Kaoruko Aita - The Japan Times

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Kaoruko Aita

For Kaoruko Aita's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMUNITY

Feb 2, 2003

New furrows in the field of medicine

It is often said that medicine in Japan is still far behind the West. This is true, unfortunately, in terms of patients' rights advocacy, malpractice-prevention measures, the medical education system, and hospital amenities and working conditions.

Japan Times

JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM

Sep 8, 2002

Radio icon pulls plug on show after world-record 45 years

Her achievement is nothing special, she says. But the thing that has kept Chieko Akiyama going throughout her unprecedented career is the human energy radiating from the people she meets.

JAPAN

Jun 9, 2002

Makeup therapist tries to boost patients' esteem, health

It is a skin-thin issue, but it could also be a matter of life-saving gravity. Such is the significance of "rehabilitation makeup" in the eyes of leading makeup therapist Reiko Kazuki.

Japan Times

JAPAN

May 1, 2002

Attitudinal shift is lifting taboo on death education: professor

Public attitudes in Japan toward death and dying have undergone considerable changes in the past 20 years, according to Alfons Deeken, founder and president of the Japanese Association for Death Education and Grief Counseling.

JAPAN

Dec 12, 2001

Safety a priority for marrow foundation

Ensuring the safety of goodwill donors is the priority when conducting bone marrow transplants, according to officials of the Japan Marrow Donor Foundation.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 12, 2001

Marrow bank struggles to meet demand

More bone marrow donors are needed to save the lives of people with deadly blood diseases, according to the Japan Marrow Donor Foundation.

JAPAN

Mar 29, 2001

Surprise ruling won't wash with the victims

Contrary to widespread expectations, the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday acquitted Takeshi Abe, former vice president of Teikyo University in Tokyo, of professional negligence resulting in the death of one of his patients.

JAPAN

Oct 25, 2000

Why do some doctors anesthetize brain-dead patients?

Tetsuo Furukawa, professor emeritus of neurology at Tokyo Medical and Dental School, is a rarity in Japan: a neurologist who has been crusading against the practice of transplanting organs from brain-dead donors. Furukawa worries that patients in a supposedly brain-dead state may nevertheless feel pain, or some lesser sensation, when the surgeon's knife cuts into their bodies to procure organs.

JAPAN

Oct 25, 2000

It's a matter of life and death

Staff writer Brain death: It's a phrase we hear every day. In Japan, the public has been exposed to it to the point of numbness through nationwide campaigns for more organ donors. "Brain death is human death, and organ donation saves lives," we are exhorted. In the United States, the world's leading transplant center, organs are transplanted from 5,000 brain-dead patients a year. The issue of what constitutes brain death is yesterday's controversy, isn't it?

JAPAN

Oct 18, 2000

How dead is dead enough?

The line between life and death has grown increasingly obscure in the United States, the world's most active organ-transplant community, as surgeons grapple with a delicate problem: Organs available for transplant may become less viable if pronouncement of a donor's death is delayed until death is beyond dispute.

JAPAN

Aug 30, 2000

Analyst attacks organ transplant proposal

A leading sociologist has slammed a proposal under consideration by a government-funded study group that the current law on organ transplants be revised to allow the procurement of organs from brain-dead patients with just the written consent of family members.

JAPAN

May 20, 1999

Marrow donors in short supply in Japan

CULTURE / Art

May 13, 1999

Smithsonian celebrates culture, history of Ainu

WASHINGTON -- An unprecedented, in-depth look at the culture of the Ainu is being offered in the U.S. capital.

JAPAN

May 11, 1999

Smithsonian celebrates culture, history of Ainu

JAPAN

Mar 22, 1999

Doctors far from malpractice accountability

JAPAN

Mar 10, 1999

Organ donation more than a signature

JAPAN

Oct 15, 1998

Expert calls for overhaul of emergency medical system

Staff writerThe nation's emergency medical system should be greatly improved before organ transplants from brain-dead donors are promoted, said one veteran doctor who specializes in emergency care.Yuichi Hamabe, director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital's Life Support Emergency Center in Sumida Ward, stressed that such transplants should be conducted only in circumstances in which adequate and proper emergency medical treatment has first been provided to no avail."We should discuss how to save more lives of emergency patients before deciding how others can use their organs," Hamabe said in an interview. He noted that Japan lacks an emergency medical system comparable to those in the West, in which organ transplants are established treatment choices. A great majority of brain-dead patients in Japan are at medical emergency centers.Organs should be donated only when patients have become brain dead despite sufficient and prompt care, and only when they have expressed a prior desire to donate, said the doctor, whose facility has treated the second-largest number of patients out of 20 emergency medical centers in Tokyo.Hamabe urged the central and local governments to distribute more public funds to improve the current situation. "A high-quality emergency medical system should be established as a lifeline," Hamabe said. "More tax money should be allotted to secure more personnel, equipment and hospital rooms."At other facilities, doctors in charge of emergency rooms simultaneously are in charge of other wards, a situation that "should be avoided," he said. In rural areas in other prefectures, people have a higher risk of receiving insufficient emergency care because of the time required to transport them to a treatment center, he said.Hiroyuki Doi, an official in charge of handling emergency care issues at the Health and Welfare Ministry, said the government has acknowledged that emergency medical care is the most essential part of medicine and that a better system is necessary.To improve the situation, the ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to budget for two helicopters for medical use in fiscal 1999, Doi said. Air ambulances are as yet not in common use in Japan, he said.When a helicopter was used on a trial basis for six months in 1992 at Kawasaki Medical School's Emergency Medical Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, the survival of more than 50 out of 90 patients airlifted was attributed to the quick transfer. In addition, most of the 90 were later given a better prognosis, Doi said. "It is a shame that Japan has no helicopters designated for medical use, when the nation has the second-largest number of helicopters in the world after the United States," Doi said.In Germany, the number of emergency transfers by helicopters surpassed 50,000 a year. About one-third of them carried victims of traffic accidents. The aircraft have been credited with helping Germany reduce its traffic fatality toll from about 21,000 a year to some 6,900, Doi said.

JAPAN

Sep 21, 1998

Drug tests bring ethical uncertainties

JAPAN

Jul 30, 1998

Analysis: Leadership remains tied to factional politics

JAPAN

Jul 24, 1998

Analysis: Fate rides on quick, effective policies

and MITSUKO NASHIMAStaff writers

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.

For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on

By Lance Henderstein

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

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