Kikuo Tashiro , J Marion Wright & the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles

1. KikuoTashiro, J Marion Wright & the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles 11 April 2010 Troy Kaji MD

2. Acknowledgements: • Shin Hasegawa • Yuji Ichioka • Eugene Itogawa • Wayne Maeda • Discover Nikkei • Little Tokyo Historical Society Fred Fujikawa MD Henry Sugiyama MD Kikuo Taira MD Yoshiye Togasaki MD JANM Staff

3. Opening of Japan 1853-54 • 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

4. Shogun Founds Nagasaki Naval Training Center. • 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

5. Nagasaki Medical College • 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

6. Meiji Restoration 1867-1868 • 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

7. Guido Herman FridolinVerbeck(28 January 1830 – 10 May 1898) • OyatoiGaikokujin(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

8. 1871 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

9. Scientific Medicine Introduced Two Distinctive Institutions 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

10. 1874 Medical Act • 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

11. Japanese Encounter Modern Hospital • “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.

12. Public & Private Hospitals in Japan • 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.

13. Tayama Katai Portrays Hospital • Japanese novelist TayamaKatai (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.

14. 1894 • 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

15. 1899-1901 • 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

16. TB Stigma in Japan • In Japan, persons with tuberculosis ostracized • 1930-1933 Household Survey by Tokyo Metropolitan Police reported that: • 29% of families said they had “done all they could” for a member with TB • 41% said they made “some effort” • 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.

17. Kikuo’s Sister Okite • 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

18. 1904-1905 Russo Japanese War • 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”

19. SF School Segregation • 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

20. Saburo and the Gentleman’s Agreement • 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

21. Medical School Highlights • 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.

22. Year at Kyushu University • 1919 Kikuo joins the surgery division of Fukuoka Medical School (now Kyushu University), as assistant under Professor GotoShichiro. • 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

23. Exodus to Los Angeles • 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.

24. Iwaoka Masamitsu’s First Impression of Kikuo • A friend of TashiroSaburo 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!”

25. California Physician’s and Surgeons Licensure Exam 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

26. Moto and Akiko Join Kikuo • 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 TogasakiShigeko, who helps Moto purchase a western style wardrobe

27. Arrival in LA • 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.

28. http://japantownatlas.com/share/LittleTokyo_11x17_set.pdf 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.

29. In 1923, Nikkei Physicians Admitted Patients to NankaNihonjinByoin, The Japanese Hospital of Southern California, on Turner Street

30. Tanaka Clinic and the NankaNihonjinByoin 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-Ininto the NankaNihonjinByoin, or the Japanese Hospital of Southern California Peak capacity 35 beds Operational 1915? to 1935

31. MrInoseInosuke 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 RafuShimpo 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

32. Mrs. UchioNari—On Dr Tashiro’s Care of her Son • 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

33. KikuoTashiro, J Marion Wright & the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles 11 April 2010 Troy Kaji MD

34. The 1913 Alien Land Law • 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.

35. 1920 Alien Land Law • 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.

36. Issei Lose All Legal Challenges in US Supreme Court • 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

37. Japanese Consul Oyama Yujiro • “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

38. "An act to limit the migration of aliens into the United States..." (approved May 26, 1924). • 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

39. Matsutsuyu Ichitaro’s Account • “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.”

40. Nikkei in LA Need New Hospital • 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.

41. 1911 Treaty of Commerce & Navigation between the U. S. & Japan • 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. * * *

42. FujiiSei and J. Marion Wright • USC Law School Classmate and lifelong friend of Kashu Mainichi founder FujiiSei • FujiiSei referred Tashiro to Attorney Wright • In 1925 Wright had successfully defended TagamiTojueru and Ramon Sepulveda

43. White’s Point, California v Tagami John Modell, The Economics and Politics of Racial Accommodation: The Japanese of Los Angeles, 1900-1942

44. Tashiro v. Jordan, 201 Cal. 236Calif Supreme Court May 20, 1927 • 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

45. Secretary of State Frank Jordan Appeals Tashiro v. Jordan

46. Attorney Wright Pleads Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court • 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: • This was the first instance in which Articles of Incorporation had been denied to a Japanese • The doctors’ request was within the Treaty • The treaty should be liberally interpreted • Therefore the state should grant the doctor’s request for Articles of Incorporation

47. Jordan v Tashiro • 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

48. Jordan v Tashiro

49. Funding the RafuNihonjinByoin • 3 days after the Nov 1928 court judgment, the Los Angeles Japanese Physicians Association honor FujiiSei 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

50. Los Angeles had two Japanese Hospitals from 1929 to 1935