Brief history of medicine in Japan

It is likely some readers of this article are of the opinion that Japan is a tough market to crack, says P Reed Maurer, long-time Japan pharma watcher and president of International Alliances Limited in an exclusive article for The Pharma Letter.

They see or imagine barriers designed to keep foreigners out, or at least bias the rules in favor of insiders. Throughout this brief history of medicine you may see confirmation of your assumptions, or not. Best to keep an open mind.

The first Westerners to arrive in Japan were some Portuguese sailors blown ashore at Tanegashima in 1542. Interesting to note this is the same site used today to launch Japanese rockets and hardware into space. Saint Francis Xavier, an intrepid missionary, arrived in 1549. Americans did not arrive until 1853, 300 years after the Europeans.