The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), or Gakushin for short, was founded in 1932 as a non-profit foundation through an endowment granted by Emperor Showa. JSPS became a quasi-governmental organization in 1967 under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho), and since 2001 under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho).
JSPS's operation is supported in large part by annual subsidies from the Japanese Government. Its main functions are:
- To foster young researchers,
- To promote international scientific cooperation,
- To award Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research,
- To support scientific cooperation between the academic community and industry, and
- To collect and distribute information on scientific research activities.
