TOKYO - THE two Japanese winners of the 2008 Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday voiced hope that young people would take up science, with one calling for a sense of 'romance' about research.

The Nobel jury in Stockholm gave the award to researchers Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa, along with Japanese-born American researcher Yoichiro Nambu.

The two scientists were hopeful that young people would become excited about science as they received congratulatory calls from Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.

'It is very important to have a sense of romance about science,' said Mr Maskawa, a physicist at Kyoto University in western Japan, as Mr Aso put him on speaker-phone at his office.

'I would like our young people to regard science as fun,' Mr Maskawa said.

Mr Kobayashi, part of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, also looked to the youth.

'I hope that young people will work hard by believing in themselves,' Mr Kobayashi said.

Holding a separate news conference at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Mr Kobayashi said that the news came 'out of the blue'.

'I still can't believe it. It was a thesis that we wrote more than 30 years ago. It is such an honour to receive the prize for what we had done before,' Mr Kobayashi said.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, has long prided itself on its technological innovation.

But the country was shocked last year by a survey that found that a mere 7.8 percent of Japanese students expected to enter science-related careers, by far the lowest among 57 nations and territories polled.

The study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also found that Japanese students ranked 10th in mathematics, tumbling from the top spot in 2000.

Mr Aso, who took office last month and has vowed to create a 'bright' Japan at a time of mounting economic worries, was overjoyed at the Nobel prize.

'Congratulations. Japan hasn't had such bright news recently so I really appreciate this,' he said in his call to Kobayashi.

Aso learned about the Nobel jury's selection during a high-level meeting on the global financial crisis and literally jumped from his chair, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said.

The Japanese duo study quarks, a type of elementary particle.

Mr Nambu, a researcher at the University of Chicago, was born in Japan in 1921 but took US citizenship. -- AFP