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Every year I teach a class called "Mind, Body, and Bioethics in Japan" to a group of Princeton undergraduates made up of students drawn to ethical dilemmas—aspiring doctors, scientists, and lawyers. The class departs from typical approaches to bioethics. Instead of attempting to arrive logically at the "right" or "best" answer to the human dilemmas posed by modern medicine, we take an anthropological approach, asking how the dilemmas themselves are shaped by and understood through the context of culture.

Japanese attitudes reveal intriguing contradictions in the abortion debate. Women are encouraged to accept the baby that is born with a fetus being humanized from the earliest stages of pregnancy. At the same time, terminating a pregnancy is accepted as a morally sound means of preventing a situation in which a child would go uncared for. Japan offers a window into the particularities of the American debate and the limits of each position. The focus in Japan is not on the rights of the mother nor the personhood of the fetus, as it is in America, but rather on the social life of the child, the welfare of the family, and the question of the social good more broadly. Adapted from the source document.

Social drinking is an accepted aspect of working life in Japan, and women are left to manage their drunken husbands when the men return home, restoring them to sobriety for the next day of work. In attempting to cope with their husbands' alcoholism, the women face a profound cultural dilemma: when does the nurturing behavior expected of a good wife and mother become part of a pattern of behavior that is actually destructive? How does the celebration of nurturance and dependency mask the exploitative aspects not just of family life but also of public life in Japan?

The Applied Anthropology of Obesity advances understanding of the many cultural factors underlying increased global obesity prevalence. This book candidly discusses obesity research, prevention, and intervention programs, providing rich information about social identity, obesity prevention, and treatment.