In the spring of 1795, Japanese physician Ōtsuki Gentaku (大槻玄沢,1757–1827) recalled the time he spent in his youth with Tatebe Seian (建部清庵,1712–1782), his mentor in medicine. Through his career as a specialist in external medicine (geka), Seian developed an enthusiasm for Western learning through Dutch studies (rangaku) (Takebe, Sugita, and Sugita 1795, preface). Taking off…
Tag: Japan
Opening the Japanese Body
How did Japanese people view organs and body? How do you view the inside of your body?
Intercourse Has Not Been Enjoyable: Married Women’s Sexual Pleasure in Imperial Japan, 1920s–1930s
Classification matters in creating the rhetoric and reality of “female sexual dysfunction.” A woman got married, but she did not enjoy having sex with her husband. What would come next if she lived in imperial Japan?
The Healthy Exotic Taste of the Empire: A Story of Restyling Manchurian Food in Modern Japan
What is Manchurian Food? Here is a short story about what it was, and how it was restyled by zest and curiosity of nutrition scientists, urban consumers, and policymakers in prewar and wartime Japanese Empire (1930s-40s).
With Regard to the Pubic Hair of Women
Have you wondered what a society that holds young women’s pubic hair in high regard looks like?