著者

Atsushi Asai Taketoshi Okita Aya Enzo Yasuhiro Kadooka

出版者

Ritsumeikan Center for Asia Pacific Studies

雑誌

Ritsumeikan Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (ISSN:13444204)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.36, no.1, pp.1-8, 2018 (Released:2022-06-15)

参考文献数

25

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The 1945 Kyushu Imperial University human vivisections are among the most infamous of medical atrocities involving Japanese doctors. The Japanese novelist, Shusaku Endo published The Sea and Poison, a fiction novel based on the incident in 1958. His story features young doctors, Suguro and Toda, and depicts their motivations to join the killing, as well as their regrets or the lack thereof. Endo forces us to ponder why they involved themselves in the human vivisections and what might have dissuaded them from doing so. Even today we lack clear answers to these questions. This paper will present our deliberations on the contemporary implications of Endo’s questions and positions set forth in The Sea and Poison. We suggest that Suguro failed to refuse participation in the vivisection because of his emotional exhaustion and emptiness, which could have been caused by war, the doctors’ true colors, or the dark side of medicine. It is argued that Suguro is no different from many of us, and that Toda’s claim that we are, deep down, unmoved by the suffering and death of others describes part of our minds. The meaning of strong conscience and compassion is also discussed.

著者

Yusuke Inoue Taketoshi Okita

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, no.7, pp.453-455, 2021-07-05 (Released:2021-07-05)

参考文献数

15

被引用文献数

1