This is part of an occasional series in which reporters
drop in on interesting classes throughout the university's
eight academic divisions. Suggestions are welcome at gazette@jhu.edu.
The course: The Body and Health Care in Japan. 3
credits. Offered by the
Department
of the History of Science and Technology in the Krieger
School of Arts and Sciences.
The instructor: Morris Low, the Bo Jung and Soon
Young Kim Professor of East Asian Sciences and Technology
in the Department of the History of Science and Technology.
Low is a historian of Japanese science and technology, with
a special interest in the history of physics, science and
gender, and Japanese visual culture. Before coming to Johns
Hopkins, he taught at various Australian institutions,
including Monash University in Melbourne, the Australian
National University in Canberra and the University of
Queensland in Brisbane. He is a fourth-generation
Chinese-Australian and lived and conducted research in
Japan for five years. Low is the author of Science and the
Building of a New Japan; Building a Modern Japan: Science,
Technology and Medicine in the Meiji Era and Beyond; and
the soon-to-be-released Japan on Display: Photography
and the Emperor.
Meeting time: 2 to 4:50 p.m. on Wednesdays, fall
2005.
Syllabus: This course explores how the Japanese have
viewed the human body and health care from the 18th century
to the present day. It examines the influence of Chinese
medicine, the introduction of Western medicine, the
increasing role that the state has played in Japanese
health care since the late 19th century, Social Darwinism
and eugenics, the prevalence of abortions and the
controversies surrounding organ transplants.
The course is not only aimed at helping students learn
about views of the body and health care throughout Japanese
history; it is also designed to help students improve their
critical thinking, research, writing and speaking skills,
according to Low, who uses traditional lectures, outside
reading assignments and the viewing of in-class movies and
news programs to spark lively conversation and debate among
his students. During one recent session, for instance,
students viewed portions of three films by famed Japanese
director Akira Kurosawa and discussed them afterward.
Course work: An end-of-term research paper on an
approved topic is worth 65 percent of a student's grade.
Class participation is worth 15 percent. The remaining 20
percent is made up of an article or book review and
research proposal.
Required reading: Students are encouraged to read
from an extensive reading list of 35 articles or book
chapters, most of which are on electronic reserve. They
include "Gender, Knowledge and Power: Reproductive Medicine
in Japan, 1690-1930," "Behind the Mask: On Sexual Demons,
Sacred Mothers, Transvestites, Gangsters and Other Japanese
Cultural Heroes," "Pandemic Influenza in Japan: 1918-1919,"
"Did Emperor Hirohito Know?" "Effects of Atomic Radiation:
A Half-Century of Studies From Hiroshima and Nagasaki" and
"Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan."
Overheard in class: "Doctors in Japan don't give
their patients much information about their conditions or
the drugs they prescribe. This is very different from the
way things are done here. When I came to the States early
this year, I felt they might even be going overboard with
the amount of information you get when you visit a doctor
for the first time and pick up a prescription. In Japan,
doctors not only prescribe drugs, their clinics also
dispense them. This helps the physicians in terms of
income, because in Japan, patients just pay a fixed fee
most times. The sale of prescription medications helps
physicians supplement that income, but it also leads to
overprescribing."
—Morris Low
Students say: "The Body and Health Care in Japan is
truly unique. I signed up
for Professor Low's class because most of the course work
for my major has been done studying China and Korea. My
knowledge of Japanese culture is fairly limited, and I
thought an overview of the health care system in Japan
would be a great way to analyze the growth of Japan over
time. I was also curious to know more about their health
care system, seeing it was so influenced by the West as
well as by traditional Chinese medicine. Professor Low
pushes his students to think deeply about many different
concepts pertaining to Japan's health care system, forcing
us to put things in a historical context so we can better
understand its progress. All assignments allow students to
work independently to come up with a research topic unique
to our interests. I love this class."
—Ashley Ferranti, a junior from East Greenwich,
R.I., majoring in East Asian studies
"I love that the class is so personal [about 20 students in
the class]. Although it can be intimidating at times, it
can be particularly helpful in fostering a close
professor-student relationship. Since the class is three
hours long, Professor Low engages in various educational
methods, including videos, slides, handouts and lectures.
What I especially appreciate about the class is that
Professor Low seeks to help us mature into better students,
better researchers, beyond the scope of just medical
history."
—Maria Choi, a sophomore from Silver Spring, Md.,
majoring in public health studies
"I signed up for this class because I enjoyed [Professor
Low's] class on Japan and the Environment last semester. I
am also very interested in Japan, and he is one of the very
few professors who teach a course on Japan. The most
valuable part of the course is that it gives a different
perspective from our usual Western view on the human body
and the health care system. Especially in [a recent class],
when we discussed the damages done by the atomic bomb at
the end of WWII and watched films made in Japan, which
provided a different side of the story. It was moving to
watch a film on the innocent victims of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki."
—Ikuko Hamada, a senior from Philadelphia,
majoring in international relations and mathematics