Both Japan and the United States are suffering from increasing healthcare expenses because of their aging populations, of impressive improvements in medical technology, and of patients’ high expectations for advanced medical science. Curbing increasing healthcare expenses is a major problem common to both countries.

On the other hand, in fields in which medical science and ethics are closely related such as organ transplantation, there is a significant cultural difference between Japan and the United States. Another contrast can be found in the fact that, unlike Japan and other developed countries, the United States does not have a universal health insurance system.

Information technology has been playing a significant role in healthcare. The information revolution is affecting medical science, both in Japan and the United States, as demonstrated by advances in telemedicine.

In this monograph series, we use “healthcare” in its broadest sense. Studies on healthcare include papers on medical science, medical security, health insurance, the philosophy of healthcare, and many other fields. These may be analyzed from perspectives of history, literature, sociology, public policy, political science, economics, or other academic disciplines. Ideal monographs are comparative studies of Japanese and US healthcare. As this may be challenging, we welcome critical monographs, both theoretical and narrative, analyzing Japanese or US healthcare.