Taiei Miura and Franco-Japanese friendship in psychiatry.

Abstract

Japanese medicine enthusiastically adopted many aspects of Western medicine, especially German, during and after Japan's modernization. After the war, the policy giving priority to German medicine changed greatly, and American medicine replaced German medicine in postwar days. Some people, however, question whether it is proper to get medical information one-sidedly from a single country. Faced with the situation of whether German or American medicine should occupy the dominant position in Japan, some doctors chose to establish ties with French medicine. Professor Taiei Miura (1901-1995) re-established an intimate relationship, broken off during the war, in the medical field between Japan and France. Much information was to be learned from French medicine, particularly in clinical neurology and psychiatry. In this essay, we relate the details of how Miura became interested in French medicine, went to study in France, then contributed greatly to Franco-Japanese friendship.