ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews briefly the historical bases and current status of comparative psychology in Japan. In the first part of the chapter, some early works by Koremochi Masuda (1883–1933), who is considered to be the pioneer of comparative psychology in Japan, were introduced. Next, the establishment of the Japanese Society for Animal Psychology and its development were described. 200Then, in the third part of this chapter, new movements influenced by studies of primate behavior and current developments in Ethology were discussed. Those new trends might be an indication of renewal of interest in comparative psychology. It seems to me, however, that we are still groping toward the establishment of an appropriate methodology for the comparison of behaviors among different species—the task attempted by K. Masuda about 75 years ago at the starting point of comparative psychology in Japan.
