Contemporary Active Research Groups in Japan for Anomalous Phenomena

Hideyuki KOKUBO

Bio-Emission Laboratory, Division of Radiation Research
National Institute of Radiological Sciences

ABSTRACT

There are few English reports dealing with contemporary Japanese research groups for anomalous phenomena. In this paper, the author describes the modern Japanese scene focusing on activities of academic or scientific groups. The most active researchers have experienced a number of social upheavals in their lives. Therefore, the author has taken the historical term "since World War II" and divided it into three parts as marked by two major impacts: the First Impact by Uri Geller and the Second Impact by modern Chinese research. Before these two impacts, psychologists and others were re-constructing and
developing Japanese academic activities toward Western parapsychology.
After the First Impact, engineers started studies on anomalous phenomena, too. With the Second Impact which is continuing today, researchers from various branches of science are studying qigong, including parapsychological phenomena. In present-day Japan, three academic societies are publishing scientific journals in which peer-reviewed articles appear. These societies have stimulated and activated other groups.

Key words: qigong, somatic science, external qi, history, parapsychology, Japan, China, academic societies