Abstract
Although the Organ Transplant bill was passed by the Japanese Diet in 1997, organ transplantations from brain death are not popular in Japan. One of the reasons for this is that the brain death problem has not been raised at a social level in Japan, as contrasted with the United States.
Why has not the brain death problem bee n raised in Japan? I will try to explain it using the differences in constructing the brain death problem as a social problem. This problem was constructed as a public policy in the United States, while, alternatively, it was constructed as a life and death philosophy in Japan.
Then why was this problem constructed differently between the United States and Japan? To answer this question I would like to propose that this problem consists of three areas. These three areas are 1. the area of medicine,2. the area of legislation and 3. the area of culture. The construction of the brain death problem relies on the interaction between these three areas. So the differences between how the brain death problem is approached in the United States and Japan depends on the interaction of these three areas. In light of this concept, the comparison between the United States and Japan would explain the characteristics concerning the brain death problem in Japan.
In Japan, the Organ Transplant law will be revised this year (2000). I expect that this problem will come to be discussed among people again. So I hope this paper will contribute to the discussions.
