp/en/
Contact Phone: +81-3-6402-6200
brochure 202101

Joint Support-Center for Data Science ResearchPioneering Research Frontiers in the Data Age to Solve Modern Society Problems

President’s Message

Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research (ROIS-DS)

Today, we ﬁnd ourselves in the midst of a transformational era. Rapid andrevolutionary advancements in communications technology, the emergenceof various kinds of big data, and dramatic improvements in computational
performance have transformed society and dramatically altered the research
environment. In such a society, science must be “data-driven.” It would not
be an exaggeration to say that the advancement of data science—which
could be called “the fourth science”—is the key to solving many of thecomplex issues facing society today and that this ﬁeld will be the driving force
behind scientiﬁc and technological innovation for many years to come.
The Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS) comprises four
distinguished institutes—the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), theNational Institute of Informatics (NII), the Institute of Statistical Mathematics(ISM), and the National Institute of Genetics (NIG)—plus the Joint
Support-Center for Data Science Research (ROIS-DS) established in 2016.
ROIS�s mission is to pioneer new areas of research from the perspectives of information and systems, with an aim
toward solving contemporary problems through the advancement of data science.
As an inter-university research institute corporation, ROIS�s primary mission is to contribute to the advancementof research by universities and other institutes by promoting resource sharing and joint research that is
responsive to the needs of the research community. Furthermore, ROIS has partnered with industry to promote
open science that involves participation by ordinary citizens and, as a parent institute of the Graduate University
for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), provides critical support for the development of human resources.
Modern society is faced with various challenges, including threats to the Earth, the natural environment, andhuman civilization. The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019 and has since spread to every corner of the globe
is but one example of such a threat. ROIS strives to ﬁnd proactive solutions to these and other issues facing
society. We humbly ask for your continued support and cooperation in these eﬀorts.
Sincerely,

Ryoichi Fujii
President of Research Organization ofInformation and Systems

The Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research (DSCenter) is an institution that was founded in April 2016 topromote activities of “data science (or Data-drive typeresearch)” , those currently being conducted at academics aswell as industries. The center contributes to the development
and growth of those activities through maximizing the abilities
and the activities of data science in the Research Organizationof Information and Systems.

Our “data sharing initiative” focuses on a variety of researchﬁelds, including life science, polar environments, social science,and humanities. Our “data analysis support movement”
provides cutting-edge support for data analysis or data miningthat focuses on specialized ﬁeld such as genome science,and develops and supports cross-disciplinary high-level
mathematical methods.DS facility invites publicly-oﬀered joint
research every year.

DS Centers and Project

ROIS as a Hub for Japan’s Academic Societies

Data Sharing Support Groups• Database Center for Life Science: Promoting developmentsof open science and database integrations in life scienceﬁelds.
• Polar Environment Data Science Center: Promoting various
research collaboration with a synthetic database andanalysis-support-tools for long-term variation of polar
environment in global earth system.
• Center for Social Data Structuring: Building a platform for
managing social data, including social survey data, public
opinion data, oﬃcial micro data and social big data, forproviding empirical data that solve various social issues.
• Center for Open Data in the Humanities: Sharing data for andfrom humanities to develop novel approaches for data
science-driven humanities, or digital humanities, on an
integrated platform that goes beyond organizational anddisciplinary barriers.
Data Analysis Support Groups• Center for Genome Informatics: Supporting computational
analysis of genomic/proteomic data (e.g. next-generation
sequencing data) based on the state-of-the-art bioinformatics
artiﬁces.
• Center for Data Assimilation Research and Applications:Supporting simulation and modeling studies based on
statistical methodologies such as data assimilation andstatistical emulation, aiming at solving practical problems inscience and industry.

About Inter-University Research Institutes

Research Hub for Academic Institutions

An inter-university research institute helps promote researchcollaborations and resource sharing among universities across Japan. It
provides universities with access to cutting-edge equipment, voluminous
academic data and hard-to-ﬁnd research materials that would be
diﬃcult for them to obtain and maintain individually. It also oﬀers them
support for analysis of such data.

The four research institutes that make up the Research Organization ofInformation and Systems have researchers-in-residence from various
national and private universities in Japan. A total of 2,355 researchers
from 440 institutions participated in the residency programs during
2019.

The research institutes provide critical support for The
Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
by bringing together cutting-edge research andeducation to develop human resource of the next
generation.

Number of Institutions and Joint Researchers Enrolled in
Joint Research Projects, FY2019

Students at SOKENDAI, The Graduate University for
Advanced Studies

Universities

AﬃliateResearchCenters

Shared Use
Joint Research

Postgraduate
Education
Fostering Researcherswith Specialized
Academic
Knowledge
Departments

NIHU
NINS
KEK
ROIS

Joint Research

ResearchCenters

Inter-University ResearchInstitute Corporations
Private ResearchInstitutions
Corporate ResearchInstitutions
Overseas Universities andResearch Institutions
National Researchand Development
AgencyBreakdown of organizations to which joint researchers belong
Number of
Institutions

Headquarter
NIPR
NII
ISM
NIG
ROIS-DS
Total

Total

9
15
139
692
123
380
228
671
112
458
77
139
440* 2,355

InterNational University
PublicPrivatePublicPrivateForeign
Universities Research Universities Universities Institutions Institutions Organizations Others
Institutes

2
297
249
321
252
64
1,185

0
5
17
9
14
10
55

1
28
5
54
27
7
122

3
63
58
166
89
22
401

6
207
12
85
27
18
355

0
72
27
29
6
6
140

3
15
12
7
43
12
92

0
5
0
0
0
0
5

Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research (ROIS-DS)

Postgraduate Education

Schools

Departments

School ofMultidisciplinary
Sciences

Polar Science

School of Life
Science

Number of
Parentacademic
institutes Number degrees
granted
NIPR

18(0)

0

Informatics

NII

92(53)

14

Statistical Sciene

ISM

35(3)

5

Genetics

NIG

32(14)

3

177(70)22

Total※ The number of students as of May 1, 2019.
※ The number in brackets is the number of international students.

President
Nomination Committee

Auditors

President

Education andResearch Council

Management Council

Board of Directors
Conference of Directors-General

Administration
Oﬃce

Audit
Oﬃce

National Instituteof Polar ResearchOﬃce of Promotion Oﬃce ofStrategic the Research Fraud
Planning
Prevention Plan

National Instituteof Informatics

Oﬃce for
GenderEquality

The Institute of
Statistical
Mathematics

CrisisManagement
Oﬃce

National Instituteof Genetics

PublicRelations
Oﬃce

ROIS
CSIRT

Joint SupportCenter for Data
Science Research*Duplicates are excluded.

2

3

Four Research Institutes in Pursuit of Scientific Principles and Cutting-edge Research

National Institute of Polar Research
Polar regions around the South and North Poles are sensitive toglobal environmental changes, including global warming, withresults that will aﬀect the future of human beings. Focusing on
how the global environment forms and how it will change in the
future, based on ﬁeld observations, analysis of materials andsamples, parsing of data, and modeling, the institute promotes
advanced, integrated, and multi-discipline earth systems science,
including geoscience and the environmental, biological, spaceand planetary sciences. Furthermore, the institute, having
observation bases in the Arctic and Antarctic, plays a core role in
the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) and Arctic
Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS II).

Distribution of Arctic sea ice on September 17, 2019 based on“Shizuku” satellite data

Latest Accomplishments:• The extent to which the Arctic sea ice has thinned was determined by an
integrated analysis of sea ice area data obtained from the Advanced
Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2(AMSR2) installed on the water cycle
observation satellite “Shizuku” as well as sea ice volume and thickness dataobtained from numerical prediction models.
• Simultaneous measurements from large-scale atmospheric radars installed in
the Arctic and Antarctic as well as the geospace satellite “Arase” haverevealed that high-energy electrons from space entering the upper
atmosphere at the North and South Poles penetrate deeper into themesosphere than previously thought, where they can potentially depleteozone in the stratosphere.

The large-scale PANSY (Program of the Antarctic Syowa MST/IS Radar) antenna array installedat the Syowa Station

National Institute of Informatics

4

The Institute of Statistical Mathematics“Statistical mathematics” refers to a science aimed at extracting
meaningful information from data in order to gain and develop
knowledge that is useful for decision-making.
As the only research institute for “statistical mathematics” inJapan, ISM works on both cutting-edge and basic researches andaccelerates solutions to academic, societal and industrial
problems through the “NOE (Network Of Excellence) Project” incollaboration with other organizations in diﬀerent sectors. At thesame time, ISM conducts the “Project for Fostering andPromoting Statistical Thinking” to develop professional data
scientists who lead various research activities.

Overview of the Leading DAT (Data Analytics Talents) program

Latest Accomplishments:• Leading DAT (Data Analytics Talents) program oﬀers an advanced intensecourse on data science made of lectures and data analysis tasks. Participants
will be certiﬁed if they attend all the lectures and their submitted reportmakes the passing mark. It is possible to enroll only in a lecture separately.
• An image of the shadow of a supermassive black hole created using a data
science method known as sparse modeling was released as the one of ﬁrst
results of collaborative research with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) .

Image of a black hole shadow ⓒ Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

National Institute of Genetics

NII promotes research in all areas of informatics – from theoreticalcomputer science to such cutting-edge topics as artiﬁcial intelligence,
big data, IoT (Internet of Things) and cybersecurity – to build the way for“future value creation” in this new study ﬁeld as Japan’ s only academic
informatics research center. In addition to building and operating
networks, such as the Science Information NETwork 5 (SINET5), andoﬀering academic online content and services, NII develops researchdata infrastructures for open science and information security
platforms based on inter- institutional cooperation. NII also focuses oncollaboration with universities, research institutions and corporations
both inside Japan and overseas.

Latest Accomplishments:• Development of a decision support system thatenables correct choices to be made at highcomputational speeds: The methodology, which
can be used in a wide range of applications suchas making decisions related to quality control ofindustrial goods and automated driving, ensures the correctness (accuracy) of
choices while rapidly calculating the results.
• New IT-based medical support: NII is developing a cloud platform based on
SINET5 to handle medical imaging big data and is working on AI-based
technology for analyzing medical images. Leveraging its close ties withprofessional medical societies, NII is realizing dramatic improvements in
AI-based medical image diagnostic technologies that incorporate theknowledge and skill of medical specialists.

“The activity of biological organisms is based on the genetic
information.”
Genetics is a science that reveals the mystery of life from theviewpoint of genetic information. NIG conducts state-of-the-art
research on cell function, generation/diﬀerentiation,
evolution/biodiversity, and genome/bio information;
simultaneously, it pioneers new research in the life sciences.
Furthermore, NIG, as an international hub for life science research,
operates three research infrastructure projects: BioResource
Project, Advanced Genomics Project, and Bioinfomation and DNA
Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) Project.

Latest Accomplishments:• Discovery of a key gene that supports freshwater colonization by ﬁsh: It was
discovered that ﬁsh having more copies of the Fads2 gene, which is needed
to synthesize the essential fatty acid DHA, have an advantage in terms offreshwater colonization.
• Design principle of chromosome segregation machinery: Using state-ofthe-art force microscopy developed at NIG, we succeeded in visualizing themechanical properties of spindles at a higher spatial resolution than everbefore.

For the optimal control problem common to a wide range of decision support systems, the newly
developed method ensures the generation of high-precision choices while also enabling rapid calculation.

Example of development of an AI-based medical imaging diagnostic system that incorporates
the knowledge of medical specialists.

Gasterosteus nipponicus (below), which has fewer copies of FAD2, was not able to colonize
freshwater, whereas the three-spined stickleback (G. aculeatus, above), which has more copies, did.

Combining a glass-ﬁber sensor with ﬂuorescence imaging enabled determination of themechanical structure of the spindle.

5

Resource Sharing and Joint Research to Meet the Needs of Universities

Resource sharing

Joint Use of Polar Research Facilities

Science Information Network (SINET)

Research Data Infrastructure (NII RDC)

NIPR engages in a wide range of resource sharing andjoint research activities, including the provision ofassistance and equipment for ice-core sampling andjoint research using ice cores collected at the Dome
Fuji Station in Antarctica (Ice Core Research Center);
conducting analyses of meteorite, rock, and mineral
samples using the Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro
Probe (SHRIMP) secondary ion mass spectrometer(Polar Science Resources Center); optical calibration
using the only large-scale integrating sphere in Japan(Optical Calibration System); and use of
the Polar Science Computer System(Communications and Computing Science
Center).

As an inter-university research institute, NII is
working with academic institutions and theresearch community to develop and operate
the Science Information Network (SINET5), theworld�s most advanced, high-speed network
linking researchers in Japan and around theworld.
NII uses the ultra-high-speed, highly reliable,
high-performance SINET5 network to provide
cloud infrastructure and academic content
services as well as to promote thepractice of open science.

In realizing open science, a system that allows
scientists to manage and easily publish theirresearch data appropriately is essential. NII isdeveloping the NII Research Data Cloud (NII RDC).
According to each organization's policies, thisresearch data infrastructure enables secure data
management and sharing among collaboratorsand laboratories. NII RDC is scheduled to be fully
operational in 2021.

Joint Research

Joint Planning of Antarctic Observation
NIPR coordinates various joint research eﬀorts involving many
researchers from Japan and overseas. In addition to basic
research and observations related to space and the upper
atmosphere as well as meteorology, glaciology, geoscience, andbioscience, these collaborative eﬀorts focus on “understanding
the global atmospheric system through high-resolution
observations of the Antarctic atmosphere,” “understanding
atmosphere–ice sheet–ocean interactions based on integrated
observations at the peripheries of ice sheets and sea ice,” and“reconstructing the ancient Antarctic environment tounderstand global system changes,” which are
sub-themes under NIPR’ s priority research andobservation theme, “Investigating the Antarctic
to understand changes in global systems.”

Joint Research in the Arctic
NIPR is currently conducting joint research
involving the monitoring of aerosols in the Arctic
atmosphere (University of Tokyo, Nagoya
University, Fukuoka University) and atmosphericmonitoring by cloud radar (Chiba University) at the
Ny-Ålesund observation base on the Svalbard
archipelago in Norway.

Strategic Joint Research on
Informatics
NII engages in joint research with universities andprivate companies on themes selected throughopen solicitation and evaluation of proposals. The
themes of this joint research take into consideration
the latest trends in information science and vary
widely from the development of innovative
platform functions, applications, and services thatmake use of SINET5 to the development oftechnologies to analyze cybersecurity using
NII-SOCS data and the creation of datasets andplatforms for using them.

Support for Integration of Life Science Databases
The Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS) promotes adoption of Resource Description
Framework (RDF) for life science databases, with the ultimate goal of creating an environment
in which diverse databases distributed across the internet can be used in an integrated manner.
DBCLS seeks to promote the seamless use of heterogeneous datasets by providing support forRDF conversion and, together with the JST National Bioscience Database Center, maintaining the
RDF Portal as a means of providing online access to RDF datasets deposited by various
institutions.

6

Project for Fostering and Promoting
Statistical Thinking
ISM provides various programs, for fostering theprofessionals that are required in the era of big
data, such as “Research Collaboration Startup”
that educates young scientists via OJT and the“Data Science Research Plaza” that welcomes
researchers from the companies.

NOE (Network Of Excellence)Program
ISM promotes establishing networks based on
MOUs with domestic and foreign research
institutions and serving as a hub in the NOE
Project in order to advance interdisciplinary
research or create new research ﬁelds for solving
complicated problems in modern society.

Supercomputer Systems andInformation Resources
The Bioinformation and DDBJ center is the only
repository that contains nucleic acid sequencing
data in Japan, and provides genome sequences,
next-generation sequencer data, and personal
genome information. The center provides
supercomputer optimized for bio-applicationsuch as next-generation genome sequencing
analyses and human genome analyses.
Every year, it is used by more than 600
users in 120 research institutions.

Supercomputer Systems andInformation Resources
ISM provides the Supercomputer System for
Statistical Science for joint use. The information
resource includes various kinds of journals andbooks in statistical science. ISM also provides
databases of academic citations for enhancing
IR.

Bioresources and Genetic Modification
The Genetic Resource Center provides various
model organisms, including zebraﬁsh, Drosophila,
and rice. The center also provides a bioresource
database containing information on 6.5 million
genetic strains. The division for development ofgenetic-engineered mouse resource assists in the
production of genetically modiﬁed mice using
advanced genome engineering techniques.

Supporting Utilization of Genomic
Information
The Advanced Genomics Center oﬀers the latest
sequencing technology and genomic researchtools to the research community. To date, thecenter has produced genome information on
more than 1000 organisms and implemented
human and environmental metagenomics
projects.

Integration of Simulation and Data Science
The Center for Data Assimilation Research and Applications oﬀers support to scientists and industries dealing with various
challenges—including the need to elucidate phenomena in dynamic and complex systems, the need to dramaticallyaccelerate the process leading up to the release of new products and services, and the need to drastically lower costs—by
combining massive amounts of data from high-performance sensors with state-of-the-art simulation technologies.

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