A Brief History of Bioethics in Japan

In this chapter I look back at the history of bioethics in Japan, which can be divided into three phases: Phase I, Introduction (1980–1999); Phase II, Development (2000–2010); and Phase III, the Recent Past (2011–present). Phase I marks the period when the concept of bioethics that originated in the West came to Japan. It was also when Japanese society faced its first difficult bioethical issues: namely brain-death and organ transplantation. Other issues emerged during this period, particularly pertaining to death, such as end-of-life medical care and euthanasia. In Phase II, the problems shifted to those pertaining to the beginning of life, such as the moral status of the human embryo. As well, during this period the government implemented ethical guidelines for research ethics. During this period, social awareness of bioethics increased, and bioethics education began to appear not only medical education, but also within high school curricula. In Phase III, Japan began to tackle its own ethical issues, such as enhancement, regenerative medicine, neuroethics, public health ethics, and precision medicine. Some of my thoughts concerning projections for the future are discussed at the end of this chapter.