To obtain a relatively true mortality from malignant neoplasms, we studied the frequency of cancers in the different sites and the changing patterns of the frequency and sites over time among residents of the community of Hisayama, where an autopsy-based population survey (autopsy rate, 80%) has been conducted since 191. During the 30-year period from 1962 to 1991, we found 438 malignant neoplasms in 407 cases among 1,250 consecutive autopsies. Stomach cancer was not frequent in type of cancer, with 123 cases (9.8%), followed by lung cancer in 62 (5.0%), colorectal cancer in 42 (3.4%), liver cancer in 37 (3.0%), and pancreatic cancer in 30 (2.4%). We compared the mortality from cancers for both autopsy and nonautopsy cases (the proportional mortality) among three 10-year periods. The proportional mortality from all cancers, as well as for lung, colorectal, and liver cancers, showed an increase in recent years, while stomach and pancreatic cancer showed a decrease. These figures were nearly similar to the mortality statistics for the Japanese population as a whole except for the observed decreasing trend in mortality from pancreatic cancer.