A Comparative Culture Study of Japanese Views of Life, Death, and the Afterworld : Tradition and Change

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1. Fieldwork SurveysMainly the research sections on regions and types conducted both a survey of views of the other world in Osorezan in Shimokita and Okinawa, and did fieldwork on Christian ruins in Goto, Hirado, and Ikitsuki. There was also individual research conducted in Kumano, Tendo, Nara, Nagoya, etc. There were reports on and discussion of this research, and the results were written up in our research reports.2. Questionnaire SurveysMainly the research sections on ethics and modern times conducted questionnaire survey on "Contemporary Urban Cemeteries and Funerals" and "Brain Death and Organ Transplants." The results of this research were written up in our research reports.3. Comparative Culture ResearchProfessor Masao Higa and Masanobu Akamine of the University of Ryukyu and Professor Stephen Vlastos of the University of Iowa gave presentations, and then we discussed them.4. Public SymposiaWith the cooperation of Tokyo's Toshima Ward Education Committee, two symposia were held at Rikkyo University : "Various Views of the Afterworld" and "Life and Death in Modern Times." The results of these symposia were written up in our research reports.5. Completion of Research ReportsWe completed and brought together our research reports in a volume entitled, A comparative Culture Study of Japanese Views of Life, Death, and the Afterworld : Tradition and Change, and distributed it to various research institutions.We were able to achieve the results described above, but we belive that the are only a beginning. In paticular, in regard to the academic research on fieldwork, we face the serious problem of how best to make this research available to socitey. Considering this problem, we realized that we should try to continue this research and bring it to completion, and so we are once again applying for necessary research funds in order to accomplish this.