The Asahi Shimbun conducted a face to face survey on the Japanese opinion about brain death and the politics, in the occasion of the diet discussion about the issue. The survey was done on May 24 and 25, 1997, for 2,000 votes and got effective response from 1,232. Proportion of male vs female was 48% : 52%.
Q1: Do you support the Hashimoto Cabinet ?
| Yes |  44%
 45%
|
| No | 38%
35%
|
| Others/NA | 18%
20%
|
*row1 1 ( ) is April '97, row 2 ( ) is May '97
Q2: Which party do you like best ?
| LDP | 34%
29%
|
| NFP(Shinshinto) | 5%
6%
|
| DPJ(Minshuto) | 4%
5%
|
| JCP | 4%
4%
|
| SDP | 5%
3%
|
| Taiyoto | 0%
0% |
| Other party | 1%
1%
|
| None | 40%
39%
|
| No idea/NA | 7%
13%
|
*row1 1 ( ) is April '97, row 2 ( ) is May '97
| LDP | 14%
17%
|
| NFP(Shinshinto) | 4%
5%
|
| DPJ(Minshuto) | 5%
5%
|
| JCP | 4%
3%
|
| SDP | 5%
4%
|
| Taiyoto | 1%
1%
|
| None of them | 11%
12%
|
| Others/NA | 3%
5%
|
*row1 1 ( ) is April '97, row 2 ( ) is May '97
| Brain death is human death | 40%
|
| Human death should be recognized only if the heart stops | 48%
|
| Others/NA | 12%
|
Q5: Do you agree to state by law that the brain death is the human death ?
| Yes | 40%
|
| No | 42%
|
| Others/NA | 18%
|
Q6: Do you agree to transplant a heart or a liver from a person who is judged as the brain death ?
| Yes | 57%
|
| No | 26%
|
| Others/NA | 17%
|
Q7: Do you think the Organ Transplant Bill should be passed as soon as possible ?
| Yes | 44%
|
| No | 44%
|
| Others/NA | 12%
|
| Yes | 38%
|
| No | 45%
|
| Others/NA | 17%
|
| Yes | 58%
|
| No | 24%
|
| Others/NA | 18%
|
Source: The Asahi Shimbun, May 27, 1997
NOTE: I tried to translate the essence of texts, but not aiming at word-by-word precision. In opinion polls, subtle change of wordings may generate different results. Thus, you should be careful in reading this page, understanding that your impression from the text might not be the same as those of who responded this survey.