Surgeons who contributed to the enlightenment of Japanese medicine.

Abstract

Until the sixteenth century internal medicine, primarily Chinese medicine, had been predominant in Japan. From 1639, under the national seclusion policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan's doors were closed to the West; and Japan had no trade relations with any countries except China and Holland. Only in Nagasaki, where a Dutch settlement was located, were Japanese able to learn about Western culture and Western medicine. Through the medical education and services provided by Philipp Franz von Siebold, Western surgery was introduced to Japan. In 1854 Japan was opened to the world, and many German physicians were invited to provide medical education in Japan. The German medical education system continued until about 1950. After World War II, Japanese medical education was reformed, and several medical professors from U.S. universities were sent to Japan. One was Charles G. Johnston of Wayne State University. Thanks to the efforts of these visiting American professors, many young Japanese doctors were sent to the United States to study surgery, anesthesia, and the like. These doctors later became the leaders of medical education in Japan. The guidance and friendship of these foreign doctors had a profound effect on the progress and advancement of modern Japanese medicine.