[FEATURE] Japan's 1st Free Science Magazine Wins Young Hearts

Mar 29, 05:21 PM

Current Headlines: By Katsuyuki Nakajima

Tokyo, March 29 (Jiji Press)--Reviving young people's interest in science doesn't seem like mission impossible to Yukihiro Maru, founder of Japan's first free science magazine, which is finding its way into classrooms across the country.

The inaugural issue of "Someone," published last October, was delivered to 45 high schools. The second, released in February, has so far has been read by 60,000 students in 110 schools.

Most orders for the life science-centered publication, which is edited by trained college students, come from high school teachers for use as a teaching aid.

Using plain words, the magazine gives scientific explanations for familiar phenomena from everyday life. For example, to coincide with Valentine's Day, one story in the February issue explains why chocolates melt quickly in the mouth but remain solid when held in the hand.

"Over the past few years I had been thinking about how I could successfully launch a free-of-charge science magazine for youngsters, something that everybody said was impossible," says Maru, president of Leave a nest Co., a venture firm focusing on education services in the fields of life science and biotechnology.

Gone are the days when scientific publications flourished in Japan.

According to data compiled by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in 2001 science magazine circulations in Japan had dropped to 4.15 million copies from a peak of 12.62 million in 1983.

Current circulations are estimated to total less than 4 million. A number of titles, including the once-popular Quark and Omni, have disappeared.

"The collapse of the science and technology boom in the early 1980s forced out those magazines and deprived young generations of the chance to get close to science," Maru says. "I was eager to publish a free magazine in order to give such a chance to as many youngsters as possible and eventually to help end the lack of interest in science."

But the problem was finance, as it seemed difficult to attract a sufficient number of advertisers in the present harsh climate for scientific periodicals.

Maru says he loves a challenge, but other projects put the magazine plan on hold.

The 29-year-old entrepreneur, who gained a doctor's degree in agriculture at the University of Tokyo in March last year, has been involved in a variety of business operations at Leave a nest and other firms.

Starting as a "student venture" five years ago and Japan's first company to offer life science experiments, such as extracting DNA from salmon milt, to elementary to high schools, Leave a nest now provides biotech-related services in seven fields, including education, human resource development, consulting, publishing and research assistance.

The firm is also expanding its operations abroad. It set up a subsidiary in Los Angeles in January and will establish another in Beijing in April.

Besides Leave a nest, Maru has launched eight separate firms, ranging from a supplement food sales company to a limited liability partnership for investment in startups, although he did not serve as president at all of them.

The free science magazine plan began rolling again when he was pushing a project to form a network of companies to support education to foster next-generation scientists with an in-depth knowledge of life.

"When I was considering ways to allow supporter firms to spend money for the project, the idea flashed into my brain that these companies could also be sponsors of the magazine," Maru recalls.

The Someone magazine, published three times a year at costs of 2.5 million to 3 million yen per issue, does not carry conventional ads. Instead, supporter firms contribute space for articles focusing on scientific aspects of their products and operations, such as the wonder of chocolate, without highlighting corporate or product names.

"This scheme has enabled Someone to attract teachers, who are reluctant to use a publication with lots of ads as a teaching aid," Maru says. "Now that 60,000 copies of Someone are circulating at schools, companies are rushing to buy space."

With signs of growth among younger reader segments, such as junior high school students, Maru thinks the circulation can increase to 400,000 copies in the future.

But Someone will accept offers of support only from education- minded companies.

"It is not designed to make money, but to put out something that teachers love to teach and students are happy to learn, as well as to give such companies a chance to communicate with young generations," Maru says.

"In other words, Someone is a tool to improve bio-literacy among the young. Unless bio-literacy improves, Japan cannot advance further," he stresses.

Maru is confident that the magazine, which is also available at 100 yen per copy to those over high school age, can win the interest of readers and improve their understanding of science.

So far, the response has been encouraging.

Impressed with an interview with a doctoral student in brain function research in the February issue, an eighth grader wrote to the editor: "The magazine was amazing, as it opened my eyes to many things I had not noticed before, and taught me that even having a tiny interest in something can change a person's future."

Another reader wrote: "Before reading Someone, I never knew that a paramecium displays electrotaxis if electrified or that there are people attempting to turn this tiny creature into a micro-machine by controlling its movements with electricity and a computer."

"The magazine not only scientifically explains everyday phenomena but also carries stories fresh from laboratories in the most advanced fields of science, so it provides students with the excitement of learning," Maru says.

"We named the first free science magazine Someone because science is like someone who always stands by you. We hope youngsters learn this."END

(c) 2007 Jiji Press English News Service. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.