Structures of Japanese Consciousness on Organ Transplantation I

A Study of the Background Factors that Construct a View of Life and Death

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the background factors of subconsciousness which underlie in the Japanese view of life and death, especially the attitude toward the remains. The data were obtained from a questionnaire survey for 874 subjects, i.e. 705 ordinary people and 169 medical students. The main findings are as follows: 1. Animism, belief in the ancestral souls, confucianist ideas, Buddhist belief, and the respect of the ashes were initially supposed as the background factors. However, the results of the factor analysis show that the separation of animism from Buddhist belief, and the separation of the religious mind from the repect of the ashes are impossible. 2. The answers were significantly different in the ordinary people and the medical students, but the same factors were subtracted from both groups. 3. Insufficient knowledge about the cerebral death, womanhood, youthfulness and the Confucianist idea are the reasons for the ordinary people to reject the idea of donating the organs. In the student group, only the Confucianist idea is a related factor to the rejection. 4. Insufficient knowledge about the cerebral death, oldness, Confucianist idea, denial of the almighty of science and the mixed sense of respect for the ashes and the religious mind are the reasons for the ordinary people to reject to receive the other's organs. In the students group, only the mixed sense of respect for the ashes and the religious minds is the factor for rejection. 5. It is necessary for the doctors to understand the Japanese view of life and death and its background factors; this means that the medical education should include these factors.