Abstract
Near-death experiences, which refer to the consciousness of energy isolated from the body, and experienced by people who have recovered from cardiac arrest, have not been scientifically proved. However, there are several reports about such experiences. It is assumed that certain characteristics pertain to the near-death experience, after taking into account human universality and cultural differences. The world of the near-death experience, based on narratives by people with experience thereof, is investigated in this study. Analyzed text included narratives extracted from the book &quto;Testimonies: Near-death experience (Tachinaba, 2001).&qutos; Narratives of near-death experiences were converted into text using text mining software, Text Mining Studio. Based on the results of word frequency and correspondence analysis, the characteristics of Japanese experiences were compared with those of Western experiences. A river and flowers emerged as frequently used descriptions in the narratives of Japanese near-death experiences. Twelve of the 22 people (more than half) applied both words to their description of the near-death experience. The depiction of a river, cited by many of the Japanese study subjects, was discussed in contrast to the depiction of a tunnel and light, as portrayed in the Western near-death experience. Commonalities in the experiences of Japanese and Western people were also noted.
