Three years ago, the picture for research funding in Japan looked bleak. As part of efforts to slash the national budget by ￥3 trillion (US$33.5 billion), the government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, had proposed sweeping cuts to science, sparking protests from the country's most eminent researchers. Japans flagship K supercomputer project narrowly escaped being shut down after auditors questioned whether Japan needed to host the world s fastest computer. Fast-forward to 2013, and Shinzo Abe, head of the newly elected Liberal Democratic Party-led government, seems to have no such doubts. "Of course we must aim for number one," he told reporters after a tour of the supercomputer facility on 11 January.
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