Overview
- Osaka University's Shimon Sakaguchi and Kyoto University's Susumu Kitagawa held a joint news conference on Dec. 11 in Stockholm and displayed their Nobel medals.
- Sakaguchi said baseline backing for fundamental science is falling short, noting immunology funding in Japan is roughly one-third of Germany's.
- Reported figures show KAKENHI rose from about ¥200 billion in 2010 to roughly ¥240 billion in 2024, yet awards are competitive and time-limited.
- Competitive research funding exceeded ¥2 trillion in FY2022–24 when supplementary budgets are included, according to media analyses.
- The laureates took part in the Dec. 10 award ceremony and banquet, dined at a central table with Swedish royalty, and a main dish featured Japanese kombu.