KOKUBO Hideyuki

Last Modified: November 2006

Contact Address

International Research Institute (IRI),
40A, KK Blbd., Sonno 1108-2, Inage, Chiba 263-0051 JAPAN
Phone: +81-43-255-5481
Fax: +81-43-255-5482
JAPAN

E-mail: kokubo@a-iri.org

Profile of KOKUBO Hideyuki, B.Sc.

Kokubo H. was born at Toyohashi in 1958. Male. He studied biophysics at Nagoya University. He worked to edit books of science, chemistry and mathematics at Sanseido Co. Ltd. since 1981 to 1996, which company is a famous publisher in Japan. His life work is research for anomalous phenomena and his main interest is the physical mechanism of psi. He have researched it experimentally, theoretically or field-scientifically since 1978.

He had lectured parapsychology at Tokai Women's Junior College from 1996 to 2000.
He is a director and the editor-in-chief of Japanese Society for Parapsychology (JSPP) which is a professional organization in Japan. He publishes Electronic Newsletter of JSPP for members of the society by e-mail almost every week, and works to publish Japanese Journal of Parapsychology.

On June 1st 1996, he came to Bio-Emission Laboratory for purpose to develop a Japanese governmental project and to satisfy his own interest for parapsychology, and became the editorial manager of Journal of International Society of Life Information Science (Journal of ISLIS) which is the official journal of International Society of Life Information Science (ISLIS). He moved to International Research Institute (IRI) in 2005.


FAQ on recent academic trend in Japan

By e-mail through the Internet, I have often received questions on modern Japanese trend of parapsychological research. However, it is difficult to show whole Japanese situation by only e-mail. I would wish that below articles help you to understand contemporary Japanese movement of research on anomalous phenomena.

  1. Kokubo H
    [PDF] Concept of "Qi" or "Ki" in Japanese Qigong Research
    Proceedings of the 44th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, New York, pp.147-154, 2001.

    Abstract: Japanese qigong research became active during the 1990's. In ancient Chinese, qigong was called dao-yin. In the beginning, the techniques of qigong were simpler and trainees merely stopped their breath during exercise. Presently, qigong is viewed as a kind of exercise for the health of the mind and body. "Qi" or "ki" is an important concept of qigong research and originates from ancient Chinese thought. The original meaning of the word is "movement of a cloud". In Japanese today, the word of qi/ki is ordinarily used as an expression of weather change, an activity of the body and soul, a natural phenomenon, etc. Ki as an ordinary word is often used for something intangible like ESP when it has paranormal meaning. Today, traditional Oriental medicine like acupuncture is accepted popularly in Japan as a kind of complementary and alternative medicine. In Oriental medicine, qi/ki is used on balance as a practical concept. It is not so important to discuss whether ki/qi has substance or not in a typical clinical environment. On the other, qi/ki in qigong is used as if it has physical substance. The concept of qigong was defined in China in the 1950's. Qigong is a generic term for various health methods and skills of martial arts, Buddhism, etc., therefore the number of kinds of qigong is huge and it is easy to establish a new qigong method. In the early 20th century, Reijutsu movement occurred in Japan. One of aims of Reijutsu is to restore health. Reijutsu uses various healing methods including laying-on-of-hands, direct hand touch and healing by religious rituals. Reijutsu practitioners visited Mongolia in China and lectured their techniques to Chinese. A qigong performance of emitting external qi is considered to be developed relatively recently and have influences of Mesmerism and Reijutsu. In modern Japanese studies, there is a consideration that the major effects of external qi can be explained by well-known psychological phenomena, e.g. suggestion. This is the most cautious scenario, and skeptics and many scientists outside of qigong research like it. In contract, there are more than several dozen researchers who assume the existence of physical substances of external qi and they have tried to measure some effects using various sensors of infrared rays, magnetic fields, etc. But, detections by sensors were rarely observed, and moreover the powers of detected signals were too small to cause events directly. On the other hand, there were reports on a "residual" property of external qi which suggests the existence of a substance. Therefore, they think that the concept of external qi is not so simple. In fact details of the concept of qi or external qi are still obscure. And the concept does not apply to all parapsychological phenomena, moreover, there is a difference of training methods between qigong and psi. But, it is very useful to study limited problems at present day.

  2. Kokubo H and Kasahara T
    [PDF] Japanese Studies for Anomalous Phenomena in the 1990s
    International Journal of Parapsychology, Volume 11, Number 2, 35-61, 2000

    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 experience . Research into these topic has been done primarily by orthodox scientist who were expanding their professional territories to include even the parapsychological domain. Research bearing on parapsychology conducted in the 1990 is summarized under the heading of case studies, cognitive, social- scientific, and theoretical research, experiment with human, subhuman and cellular targets, and physical/chemical studies. Remarkable contribution have been made by qigong researcher who have only been working in this area for a decade. Especially interesting result have been obtained in experiment on external qi or what we might call bio-PK. However, the fundamental necessary for a productive research program are till not sufficiently established in Japan, and unless shortcoming are addressed, future research development will be hindered.

  3. Kokubo H
    [PDF] Contemporary Active Research Groups in Japan for Anomalous Phenomena
    Japanese Journal of Parapsychology, 3(1), 19-63, 1998.

    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.
    Keywords: qigong, somatic science, external qi, history, parapsychology, Japan, China, academic societies

    * This article is translated into Russian. Please see following two journals;
    1. Consciousness and Psychical Reality, 7(1):52-72, 2002. [in Russian] [ISSN 1027-4359] [Lee, A.G. translator]
    2. Parapsychology and Psychophysics, 2000 No.1, pp.167-186, 2000. [in Russian] [ISSN 0869-3323] [Lee, A.G. translator]
Relating information on parapsychological study [in Japanese]