Music Therapy in Japan
|Brief History| |Current Situation and Professional Status of Japanese Music Therapy| |Education and Training| |Theoretical /Philosophical Orientation| |Cultural and Social Issues of Music Therapy in Japan| |Contact Link|
Brief History
Music Therapy has been an area of interest among musicians, special school teachers, psychologists and psychiatrists since the 1950's in Japan. However, there has been very little public recognition or approval of the field because music itself has been treated as a needless luxury in people's lives since the loss of World War II.
In the 1960's, music therapy started being practiced by several pioneering individuals such as Dr. Yamamatsu (psychologist), Dr. Matsui (psychiatrist), Dr. Murai (psychiatrist and professional musician). Professor Sakurabayashi has also been a key person in the development of music therapy in Japan as he was the first person to translate into Japanese and publish the book by Juliette Alvin, who visited Tokyo in 1967. Also, the book by Nordoff-Robbins was translated in 1972, and Clive and Carol Robbins made their first visit to our country in 1984.
Therefore, the interest in this field grew during the 70's and 80's. There was also an increase in the number of self-taught music therapists and some qualified therapists who had studied abroad. These individuals began practicing in institutions such as welfare centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities and hospitals. They also formed several music therapy study groups, some of which later became local associations.
There were two major associations, the Clinical Music Therapy Association and the Bio-Music Association, which finally merged to become the Japanese Federation for Music Therapy (JFMT) in 1995. At the same time the music therapy in Japan has gone through a tremendous change over the last decade.
Current Situation and Professional Status of Japanese Music Therapy
The Japanese Federation for Music Therapy, established in April 1995, changed its name and administration in 2001. There is now a national organization called the Japanese Music Therapy Association (JMTA) established in April 2001. Surprisingly, the JMTA has 6,030 members, consisting of music therapists, doctors, nurses, psychologists, special education teachers and the like.
In 1996, the JMTA (then JFMT) started certifying music therapists using a point system, and now there are 769 music therapists certified by the association. Most of these 769 clinicians are self-taught music therapists who have attended lectures and workshops held by the associations and collected their points. Less than 10% of them have been educated in the training programs abroad like this writer, i.e., in US, UK, Australia and Germany.
These certified therapists practice mostly part-time at various places. Although there is a great need and demand for music therapy in many institutes, the pay is rather poor because they are not yet recognized by the health insurance nor by public funding. Thus, many music therapists are under-paid or must work on a voluntary basis.
While it is exciting to see so much growing enthusiasm and interest to this field among the general public, it is discouraging to find false commercialization by CD companies who claim "music heals like magic."
To me, it is rather overwhelming to see such fast growth in a field that has grown into a national organization in only 8 short years. We thus must continue to grow firm and healthy by upholding high professional standards both in practice and training.
Education and Training
The JMTA now approves 15 music therapy programs at the undergraduate level in universities and music colleges in Japan. The association suggests a curriculum-based program for 4 years. The current system works this way: Students are certified as "provisional music therapist" after completing their internship in the 4 year-curriculum. They then graduate, go out to the field, practice for more than 3 years under supervision before being certified as a real "music therapist."
There are definitely huge concerns as to the shortage of teaching staff, clinical sites and supervisors. Many of the staff are self-taught clinicians and sometimes have their own unique philosophy. It is also necessary to equip educators and supervisors to provide aspiring students not only with more expanded knowledge and skills, but also with opportunity for personal growth and development.
Theoretical /Philosophical Orientation
As mentioned above, two major associations -- the Clinical Music Therapy Association and the Bio-Music Association -- have merged to form a national organization. The members of the former tend to use psychotherapeutic and humanistic approaches in practice, while the latter focus more on the medical/biological and behavioral aspects. Therefore, these models co-exist in the research. Very few clinicians focus on psychodynamic or music-centered approaches, yet it is inevitable that these models require established training which is not provided in our country.
Recently, the JMTA started funding research in the area of EBM (Evidence-Based Medicine). There are quite a number of doctors and therapists working in this area and this kind of quantitative research is also required by the government in order for music therapy to obtain public recognition.
Cultural and Social Issues of Music Therapy in Japan
The impression of the general public in Japan regarding therapy in general is that one must be very ill to receive therapy. Although the need for psychiatric treatment in urban areas is increasing, psychotherapy is still not very well accepted as a part of social fabric in Japan. There is somewhat of a stigma attached to it.
Also, in Japanese culture, often the therapeutic goals are group-oriented or family-oriented, and not in the service of a given individual. There are many music therapists who practice with 50 people in a group(!) and call it a "therapy session." This kind of recreation model in music therapy is mainly especially popular in geriatric facilities.
I have found that there are also some cultural and social issues with seniority rules both in clinical practice and training. For example, children do not call their therapists by their own names, but rather as "Sensei" (teacher), and this does impact aspects of a therapeutic relationship. Also, grown-ups are expected to control their emotions and not express them openly. This sometimes works against the typical therapeutic goal of "promoting self-expression." Another example: In a training setting, it is not polite for students to argue with their professors, so they tend to be submissive and follow their teachers' opinions. They find it difficult to criticize what they are learning.
Many educators are trying to establish the best way to accommodate the cultural needs of their students, and so are the clinicians for their clientele. I have also felt keenly the importance of applying my learning from western music therapy sources to our own society and culture here in Japan.
Interestingly, the national music therapy conference was just held a few weeks ago, and its theme for this year was "Japanese Culture and Music Therapy." A symposium was held, and there were several research studies on this topic. It is evident that music therapy in Japan is constantly evolving and is taking its own shape as it develops.
Contact Link
Japanese Music Therapy Association (http://www.jmta.jp) (Sorry, it is only in Japanese)
How to cite this page
Okazaki-Sakaue, Kana (2003). Music Therapy in Japan. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 09, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=country/monthjapan_may2003
