The Development of the Japanese Nursing Profession

Adopting and Adapting Western Influences

By Aya Takahashi

Price: $170.00

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About the Book

In the years after 1868, when Japan's long period of self-imposed isolation ended, in nursing, as in every other aspect of life, the Japanese looked to the west. This book tells the story of 'Florence Nightingale-ism' in Japan, showing how Japanese nursing developed from 1868 to the present. It discusses how Japanese nursing adopted western models, implementing 'Nightingale-ism' in a conscious, caricature way, and implemented it more fully, at least on the surface, than in Britain. At the same time Japanese nurses had to cope, with great difficulty, with traditional Japanese attitudes, which were strongly opposed to women being involved in professions of any kind, and, as the book shows, western models did not in fact penetrate very deeply.

Reviews

'[Takahashi] makes an original contribution to the history of nursing in Japan through her careful research in various archives, particularly those of several branches of the Red Cross, the International Nursing Council, and the Rockkefeeler Foundation.' - Monumenta Nipponica

'[This book] makes a valuable contribution to the trans-national social history both of nursing and medicine ... the author challenges current limits of women's history, offering a fresh international perspective.' - Medical History

Table of Contents

Section One: An Imported Profession
Section Two: The Development of a Japanese Model
Section Three: 'Re-encounter' with Western Nursing Professionalism

About the Author(s)

Aya Takahashi is Associate Professor at the International Student Center, Hokkaido University, Japan.