The Objective of this study was to investigate present conditions of research institutes on traditional medicine in China, Chinese taipei, Japan and U.S.A. The subject institutes were China academy of traditional chinese medicine, National research institute of chinese medicine, Oriental medicine research center of the Kitasato institute, Institute of natural medicine in Toyama medical and pharmaceutical university, National center for complementary and alternative medicine. Various publications printed by each institute were collected and each web site wis searched. For further analysis, Interviews with managers and researchers of each institute were carried out.