Abstract
“Continuing Bonds with deceased” is recently one of the most remarkable concepts in the field of grief counseling and grief therapy. It can be said that most Japanese routinely accept this concept that the bereaved remained connected with the deceased. But, at many Japanese metropolises, ancestor worshipping belief affirming the presence of deceased may lose substance. So, in Japan, people may take “Continuing Bonds” differently depending on the area. The purpose of his study is to weigh characteristics of undergraduates’ attitudes toward relationships with the deceased, covering undergraduates at the Tsugaru area where ancestor worshipping belief may become well-established and undergraduates at Hokkaido where such belief may be spread thinly. Twelve undergraduates at the Tsugaru area and 14 undergraduates at Hokkaido participated in semi-structured interviews. Based on the collected data, the timing and manner of worship were examined, and further analysis of the nature of the deceased was conducted using the KJ method. The results revealed regional differences in both the timing and manner of worship. Additionally, regarding the nature of the deceased, four common major categories were identified across regions: affirmation of the afterlife, denial of the afterlife, the deceased as memories, and uncertainty about the afterlife. However, variations were observed in the content and frequency of occurrences. These differences were analyzed from the perspective of the influence of regional culture.
https://ror.org/05yhrkh78 
