of living, more cramped living standards, and the difficulty of self-denial in an environment of increasing influence for the world. Levine did not address the vast differences of the homogeneous population and the more unified culture of Japan and the diverse population and multiple cultures within the United States, which could help to explain these differences.
Instead of trying to read all, or even a portion, of the 6,000 + articles printed on quality of life in the past five years, I believe that the following books edited by three groups of individuals with varying professional skills and contributions will be of help, especially for initiates such as myself to the area. They are "Quality of Life in Behavioral Medicine Research" by Joel E. Dimsdale and Andrew Baum, which deals with measures of patients' values; "Assessment of Quality of Life in Childhood Asthma" by Margaret Christie and Davina French, which deals with one subject in depth and perspective of quality of life; and "Quality of Life in Health Promotions and Rehabilitation" edited by Rebecca Renwick, Juan Brown and Mark Nagler, which gives a broad conceptional basis for understanding and discussing quality of life for patients of all ages.
In conclusion, I would like to again thank Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, the members of the Board, and Dr. Shinya Maruya of The Life Planning Center, Sasakawa Kaikan, Tokyo, for inviting me here and for making all preparations for my visit, the other participants and this excellent audience. It has been a great experience for me to share views on quality of life, philosophy and poetry with you. How we perceive ourselves, others, our environment, cultures and background has much to do with what quality of life means. My country and yours share many likenesses and far less differences. Yet each culture must develop its own criteria for quality of life, which will differ. The medical criteria for disease states will be the same. Our countries' attention to quality of life development will
