Abstract

In Japan, scientific studies dealing with anomalous phenomena are being actively pursued following a rise, nation-wide, in interest in supernatural phenomena including qigong, the phenomena attributable to the Indian swami Sathya Sai Baba, and near-death experiences. Research into these topics has been done primarily by orthodox scientists who were expanding their professional territories to include even the parapsychological domain. Research bearing on parapsychology conducted in the 1990s is summarized under the headings of case studies, cognitive, social-scientific, and theoretical research, experiments with human, subhuman, and cellular targets, and physical/chemical studies. Remarkable contributions have been made by qigong researchers who have only been working in this area for a decade. Especially interesting results have been obtained in experiments on external qi, or what we might call bio-PK. However, the fundamentals necessary for a productive research program are still not sufficiently established in Japan, and unless shortcomings are addressed, future research developments will be hindered.