11 April 2010 Troy Kaji MD

Shin Hasegawa Yuji Ichioka Eugene Itogawa Wayne Maeda Discover Nikkei Little Tokyo

Historical Society

Fred Fujikawa MDHenry Sugiyama MDKikuo Taira MDYoshiye Togasaki MDJANM Staff

Admiral Matthew Perry led “Black Ships” into Tokyo bay

In 1853, Perry gave ultimatum to the Tokugawa Bakufu to open up Japan to outside trade or face the consequences

On his return in 1854, Tokugawa signed a treaty opening Japan to the world

Tokugawa hired Dutch naval officers to start the Nagasaki Naval Training Center

Western-style military training academy In 1857, Professor J. L. C. Pompe van

Meerdervoort, a Dutch naval surgeon, single-handedly began teaching Western medicine to 133 students

Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, p.167

• Nagasaki Medical Training Institute ( 医学伝習所 )

• One of the first western-style medical schools

• In 1861, at Pompe’s suggestion, Shogun opened a 124 bed hospital

• Japan’s most promising medical students came to study under Pompe

• Pompe’s students became leaders of Meiji-era medical community

• In 1923, elevated to Nagasaki Medical College ( 長崎医科大学 )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._C._Pompe_van_Meerdervoort

Tokugawa Shogun resigned office in 1867

Emperor Meiji ascended to the throne

Pro-emperor forces defeated pro-Tokugawa forces in a series of battles in 1868

Oyatoi Gaikokujin (foreign advisor) in the early years of Emperor Meiji’s reign

In 1869, Verbeck recommended adopting German Language for medical studies, since existing of Dutch-learned medical knowledge was linguistically similar to German.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Verbeck

TOKYO UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL

KUMAMOTO MEDICAL SCHOOL, 1871-76

• Meiji Government Appointed 2 German Physicians to teach

• Leopold Muller• Theodor Hoffman

• Kumamoto government established

• Dutch naval surgeon C. G. Van Mansvelt

• Outstanding students: Ogata Masaki and Kitasato Shibasaburo

HOSPITAL LABORATORY

Physicians used stethoscopes, thermometers, and recorded findings in a medical record

Sought links between symptoms and signs of disease, and internal changes in the body

Experimental method identifies causes of diseases

Microscopes Laboratory animals Bacteriology Pathology

The Rise of Western "Scientific Medicine" in Japan: Bacteriology and Beriberi; Christian Oberlander

• In 1874, the Office for Medical Affairs issued the “Medical Act” (Isei) to establish a national licensing examination for physicians based on Western medicine.

Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, p.171

“to most Japanese, physicians and public alike, the modern hospital was new and foreign.

In 1879 the leading medical journal explained: “What sort of thing is a hospital? Broadly speaking, it is a lodge where the ill can stay, identical to those travelers use. But in addition, it is a place where therapy is practiced.”

Public hospitals generally provided better care than private

Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 172.

By 1882, 626 hospitals registered Many individual physicians built small

hospitals next to their offices Quality ranged from excellent to

deplorable Only the affluent could use them. Most Meiji-era physicians rarely disposed

towards philanthropy or community service Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of

Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 172-173.

• Japanese novelist Tayama Katai (1871-1930) portrayed in Shi no hō e a working Japanese hospital, its physicians and nurses, and the care they deliver

• Nurses swish up and down corridors wearing straw sandals and white uniforms, flirt with attractive male patients, and take vital signs.

• Doctors round twice daily, examine with stethoscope, prescribe medicine, say nothing about proper care or diet, and avoid offering a candid prognosis.

• Family expected to nurse patient, feed and attend to patient needs, and pay mounting bill.

• Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 139-142.

September 1 In their second

year of marriage, Tashiro Saburo and Mono celebrate the birth of their first child, a son, whom they name Kikuo

Japanese naval ship Naniwa, commanded by Captain Togo Heihachiro, sinks the Chinese battleship Kao Shan

1899: Tashiro Saburo assumes guardianship of his elder brother’s three children. Why?

1901: Tashiro Kikuo enters elementary school

1901: Kikuo and brother Tanenori both develop TB and are bedridden

• In Japan, persons with tuberculosis ostracized

• 1930-1933 Household Survey by Tokyo Metropolitan Police reported that:

1. 29% of families said they had “done all they could” for a member with TB

2. 41% said they made “some effort”3. 29% “neither comforted nor nursed” their

family member before they died. Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of

Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, p. 115.

Every morning, Kikuo performed his morning chore of feeding the horses

When returning home from school, Kikuo played in a creek, catching river crabs

and eels with his bare hands Kikuo’s nickname was “hidari-gicho” or

lefty

May 1905: Admiral Togo Heihachiro leads Japanese Navy to victory over Russian Fleet

1st victory of non-white power over Europeans

SF Chronicle reacts: “The Japanese Invasion—the problem of the hour”, “at least 100,000 of the ‘little brown men’ were here already,” and “a torrent” would ensue once the war ended

“THE YELLOW PERIL—HOW JAPANESE CROWD OUT THE WHITE RACE”

On October 11, 1906, the San Francisco, Board of Education ordered children of Japanese descent to attend Oriental school.

“BROWN MEN AN EVIL IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS”

President Theodore Roosevelt directly intervened, brokering the return of students to regular schools in return for Japan’s agreement to restrict future immigration

T. Roosevelt’s deal with Japan, “The Gentleman’s Agreement” restricted labor immigration from Japan effective Feb 1908.

Saburo departed for California in 1907, age 41, leaving behind his family and his occupation as a veterinarian, and took up farming

Mono stayed behind to support the children through school

• With financial support from his father’s farmwork, Kikuo attended Nagasaki Medical School from 1914 to 1918,

• “one of the three geniuses”• In May 1918, Kikuo became an assistant to

Professor Hayashi Ikuhiko at the medical school’s department of Pathology.

• Kikuo, age 25, met Mori Moto, age 19, in July 1919. Moto was then working for Asada Shintaro, an internist, who operated the Asada Hospital in the Shinmachi district of Nagasaki.

• 1919 Kikuo joins the surgery division of Fukuoka Medical School (now Kyushu University), as assistant under Professor Goto Shichiro.

• Performs research for PhD dissertation, which he finally completed in 1934.

• November 1920, takes family medical leave to attend Kaoru, his sister suffering from TB, who died despite his efforts at care.

• Married Moto on December 30, 1920. The couple takes up residence in Fukuoka

• Sept 7, 1921, departed Yokohama for California.

• Younger brother Tanenori, a student at Stanford University, greets him on arrival at SF

• Journeyed by train with Tanenori to parents’ residence in Los Angeles’ San Gabriel valley.

• Saburo directs Kikuo to stay in Los Angeles and send remittances to support his parents retirement in Japan, rather than pursue a research career.

A friend of Tashiro Saburo and Mono, met Kikuo after he arrived at his parents home in the San Gabriel valley

“He was tall and thin, but not really too distinguished-looking for a physician!”

•Exam given in English only•Failed first attempt•Studied English medical terminology at a hotel room in San Bernardino•Passed the June 21-22, 1923 exam

• Akiko, born Jan 6, 1922 in Fukuoka City• Oct 18, 1922, Moto and Akiko depart

Yokohama for a 2-week passage to SF• Met by Kikuo and Tanenori in SF• Moto introduced to Togasaki Shigeko,

who helps Moto purchase a western style wardrobe

Stay one night in Little Tokyo’s Higoya Hotel, owned by Miyamoto Tsunezo from Kumamoto

Kikuo, Moto and Akiko then ride in Kikuo’s new Ford coupe to the Tashiro home in San Gabriel, where they live for a year.

In October 1923, after Kikuo gains his medical license, Kikuo, Moto and Akiko move to a house at 921 Lawn Street, Gardena, which has an extra room for a clinic.

In 1923,Dr. Tashiro opens a Little Tokyo office on the second floor of the Higoya Hotel.

200 friends and members of the Kumamoto-kenjin-kai celebrate the opening of Tashiro’s clinic at Hamanoya restaurant in Little Tokyo.

•Dr Jyuhei Tanaka moved from SF in 1905, and helped found the Los Angeles Japanese Council in 1905.•In 1912, Tanaka opened a well-equipped clinic called Eisei-In on Turner Street•During the 1918 Influenza pandemic, Japanese used it as a makeshift hospital.•In response to this crisis, the community transformed the Eisei-In into the Nanka Nihonjin Byoin, or the Japanese Hospital of Southern California

Peak capacity 35 bedsOperational 1915? to 1935

•Native of Ibaragi prefecture, immigrated to US as a student/ laborer•In 1895, opened the Sunrise Restaurant at 209 East First Street•By 1902, headed the Japanese section of the Western Agricultural Contracting Company, and subsequently amassed a fortune•Co-chaired building Japanese Hospital in 1915 with H. T. Komai of Rafu Shimpo•President of the Japanese Hospital of Southern California 1928-1935• Mason, William M. & John A. McKinstry, The Japanese of Los Angeles (1869-1920), p. 35•Ichioka, Yuji, The Issei: the world of the first generation Japanese immigrants, 1885-1924, p. 96

I think it was 1923. One day my eldest boy had an accident hitting his stomach . . He had an acute stomach ache and his stomach was swollen badly. We hurried him to Dr Tashiro’s Little Tokyo clinic. Dr. Tashiro diagnosed an acute hernia . . immediately hospitalized at Nanka Nihonjin Byoin and the operation was finished in 5 to 10 minutes. My husband was truly surprised with the speed with which Dr Tashiro completed the surgery

11 April 2010 Troy Kaji MD

Prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" (Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Korean immigrants) from owning land or property, but permitted three year leases.

Japanese farmers circumvented the 1913 law by putting title in the name of their citizen children, with land held in trust, or by forming title-holding agricultural corporations with noncitizen farmers as shareholders.

In 1920 anti-Japanese activists—including the California Grange & the Hearst newspapers —placed an initiative on the ballot outlawing these loopholes.

The voters overwhelmingly approved

The Japanese community responded with test cases on naturalization and on the Alien Land Laws.

Takao Ozawa v. United States, in 1922, US Supreme court ruled that Japanese immigrants are not “free white persons” and cannot become naturalized citizens

In 1923, the US Supreme court confirmed the legality of the Alien Land Laws in 3 test cases

Huge Impact: in 1918, there were 7973 farmers. By 1929, the number of farmers declined to 4591.

Ichioka, Yuji, The Issei: the world of the first generation Japanese immigrants, 1885-1924, p. 235

“The Land Law decisions have dealt a severe blow to Japanese immigrants, spiritually as well as materially . . . . The sense of despair it aroused is hard to imagine.”

Ichioka, Yuji, The Issei: the world of the first generation Japanese immigrants, 1885-1924, p. 232-233

The US Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, which strictly limited immigration from southern & eastern Europe

Completely excluded all immigrants from Asia

Nullified the 1908 Gentleman’s Agreement “We have been excluded, just like the

Chinese” Kokujyokubi: July 1 = National Humiliation Day

“When the Issei faced harsh economic realities in the aftermath of anti-Japanese legislation, some visitors from Japan . . . showed much prejudice toward us as we struggled in poverty. They even ridiculed our poverty- stricken situation. Observing such behavior, Dr Tashiro would take time out to explain to them the historical background of the anti-Japanese atmosphere in California.

He was always quick to defend our honor.”

Japanese population in Los Angeles grew from 15,184 to 22,732 between 1921 and 1926

Number of physicians now 35 (50% of state #) In November 1926, Dr Tashiro and 4 other

Japanese physicians applied for articles of incorporation to construct a new hospital.

California denied application, saying incorporation to lease land was not permitted under the 1911 US-Japan treaty.

Article I. The citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall have liberty to enter, travel and reside in the territories of the other to carry on trade, wholesale and retail, to own or lease and occupy houses, manufactories, warehouses and shops, to employ agents of their choice, to lease land for residential and commercial purposes, and generally to do anything incident to or necessary for trade upon the same terms as native citizens or subjects, submitting themselves to the laws and regulations there established. * * *

USC Law School Classmate and lifelong friend of Kashu Mainichi founder Fujii Sei

Fujii Sei referred Tashiro to Attorney Wright

In 1925 Wright had successfully defended Tagami Tojueru and Ramon Sepulveda

John Modell, The Economics and Politics of Racial Accommodation: The Japanese of Los Angeles, 1900-1942

Tagami case affirmed the right of the Issei to conduct the business of running a health facility

However, California State argued that the treaty did not give Japanese subjects the “right to form a corporation, if one of the purposes thereof is to lease for commercial purposes real property.”

California Supreme Court said the Japanese physicians did have this right

In April 1928, Wright journeyed to Washington to represent the physicians, accompanied with his wife and two daughters, ages ten and eight

Before the 9 Justices, Wright argued: 1. This was the first instance in which Articles

of Incorporation had been denied to a Japanese

2. The doctors’ request was within the Treaty3. The treaty should be liberally interpreted4. Therefore the state should grant the

doctor’s request for Articles of Incorporation

The justices sharply questioned California State Attorney General U.S. Webb , then stopped Webb before he finished his argument. Webb and Wright spent 15 to 20 minutes in court.

Webb’s dismissal was a sign that the justices had dismissed the State’s appeal. The court issued its decision five months later in November.

Janice Marion Wright La Moree, J. Marion Wright: Los Angeles’ Patient Crusader

3 days after the Nov 1928 court judgment, the Los Angeles Japanese Physicians Association honor Fujii Sei and J. Marion Wright at a victory party at the Biltmore Hotel

Launch capital campaign

Raised $129,000 Site purchased at

intersection of First and Fickett Streets, in Boyle Heights

The stock market crashes October 24, 1929

Opens a year after starting capital campaign on December 1, 1929

J. Marion Wright JD in center next to Kikuo Tashiro MD

Company President Tashiro read an opening address

Eight other speakers, including Consul Sato Toshito delivered congratulatory speeches

Dr Miyata Yujiro ended the ceremony after an hour with three banzai cheers

From 1-5 PM the public toured the facilities

Fujii Sei quoted Wright in the Dec 10, 1929 Kashu Mainichi: “I met the Prince and Princess yesterday. The Prince and Princess went through nearly every room of the hospital and they surely made the patients and everybody very happy.

In the sun room, reception was held for a limited number of people.

The Prince shook hands with me. I was told that I was the only one who had the honor to shake hands with the Prince.

Janice Marion Wright La Moree, J. Marion Wright: Los Angeles’ Patient Crusader

“He offered me a job as his chauffeur in the Fall of 1924”

“He opened his Gardena clinic in the morning. After lunch, he used to go to his Little Tokyo clinic. From there he went to see his patients at the Japanese Hospital of Southern California”

One day . . emergency visit from a farmer in Pomona. In the middle of the night Dr. Tashiro and I hurried to Pomona

Dr Tashiro’s Zeiss microscope and black bag in the JANM collection

Such emergency calls were part of our daily routine.

At times, he would hurry off upon an emergency call without even taking off his pajamas.

In Santa Maria . . . Mr. Okamoto was run over by a farming tractor. Dr Tashiro’s expert operation andtreatment saved his life.

In those days, streets did not have names, even in the city of Torrance. He therefore often had to search for the patient’s house by relying on a conspicuous landmark such as a large eucalyptus tree.

I remember a night when we went to Redondo-Torrance and our car got stuck in the mud . . . Once we got stuck in the mud in Inglewood. It took a long time for the two of us to get the car out . . .

Most of us (residents of Terminal Island) were fishermen from Wakayama. Dr Tashiro . . . always said to us “Pay when you have some cash on hand.” (Matsutsuya Ichitaro)

One night . . . he simply ignored the inquiry from the patient’s family about the fee, saying “I know you don’t have any money to pay.” (Matsutsuya)

“You need to be hospitalized. It is not time to worry about money now. What you must be concerned about is your health.” (Kuita Kameichi)

“Dr. Tashiro’s incessant pursuit for ever higher surgical technology was an inspiration to all of the nurses . . . who were expected to observe his surgical work closely and provide appropriate instruments to him without being asked. The result of such teamwork was that minimal time was needed for surgery. When a surgery ended successfully, he used to praise us for our efficient assistance.” Japanese Hospital of Los

Angeles Nurses and Doctors:Kuroiwa collection at JANM

After 1924, no more Japan-trained physicians Quota limited Nisei entry to medical schools Nisei graduates had difficulty finding internships Dr. Tashiro took in 4 to 5 Nisei physicians, who

slept on cots in his library, shared meals with his family, and accompanied him at his clinics in Gardena & Little Tokyo and on rounds at the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles.

Co-authored with the Nisei physicians 2 studies published in American medical journals

Prewar: 1929 to 1942 1935: Merged with

Japanese Hosp of So. Calif.

1942 to 1946: Entrusted to White Memorial Hospital - used as obstetrics ward

Postwar: Drs Tashiro, Kuroiwa, Murase, Murakami, Sekiyama, and Niseis Ito and Kobayashi reopened the hospital 1946-60

Capacity: 42 beds2 stories

Since 1901, Dr Tashiro had bouts of illness from tuberculosis.

His two sons died in childhood At the time of the evacuation, Dr Tashiro

was confined in Maryknoll’s Monrovia TB sanitarium. Sent to Denver to convalesce.

Near fatal hospitalization in 1950.

In February of 1953, old friend Miyamoto Tsunezo, owner of the Higoya Hotel, needed surgery. Dr Tashiro performed the multi-hour surgery himself.

Early morning the following week, Dr Tashiro suffered a heart attack, and was admitted to the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles.

Despite the efforts of Dr Kuroiwa and other colleagues, he had a second and third heart attack, and died later that day.

• Boku no hone ni tomatte iru kotori yo kekkaku yo

• Omae ga kuchibashi de tsutsuku kara boku no tan ni wa chi ga majiru

• Omae ga hane bataku to boku wa seki o suru

• Omae o nemuraseru tame ni boku wa kyūnyūki o kakeyo

• Kutsū o gomakasu tame ni boku wa shi ni karakau inu ni de mo karakau yō ni

• Shi wa boku ni kamitsuite kare no inishiaru o irezumi shiyō to ha o boku no mae ni muki dasu

• The tiny bird of tuberculosis is perched on my bones

• Your beak pecks at me mixing blood in my phlegm

• When you flap your wings I cough

• I turn on my inhalator to make you slumber

• To conceal the pain I tease death as if teasing a dog

• Death bites into me and shows its teeth intending to tatoo its initials

Johnston, William “The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan,” Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 149-150.

Utsukushiku sumiwataru Coachella ni Tou hito wa yuki kyomo samishiToday is again an empty day, now that our

friend who came to see the beautiful blue skies of Coachella is long gone

Aremo uye koremo uyeyoto hanasakedo Kokoro yasashiki hito wa nemureriThat flower, this flower, all now are in

bloom but their kind hearted friend is asleep forever

Hitono tame sukoyaka nare to teni kakete Wagami wasureshi oshiki hito

He lived to keep others in health, though forgetting himself to do so.

On Feb 11, 1953, >1000 people attended Dr. Tashiro’s funeralservice at Union Church.Tsunezo Miyamoto fully recovered.