This paper examines the history of mask-wearing regulations in barbershops in colonial Korea, specifically in Keijō (modern-day Seoul) during the 1910s and 1920s. It focuses on the introduction and implementation of these regulations, as well as their political involvement with colonial hygiene governance and ethnic politics in the barbering industry. In 1911, the Government-General of Korea introduced a mask-wearing mandate for barbers as part of the Barbering Business Regulation Rule, making it one of the earliest mask mandates in the Japanese Empire. Initially, the colonial police enforced this rule to discipline colonial subjects under the guise of hygiene. However, starting in the mid-1910s, both Korean and Japanese barbering professionals began to utilize this regulation to compete against the rising number of Chinese migrant barbers. This paper illustrates how hygiene-related regulations, including the mask mandate in barbershops, interacted with ethnic rivalries within the colonial Korean barbering industry. Stereotypes portraying Chinese barbers as unhygienic and their shops as unsanitary were produced and fueled as Korean and Japanese barbers sought to eliminate their Chinese competitors, often with support from the colonial police. Ultimately, this case study will shed new light on the history of hygienic masks, which has so far mostly focused on medical settings, and will suggest future research avenues, particularly regarding its intersection with the social history of medicine.

This paper examines the history of mask-wearing regulations in barbershops in colonial Korea, specifically in Keijō (modern-day Seoul) during the 1910s and 1920s. It focuses on the introduction and implementation of these regulations, as well as their political involvement with colonial hygiene governance and ethnic politics in the barbering industry. In 1911, the Government-General of Korea introduced a mask-wearing mandate for barbers as part of the Barbering Business Regulation Rule, making it one of the earliest mask mandates in the Japanese Empire. Initially, the colonial police enforced this rule to discipline colonial subjects under the guise of hygiene. However, starting in the mid-1910s, both Korean and Japanese barbering professionals began to utilize this regulation to compete against the rising number of Chinese migrant barbers. This paper illustrates how hygiene-related regulations, including the mask mandate in barbershops, interacted with ethnic rivalries within the colonial Korean barbering industry. Stereotypes portraying Chinese barbers as unhygienic and their shops as unsanitary were produced and fueled as Korean and Japanese barbers sought to eliminate their Chinese competitors, often with support from the colonial police. Ultimately, this case study will shed new light on the history of hygienic masks, which has so far mostly focused on medical settings, and will suggest future research avenues, particularly regarding its intersection with the social history of medicine.

This paper examines the history of mask-wearing regulations in barbershops in colonial Korea, specifically in Keijō (modern-day Seoul) during the 1910s and 1920s. It focuses on the introduction and implementation of these regulations, as well as their political involvement with colonial hygiene governance and ethnic politics in the barbering industry. In 1911, the Government-General of Korea introduced a mask-wearing mandate for barbers as part of the Barbering Business Regulation Rule, making it one of the earliest mask mandates in the Japanese Empire. Initially, the colonial police enforced this rule to discipline colonial subjects under the guise of hygiene. However, starting in the mid-1910s, both Korean and Japanese barbering professionals began to utilize this regulation to compete against the rising number of Chinese migrant barbers. This paper illustrates how hygiene-related regulations, including the mask mandate in barbershops, interacted with ethnic rivalries within the colonial Korean barbering industry. Stereotypes portraying Chinese barbers as unhygienic and their shops as unsanitary were produced and fueled as Korean and Japanese barbers sought to eliminate their Chinese competitors, often with support from the colonial police. Ultimately, this case study will shed new light on the history of hygienic masks, which has so far mostly focused on medical settings, and will suggest future research avenues, particularly regarding its intersection with the social history of medicine.

This paper examines the history of mask-wearing regulations in barbershops in colonial Korea, specifically in Keijō (modern-day Seoul) during the 1910s and 1920s. It focuses on the introduction and implementation of these regulations, as well as their political involvement with colonial hygiene governance and ethnic politics in the barbering industry. In 1911, the Government-General of Korea introduced a mask-wearing mandate for barbers as part of the Barbering Business Regulation Rule, making it one of the earliest mask mandates in the Japanese Empire. Initially, the colonial police enforced this rule to discipline colonial subjects under the guise of hygiene. However, starting in the mid-1910s, both Korean and Japanese barbering professionals began to utilize this regulation to compete against the rising number of Chinese migrant barbers. This paper illustrates how hygiene-related regulations, including the mask mandate in barbershops, interacted with ethnic rivalries within the colonial Korean barbering industry. Stereotypes portraying Chinese barbers as unhygienic and their shops as unsanitary were produced and fueled as Korean and Japanese barbers sought to eliminate their Chinese competitors, often with support from the colonial police. Ultimately, this case study will shed new light on the history of hygienic masks, which has so far mostly focused on medical settings, and will suggest future research avenues, particularly regarding its intersection with the social history of medicine.

This paper examines the social life of masks in colonial Korea with a focus on their use in hygienic practices. It argues that masks first appeared in the disease control scene in late 1919 when the Governor-General of Korea belatedly introduced preventative measures against the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Since then, the central and regional hygiene authorities had begun to encourage colonial Koreans to wear masks whenever respiratory disease epidemics transpired. Simultaneously, Korean doctors and news reporters framed mask-wearing as something needed for family hygiene, particularly for trans-seasonal child health care, and advised colonial Korean women to manage and wear masks. This paper also reveals that the primary type of masks used in colonial society was black-colored Japanese respirators. Its design was the main point of contention in the debates on the effectiveness of masks against disease infection. Finally, it also highlights that the wide support of using masks by medical doctors and authorities was not based on scientific evidence but on empirical rules they developed through the pandemic and epidemics. The mask-usage practice would be challenged only when South Korean doctors reframed it as a “Japanese custom not grounded on science” at the height of postcolonial nationalism and the raised concern about the artifact’s usefulness during the Hong Kong Influenza pandemic of 1968.

Anthropological genetics emerged as a new discipline to investigate the origin of human species in the second half of the twentieth century. Using the genetic database of blood groups and other protein polymorphisms, anthropological geneticists started redrawing the ancient migratory history of human populations. A peculiarity of the Korean experience is that clinical physicians were the first experts using genetic data to theorize the historical origin of the respective population. This paper examines how South Korean physicians produced the genetic knowledge and discourse of the Korean origin in the 1970s and 1980s. It argues that transnational scientific exchange led clinical researchers to engage in global anthropological studies. The paper focuses on two scientific cooperative cases in medical genetics at the time: the West German-South Korean pharmacogenetic research on the Korean population and the Asia-Oceania Histocompatibility Workshop. At the outset, physicians introduced medical genetics into their laboratory for clinical applications. Involved in cooperative projects on investigating anthropological implications of their clinical work, medical researchers came to use their genetic data for studying the Korean origin. In the process, physicians simply followed a nationalist narrative of the Korean origin rather than criticizing it. This was partially due to their lack of serious interest in anthropological work. Their explanations about the Korean origin would be considered “scientific” while hiding their embracing of the nationalist narrative.
Blood Group Antigens ; Databases, Genetic ; Education ; Genetics ; Genetics, Medical ; Histocompatibility ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: The presence of a cerebral aneurysm remnant after surgical clipping is associated with a risk of regrowth or rupture. For these recurred aneurysms, coil embolization can be considered as a treatment option. We retrospectively reviewed cases of ruptured or regrown aneurysms after clipping treated by endovascular coil embolization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of patients with ruptured or recurred aneurysm after clipping, who underwent coil embolization between January 1995 and December 2013. We evaluated clinical information and the outcomes of these cases. RESULTS: Eight patients were treated by endovascular coil embolization after surgical clipping. Six aneurysms were located in the anterior communicating artery, one in the posterior communicating artery, and one in the middle cerebral artery bifurcation. All patients were initially treated by surgical clipping because of a ruptured aneurysm. Aneurysm recurrence at the initial clipping site was detected in all cases. The median interval from initial to second presentation was 42 months. In four patients, aneurysms were detected before rupture and the four remaining patients presented with recurrent subarachnoid hemorrhage. All patients were treated by coil embolization and showed successful occlusion of aneurysms without complications. CONCLUSION: Endovascular coil embolization can be a safe and successful treatment option for recurred aneurysms after clipping.
Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, Ruptured ; Arteries ; Embolization, Therapeutic* ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm* ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Surgical Instruments

Spinal subdural hematoma is a rarely reported disease and spontaneous spinal subdural hematomas (SSDH) without underlying pathological changes are even rarer. The patients usually show typical symtoms such as back pain, quadriplegia, paraplegia or sensory change. But rarely, patients may show atypical symptoms such as hemiparesis and misdiagnosed to cerebrovascular accident. We recently experienced a case of SSDH, where the patient initially showed vague symptoms, such as the sudden onset of headache which we initially misdiagnosed as subarachnoid hemorrhage. In this case, the headache of patient improved but the neck pain persisted until hospital day 5. Therefre, we conducted the MRI of cervical spine and finally confirmed SSDH. The patient was managed conservatively and improved without recurrence. In this case report, we discuss the clinical features of SSDH with emphasis on the importance of an early diagnosis.
Back Pain ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Headache ; Hematoma, Subdural, Spinal* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neck Pain ; Paraplegia ; Paresis ; Quadriplegia ; Recurrence ; Spine ; Stroke ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Spinal subdural hematoma is a rarely reported disease and spontaneous spinal subdural hematomas (SSDH) without underlying pathological changes are even rarer. The patients usually show typical symtoms such as back pain, quadriplegia, paraplegia or sensory change. But rarely, patients may show atypical symptoms such as hemiparesis and misdiagnosed to cerebrovascular accident. We recently experienced a case of SSDH, where the patient initially showed vague symptoms, such as the sudden onset of headache which we initially misdiagnosed as subarachnoid hemorrhage. In this case, the headache of patient improved but the neck pain persisted until hospital day 5. Therefre, we conducted the MRI of cervical spine and finally confirmed SSDH. The patient was managed conservatively and improved without recurrence. In this case report, we discuss the clinical features of SSDH with emphasis on the importance of an early diagnosis.
Back Pain ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Headache ; Hematoma, Subdural, Spinal* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neck Pain ; Paraplegia ; Paresis ; Quadriplegia ; Recurrence ; Spine ; Stroke ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage