More on IPA Software effort Brief trip report on 1 week in Japan

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Adam Peake <ajp () glocom ac jp>
Date: March 6, 2007 4:33:05 AM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>, schorr () isi edu
Subject: Re: Fwd: [IP] Brief trip report on 1 week in Japan

Dave, Herb:

(Dave, please forward to IP if you wish)

The projects are part of a program called the Exploratory Software  
Project run by Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), an  
agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (what was  
MITI). See <http://www.ipa.go.jp/english/humandev/third.html>

Brief introductions to the projects you managed in 2006 at:

<http://www.ipa.go.jp/jinzai/esp/2006mito1/gaiyou/6-6.html>
<http://www.ipa.go.jp/jinzai/esp/2006mito1/gaiyou/6-2.html>
<http://www.ipa.go.jp/jinzai/esp/2006mito1/gaiyou/6-1.html>

Some Japanese on the page, but also English text introducing each  
project. Nothing about the 2007 group online as yet.

Usually the projects are for individual researchers or small 2, 3, 4  
person teams. The students are quite young, under 28 years, a mix of  
Masters and PhD students (some recent post doc, but not so many) and  
the funding's quite high: your 3 range from 7,950,000 to 12,008,000  
yen (7,950,000 yen is about $68,000.)  Students should be resident in  
Japan (I belive at an accredited university/research institution),  
but not necessarily Japanese -- one of your students last year was  
Chinese, and a team this year is lead by a guy from Sri Lanka.  Aim  
is to help people learn how to manage complex software projects and  
to produce results.

The projects run for 9 months, usually between 30 and 40 projects  
selected in each round. Project managers, like you, mentor between 2  
and 6 or 7 projects at a time. Graduates from the program are  
considered highly by industry, particularly the top 20% who are  
awarded a "super creator" status. These attract interest from large  
companies for employment or support, and from investors.

Concern in Japan at the moment that universities aren't turning out  
graduates with the computer skills industries need, and computing and  
technology subjects are becoming less popular with university  
entrants. This program's one attempt to fix things.

Best,

Adam



> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Herb Schorr <schorr () isi edu>
> Date: March 5, 2007 11:27:30 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: RE: [IP] Brief trip report on 1 week in Japan
>
> Hi Dave,
> Any pointers on info on Software Project-WEB page report etc?
> Herb
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Herbert Schorr
> Senior Associate Dean USC Viterbi School of engineering
> Excutive Director, Information Science Institute
> 4676 Admiralty Way
> Marina del rey, CA 90292
> 310-448-9122
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 7:33 AM
> To: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: [IP] Brief trip report on 1 week in Japan
>
> We arrived at Narita on the 25 th of Feb after a pleasant flight on
> UAl from the USA. We rented a Softbank SIM chip for my Nokia E61 at
> the airport and it worked like a charm. 105 Yen per day  and free
> incoming. It is about 90 yen per call outbound but I almost never
> make outbound calls in Japan. http://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/phones/
> sim3g.php
>
> We took the airport bus in and I finally took advantage of a buy. You
> normally pay 3000 Yen for the ride. But if you ask you can buy the
> trip PLUS an unlimited one day pass on the Tokyo Metro for 3100 Yen.
> Thats 100 Yen for the pass -- normally about 450 Yen.
>
> We stayed at the ANA Tokyo Hotel, Easy walk to the Roppongi and very
> near the Metro. For a change we had a chance to be a tourist and did
> the National Museum in Ueno (free if you are over 70) and the Temples
> etc. Lots of walking in shopping streets with small stalls. We did
> the Akihabara and it is sad to see the changes. Large "CompUSA"
> stores replacing the small shops (they are still there but I would
> gusess not for long) All standardized stuff.
>
> Food was , as usual very good. We are getting good at handling non
> tourist places and had some neat meals. We were taken to 2 places
> worth a comment. One was a the Ukai http://www.jpn-miyabi.com/Vol.39/
> ukai.html . It was excellent and the private rooms were wonderful. A
> MUST. The other was a Ninja restaurant http://gojapan.about.com/gi/
> dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=gojapan&zu=http%3A%2F%
> 2Fwww.ninja.tv  . A bit of Disney land with secret bridges and a
> magician. A bit overdone . The food was good but I suspect high  
> priced.
>
> BTW, Tokyo is not expensive if you eat as a Japanese normally eats.
> We had excellant meals for $30 per head with beer. Even Starbuchs is
> cheaper in Tokyo than the USA.
>
> The business was also very good. I am  a Manager for the FY2007 1nd
> Exploratory Software Project -- the only non Japanese. I just
> attended the final reports on my first three projects -- all very
> successful with real good young designers and also attended the kick
> off session for my next batch of three projects. The USA needs a
> similar program.
>
> Just got back last night and am very very tired. But today at CMU and
> then tomorrow I have to write the final reports on the first years
> efforts .
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
>
>
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