A Multivariate Analysis of Japanese Attitude Toward Life and Death

Abstract

In an attempt to uncover various factors which would be considered to underlie Japanese attitudes and behaviors, probes into the deeply routed irrational feeling and belief systems such as luck, superstition, religious awareness and, especially, attitude toward life and death have been made. Presented here are results obtained from an analysis of the attitude toward life and death as measured by questionnaire method. The responses to individual questions were subjected to Hayashi’s Quantification III and POSA. The religious-philosophical and ethical-moral aspects of the views were found to be two dimensions of the attitude. Further analyses of the responses in terms of demographic attributes and other awarenesses and behaviors related to the attitude revealed some attitude characteristics which would seem to be peculiar to the Japanese, such as views toward death of the war-surviving generation and views toward mother-child suicide of females in general. The background of these peculiarities were discussed.