This article is confined to healing and medicine among the Japanese. For lack of space, no specific discussion on minorities in Japan, such as the Ainu, Koreans, Chinese, and Okinawans, is included. Neither is the vast variation in practices among the Japanese specifically addressed. Excluded are the medical dimensions of the so-called new religions (shinkō), shamanism, and ancestor worship. Numerous new religions mushroomed in Japan after World War II. Although they have many adherents and health-related matters often occupy a central place in their beliefs and practices, their role in health care is limited to their memberships. Once a powerful nonformalized religion in Japan, shamanism used to play a significant role in the health care of the people, but much of it has now been transformed and absorbed into new religions. Consequently, its importance for the general public has been...