To address some questions in global biomedical ethics, three problems about cultural moral differences and alleged differences in eastern and Western cultures are addressed: The first is whether the east has fundamentally different moral traditions from those in the West. Concentrating on Japan and the united states, it is argued that theses of profound and fundamental east-West differences are dubious because of many forms of shared morality. The second is whether human rights theory is a

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... rn invention with no firm traditions in eastern moral traditions. It is argued that this thesis is unsupported both historically and in contemporary bioethics. The third problem is whether multiculturalist theory casts doubt on claims of universal principles and rights. It is argued that the reverse is true: multiculturalism is a univer-salistic theory. The argument throughout supports common morality theory. Global ethics is a currently fashionable notion, but its meaning and scope remain underdeveloped. To address some questions about universal standards in biomedi-cal ethics, I will investigate three problems about alleged cultural moral differences, concentrating on presumed differences in eastern and Western cultures. The first problem is whether there is merit in the thesis that the east-that is, Asia-has fundamentally different moral traditions from those in the West-that is, europe and the Americas. I will argue, concentrating on Japan and the united states, that the thesis of profound and fundamental east-West differences is dubious in light of our many