Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how newly imported homeopathic techniques were accepted by Japanese patients and how trust between patients and practitioners has had an effect on therapeutic efficacy. The analysis will centre on relationships between the patients and the practitioners in the ethnographic data.

Paper long abstract:

Alongside the globalisation of medicine, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become increasingly popular worldwide over the past decades. Japan has not been an exception to this trend. The rise of CAM in Japan has brought a proliferation of therapies other than Japanese traditional medicine like Kampō. Homeopathy, for example, was first imported to Japan in the late 1990s.

This paper explores how homeopathy was accepted by Japanese patients and how trust between patients and practitioners has had an effect on therapeutic efficacy. The analysis will centre on relationships between the patients and the practitioners in the clinic and ethnographic data obtained from interviews.

CAM therapeutic practice varies according to locality and socio-cultural context. Homeopathy is especially sought after in Japan, for example, as treatment for emotional issues amongst patients seeking non-stigmatized treatment. The supportive conversations that take place between patients and practitioners during consultations are understood as having potential therapeutic value.

I thus argue that homeopathy is practised partly as a talking therapy because of the comparatively long 'homeopathic conversation' that forms the core of any consultation.

It is particularly significant because Japanese people tend to be sceptical about psychological treatment (Lock 1980, Ohnuki-Tierney 1984, Kitanaka 2012). In this sense, a solid bond of trust between patient and practioner is essential for successful results.