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Cultural Transformations of Biomedicine in Japan—Hospitalization in Contemporary Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Extract

A widely held assumption today is that biomedicine is “scientific” and therefore “objective,” thus, “culture-free.” It epitomizes the objectivism falsely attributed to technology in general. Contemporary Japan is seen to epitomize non-Western modernity with its high development of industrialization and scientific technology. It follows then that biomedicine in Japan today should remain as such without cultural transformations. Yet, in post-industrial Japan today biomedicine takes an almost entirely different form and meaning from biomedicine practiced elsewhere, especially in Western societies such as the United States. The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of hospitalization in contemporary Japan in order to demonstrate how Japanese culture and society have powerfully transformed the underlying concepts and practices of biomedicine, which was originally introduced from the West and has been highly acclaimed by the Japanese as the epitome of superior Western science and technology. Due to space limitations, however, it will not be possible to engage in an extensive discussion of theories about technological impact, or issues involved in the broader theoretical concern variously referred to as “modernization,” “industrialization,” “rationalization,” “secularization,” etc.

Type
The Cultural Shaping of Biomedical Science and Technology
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , February 1986 , pp. 231 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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