Medical researcher Shigeo Hatori, who worked on tropical diseases and scrub typhus during the Japanese colonial era, was commemorated earlier this month by the unveiling of a bronze bust at his former residence, a clinic in Hualien, which is now a coffee shop.
At the ceremony on Jan. 7, Hatori’s grandson Shigeaki Hatori said he hoped that the bust provided by Tainan’s Chimei Museum would help Taiwanese learn more about that period.
The bust was carved by museum founder Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍) to highlight Hatori’s contributions to Taiwan, Museum consultant Chi Ching-wen (紀慶玟) said.
Photo: Wang Chin-yi, Taipei Times
Chi quoted Hsu as saying that anyone who makes great contributions to Taiwanese society should be respectfully remembered regardless of their nationality.
The Hatori bust was the 11th such commemorative bust made by Hsu, Chi said, adding that a copy of it was sent to Shigeo Hatori’s hometown of Maebashi in Japan.
Speaking through a translator Shigeaki Hatori said of the bust: “This is really like my grandfather, it really looks like him.”
Shigeaki Hatori thanked the proprietors of Shigeo Hatori’s old home for maintaining it in his honor, and thanked the hospital for creating the bust.
Shigeo Hatori, who was born in 1871 in Fujimi Village, Gunma Prefecture, came to Taiwan in 1899 during the Japanese colonial era as a medical researcher. The bulk of his research concerned the plague, malaria and venomous snakes.
He held posts as a medical officer in charge of disease prevention, director of the medical section of the local government and founder of the bacteria inspection division for Taihoku Prefecture — an area now incorporating Taipei, Keelung, New Taipei City and Yilan County.
A venomous snake discovered in Yilan County in 1905, the Sinomicrurus hatori, was named after him, while an Anopheles mosquito capable of transmitting malaria discovered in Taitung County in 1909, the Aedes (Finlaya) hatorii yamada, also bears his name.
In 1913, Hatori visited an immigrant village in Hualien where an unknown illness was causing high fevers among villagers. Hatori discerned the illness to be a local strain of typhus, a discovery which gained him international recognition.
Hatori later completed a doctorate at Japan’s Niigata University. In Japan, Hatori discovered methods of examining and isolating bacteria that cause inflammatory brain and spinal cord diseases, and established the world’s first treatment center for people with the condition.
He assisted the center’s patients with their living expenses until they fully recovered. In his retirement, he moved to Hualien, where he opened a public clinic. The building is now the site of the QiuChao Coffee Shop and retains much of its original appearance.
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