成人の日 Seijin no Hi (literally Adult’s Day). This Japanese national holiday was established in 1948 as a day to congratulate people who have reached the age of legal adulthood (20) at any point during the year. On Coming of Age Day local governments all over the country hold morning ceremonies for these new voters. Women tend to dress up. When I was in Japan (1986-92) it was held on January 15, but in 2000 it was changed to a Monday holiday, to make additional three-day weekends. Let’s celebrate by reading a non-fiction book about Japan.
East Asian Medicine in Urban Japan - Margaret M. Lock
A McGill University anthropologist conducted fieldwork in Japan from 1973 to 1974 to describe how ordinary Japanese people viewed and obtained treatment from practitioners of traditional East Asian medicine. The setting was Kyoto, a decidedly conservative place, culturally speaking (though radical, politically speaking). She also interviewed the practitioners of kanpo (traditional Chinese medicine), herbal pharmacists, and providers of acupuncture, moxibustion, and massage techniques such as shiatsu.
The writing is very clear even for the non-specialist reader and covers interesting topics such as the historical development of East Asian medicine; Japanese attitudes relative to health, illness, and individual responsibility to keep well; description of different clinics that deliver different care and how their atmosphere and interactions range from the cool and formal for upper class patients to the relaxed and matter-of-fact mood for working class customers. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have MD degrees and don’t pay attention to classical Chinese medical texts and have no truck with notions of yin/yang and meridians. They also tend to treat patients who are apparently just beginning to feel sick or discomfort or those who are suffering only mild symptoms.
The final section of the book covers the doctor-patient relationship in the Western-style doctor’s office, which she calls “cosmopolitan.” The national health care system delivers low fees in its array of programs so to generate income physicians see up to a hundred patients a day. This works out to about five minutes a client. One wonders about the number of misdiagnoses and late diagnoses in such conditions and if this is still the situation 50 years down the pike.
I gather that this was a well-regarded and seminal book
when it was released. I was engaged by the book because since the pandemic I’ve
been absorbed by books about medicine and pharmacy, epidemiology and medical
anthropology. Other readers may be tantalized, wondering how much the patient
and doctor experience has changed in urban Japan in the last 50 years. It’s a
long time but I would guess Japanese doctors still see tens and tens of
patients in a day.
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