[Basis of bioethics--bioethics in Japan and the United States]

During the past ten years bioethics has gradually become an important subject for discussion in Japan. However these discussions are quite different from those in the United States where bioethics has been a major field of study for some time. The purpose of this paper is to show the differences between the Japanese and American ideas regarding bioethics by studying the social environment in the United States. When compared to Japan, there is a great difference in this environment and the American views on ethics. Japanese studying bioethical problems should study them by first comparing the points of differences stated in this paper and then applying their conclusions to the bioethical problems here in Japan.