Japanese Medical Lives in Transformation: Contesting Modernity in the Late Nineteenth Century

— —

Dr Ellen Gardner Nakamura (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Japanese Medical Lives in Transformation

Contesting Modernity in the Late Nineteenth Century

Dr Ellen Gardner Nakamura (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

$170

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Bloomsbury Academic
20 February 2025

Series: SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan

At the end of the 19th century, Japanese modernizers abandoned the traditional Chinese-style medicine that had dominated for centuries, and turned instead to Western medical theory and practice. In this book, Ellen Gardner Nakamura reconsiders the story of the adoption of Western medicine through the eyes of six medical practitioners.

The men who took the lead in transforming Japanese medicine under the new Meiji government were Western-style Japanese physicians, an enthusiastic minority who had studied European medical texts and techniques in the era before the ‘opening’ of Japan. Their achievements in creating the institutions of modern Japanese medicine are celebrated in almost every Japanese medical history book. Japanese Medical Lives in Transformation, on the other hand, focuses on a selection of lesser-known men and women whose roles in the transformation of Japanese medicine were important but unspectacular. The Japanese doctors discussed here had various educational backgrounds. Most trained in the Dutch-style medicine which had become popular in the middle of the Tokugawa era, but they ultimately struggled with the transition to modernity. To what extent was their background in premodern Western-style medicine an advantage in adapting to the Meiji era? Who were the winners and who were the losers in the modernization process? What personal and professional challenges did they face? This book is shaped by these broad questions and the informative life trajectories of six fascinating contemporaries.

By: Dr Ellen Gardner Nakamura (University of Auckland New Zealand)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781350344242
ISBN 10: 1350344249
Series: SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 20 February 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ellen Gardner Nakamura is Senior Lecturer in Japanese and Asian Studies at University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is the author of Practical Pursuits: Takano Choei, Takahashi Keisaku, and Western Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Japan (2005).

Reviews for Japanese Medical Lives in Transformation: Contesting Modernity in the Late Nineteenth Century

This seminal work by Ellen Nakamura represents a noteworthy addition to the historiography of medicine in Japan. Employing collective biography and extensive primary sources, Nakamura challenges conventional perspectives on Japan's medical modernization in the latter half of the 19th century, foregrounding the nuanced experiences of six lesser-known medical practitioners. * Hiro Fujimoto, Assistant Professor, Heidelberg University, Germany *