On the whole, the major impetus for the institutionalization of public hygiene in Korea came from two directions. On one hand, the self-enlightened intellectuals had introduced a variety of Western ideas and theories on public hygiene since the mid-eighteenth century. On the other hand, Japan strongly influenced the modern systems of Korean health care and medical education, especially through Japanese efforts at the sanitary control of infectious diseases such as smallpox and cholera. The institutionalization of Korea's public hygiene in this period corresponded not to the high ideas of the progressive intellectuals but to the larger social and institutional changes caused by the major political events. Ideas of public hygiene were institutionalized as a powerful strategy of linking the imperial capital and colonial domains.
Colonialism/*history ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Japan ; Korea ; Politics ; Public Health/*history ; Sanitation/*history ; Western World

The objective of my article is to investigate how the West had strong interest in tropical diseases and developed tropical medicine and hygiene from the 1870s through the 1910s. Its focus is to identify the geopolitical conditions in which the West constructed 'tropical diseases'to extend its imperial interests into non-Western tropical regions. The article has several specific research tasks: first, I attempt to explore the way in which European people transformed their attitudes toward tropical diseases from the sixteenth century to the 1860s. A variety of writings by European physicians are discussed; the second part shows European change in its domestic sanitary situation in relation to its imperial interests in tropical regions. Sanitary hygiene in metropole and colonies are not separate, but interconnected; third, the paper illuminates how the West responded to the spread of 'Asiatic cholera' in the nineteenth century. Cholera provides a typical example for the West to perceive Asian origin of tropical diseases; finally, the article demonstrates that hygienic governance of tropical diseases is the key to imperial dominion over colonies by taking the Panama Canal as an example. Although several European countries such as Spain, Britain, Germany, and France had strong imperial interests in the Panama Canal that might facilitate trade between the Atlantic and the Pacific, they failed to occupy the canal because of their inability to control high prevalence of malaria and yellow fever. Taking advantage of 'tropical medicine, ' the United States succeeded in taking up the canal by eradicating tropical diseases in the canal. It was owing to the scientific development of tropical hygiene and medicine that the West transformed its pessimistic into optimistic position about the colonization of tropical regions. Tropical diseases became the geopolitical reference for Western conceptualization of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific.
Tropical Medicine/*history ; Sanitation/history ; Hygiene/*history ; Humans ; History, 20th Century ; History, 19th Century ; Europe ; Colonialism/history ; Cholera/epidemiology/*history ; Attitude of Health Personnel

This research mainly dealt with sanitation and hygiene related editorials quoted from educational magazines published in Chosun until the Manchurian Incident during the Japanese colonial period. The study revealed that modern Japan became aware of the importance of public sanitation from the late nineteenth century and established modern programs so that schools can comprehensively teach students about sanitation and hygiene so as to enter modern imperial society. Japan particularly introduced and carried out modern physical(gymnastics) education as a means of "complete sanitation and hygiene" to improve students' health. As a result of having two times of war, the Japanese Empire reaffirmed the significance of modern sanitation and hygiene. After colonization of Chosun, Japan organized official educational groups and enlightened the public about sanitation and hygiene through editorials on the educational magazines which the groups had published. In order for schools to promote complete sanitation and hygiene based on modern medicine, Japan actively engaged in suggesting the necessity of physical(gymnastics) education which was critical to human's growth and development. After Japanese Government-General of Korea legislated on school hygiene in 1913, Japanese governments school started hiring school doctors and nurses. They stressed the need of providing sanitation and hygiene education in school to prepare for war in 1910's in advance; highlighted that physical (gymnastics) education should be enforced to help students grow and improve their physical strength from a modern medical point of view. In April, 1919, the Japanese Empire implemented the same instruction to the schools where Chosun people attended. But it was found that the law was not applied well to those schools in effect. The Japanese Empire was seen to proclaim the second educational decree in 1922; proposed international hygienic achievement of the time and comments; enlightened the public by connecting "Fletcherism" of the USA with rice crisis, which was a big social issue back then. In an attempt to complement modern sanitation and hygiene, Japan strongly recommended students appropriate physical gymnastics as the most desirable and complete sanitation method, saying it would help them correct their imbalanced condition-which was found from physical examination - and grow up. They even claimed such an absurd logic that ones whose body did not develop normally tend to become criminals, reflecting the then atmosphere of the society, and considered military gymnastics as one of the most important sanitation and hygiene factors that positively influence growth and development. All the fact that Japan tried hard to apply the practice to students cannot be ignored.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Atmosphere ; Colon ; Complement System Proteins ; Criminals ; Education ; Growth and Development ; Gymnastics ; History, Modern 1601- ; Humans ; Hygiene* ; Japan ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Logic ; Military Personnel ; Periodicals as Topic* ; Physical Education and Training* ; Physical Examination ; Sanitation