A tale of a missed opportunity involves an unnamed man in his 30s who was a researcher with a promising future at the prestigious Riken research institute.

He had responsibility and worked as a unit leader.

But his employment contract was abruptly terminated, so he relocated to China and in June became a university professor there.

"Although my employment was unfairly terminated, I have no regrets about Riken anymore," he said.

The Asahi Shimbun is not naming the man. But his story is worth telling. It is one that is familiar to many talented young researchers, forced out of Japan's stagnant academic environment, an expert says.

Let’s return to the start. The man was hired by Riken in 2013 under a one-year renewable contract.

In 2018 he began thinking about a career change to get his own lab. Then his supervisor asked whether he was interested in becoming a unit leader at Riken.

At the same time, it was suggested to the man that he submit an application for the Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers, a state-funded support program for younger researchers.

The man was told he was to be hired for a seven-year term in October that year.

But Riken had a 10-year rule, under which no limited-term contracts are permitted beyond 10 years of service.

It meant that the man’s employment would be terminated in the end of March 2023.

He was concerned about how to conduct decent research in just four and a half years.

It rankled, too, that he would have to leave before the end of his hire term.

When he asked his supervisor these questions, he was told he wouldn't have to worry about anything until March 2025--the end of the full, contracted, seven-year term.

He signed a contract to become a unit leader and was also selected for the state support program.

BROKEN VERBAL PROMISE

But things changed dramatically in spring 2021.

In a meeting with the chief supervisor, he was told to start looking for another job now that he had only two years left at Riken.

That’s unreasonable, he replied. But the chief supervisor dismissed his objection and said the contract stipulated his employment must end on March 31, 2023.

The man had thought that he would remain employed until March 2025. Then he realized: That was a just verbal promise that had been broken.

He was boiling with anger for a week.

There was only one thing for it. He decided to move. Why should he care about Riken if it didn't want him?

The man wasted no time in gathering his research into a thesis and started job hunting.

He couldn't find any posts in Japan, but his application was accepted by a university in China.

His paper was published in the British science journal Nature.

REVELATION ON MINISTRY FORM

Sure enough, the man left Riken at the end of March this year. He thought he would never hear from Riken again.

But in April, he was asked to review a report on his achievements as an Excellent Young Researcher. The report was due to be sent to an external body of the education ministry.

The review sheet took the appearance of a form. Until last year, the form had been sent blank except for the sections requiring confirmation by the receiver.

But this year the form arrived fully filled out. And one entry read: "seven-year term."

When he made an inquiry, a representative replied that entries followed a pattern that had been used until the previous year.

He couldn't help wondering if Riken had been reporting to the state that he was on a seven-year contract. If so, his employment was unfairly terminated two and a half years early.

He approached the education ministry and received a reply saying Riken reported providing a stable employment environment with a seven-year term, in principle, and that his contract was renewable until March 31, 2025, depending on evaluations.

This confirmed his suspicions. He declared that his job had been inappropriately terminated and called on the president of Riken to set up an inquiry.

Within the day, he received a reply from the president who said he would initiate an investigation immediately.

The former researcher said he would have had no complaints if his employment had been terminated based on subpar performance. But the promise was broken and that had life-changing consequences. It prevented him from planning for the future.

"I have no regrets for Riken, but I just want to clarify whether the termination of my employment was unfair or not," he said. "If Riken doesn't need me, then I would just move to somewhere else that needs me and gives me better terms."

A representative from Riken's public relations office acknowledged to The Asahi Shimbun that it had been reporting to the ministry's external body that researchers hired under the support program were on seven-year contracts.

As for why his contract was terminated after four and a half years, the institute declined to comment, saying it is investigating the matter. It also revealed nothing about exchanges with the supervisor.

BRAIN DRAIN FROM JAPAN

Forcing out researchers may weaken Japan's academic performance and accelerate its brain drain.

A survey conducted by the education ministry in September 2022 showed that about 12,000 researchers with limited-term contracts would reach the 10-year mark at the end of March 2023. Less than half were expected to switch to unlimited-term contracts.

In May this year, the labor union at Riken revealed that 97 researchers left the institute after they failed to secure contracts from April onward.

Younger researchers, many of whom work under limited-term contracts, suffer most from the temporary employment problem.

They have no choice but to seek employment outside Japan because there are too few stable positions available domestically.

Eisuke Enoki heads a group that examines issues involving scientific policy. He said some engineers from private companies went to China and South Korea for work in the year 2000 or thereabouts. But in recent years, there has been an increasing outflow of scientific researchers.

"The more talented researchers are, the more likely they leave Japan and the less likely they even go on to doctoral courses, resulting in a decline in the country's academic standards," he said.

"If this continues, Japan's scientific and technological capabilities could be weakened."

(This story was written by Ayaka Kibi and Takahiro Takenouchi.)