Aizu- Unbreakable Spirit of Noguchi Hideyo - Japanology Plus

May 21st, 1928. Ghana, West Africa. A Japanese scientist died on the front lines of the fight against infectious diseases that had long plagued humanity. His name was Noguchi Hideo, a world-renowned bacteriologist known for his research on snake venom and syphilis. Born into a poor farming family, Noguchi eventually crossed the sea to the US, where he worked at the prestigious Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. As his achievements mounted, his name came up again and again as a candidate for the But his life was more than a success story. Held back by a disabled hand, poverty, and Japan's excessive focus on academic credentials, how did this young man rise to worldwide fame? And why did he keep pushing his research forward at the risk of his own life? In this episode, we look at the life of Noguchi Hideo, the bacteriologist born in Aizu. Hello and welcome to Japanology Plus. I'm Peter Barraka. This is a Japanese 1000 yen note. They change the designs on these fairly regularly. This one was in use from 2004 to 2024, although it's still legal tender. The face on it is Noguchi Hideo. I had no idea who he was at first, but it turned out he was a doctor who had a rather interesting and somewhat turbulent life. He grew up in the place you see behind me, which is Aizu in Fukushima Prefecture. In this first part of a two-part series about Aizu, we're going to look into Noguchi Hideo's life in somewhat more detail. Fukushima Prefecture, the gateway to the Tohoku region. In its western part lies Aizu, a basin surrounded by rugged mountains. Lake Inawashiro, the great reservoir of Aizu, boasts some of the clearest water in Japan. That beauty gave rise to the nickname Tenkyoko, which means the lake that mirrors the heavens. True to that name, on clear days the lake's surface reflects the sky, the clouds, and the stately mountains beyond. Long known for its grain production, Aizu has abundant water and fertile soil that have sustained the community. It was in this tranquil landscape that the life of Noguchi Hideo, who would become a world-renowned bacteriologist, began. This is the Hideo Noguchi Memorial Museum in the town of Inawashiro. The facility preserves the house where Noguchi was born, just as it was. Hello. Hello. Nice to meet you. Showing Peter around is Morita Teppei, head curator at the museum. He passes on the story of Noguchi Hideo to new generations. Through here. Okay. I understand that they lived in quite extreme poverty. That's right. The house may seem relatively spacious, but when Noguchi Hideo was born, his family was the poorest in the village, so despite the house's size, they still lived in harsh conditions. Noguchi Hideo was born in this house in 1876. His family had plenty of farmland, but his father drank heavily and rarely worked. The land fell into neglect, and the family sank into dire poverty. To support the household, Hideo's mother, Shika, worked from morning to night. And in the midst of the family's struggles, tragedy struck the young Hideo. Hideo was just a year and a half old. When his mother looked away for just a moment, he crawled over and fell into the hearth. He suffered burns in many places, but the worst was on his left hand. Oh, and what happened to his hand? It was fused shut. His fingers clenched together. He couldn't open it. His fingers just all got stuck together? Yes. Ideally, he would have gone to the hospital and had surgery right away, but the Noguchi family was poor and couldn't afford that kind of treatment, so as a child, Hideo's left hand was clenched shut and unusable. I'm sure his mother must have felt terrible about that. Yes. Hideo was the first boy in the Noguchi family. He was the son they'd been waiting for. The family was glad that they finally had an heir, but when he suffered those burns at just a year and a half old, his mother was heartbroken. She must have felt responsible for it, too, I suppose. I'm sure. Since Hideo wouldn't be able to farm with only one usable hand, his mother worked as hard as she could to send him to school so that he could make his way in life. In addition to farming the fields, Shika went out peddling goods in the summer and fall months. In winter, she took on the grueling task of carrying loads over snowy mountain passes, punishing work for a man, even. But somehow, she shouldered the family's survival on her own. Hideo's mother would wear this kind of rain cloak, and when she carried heavy loads on her back, she would use a straw protector like this. Oh, and footwear. And this is for wintertime when the snow is deep on the ground. This area gets a lot of snow. Without these snowshoes, you'd sink into the snow. These are what people wore to get around. And every day, Hideo would walk from here to an elementary school about six kilometers away. Did he have a hard time at school because of his disability? His classmates teased him, saying that his hand looked like a stick or a gnarled knot on a pine tree. Sometimes it was so bad that he couldn't bring himself to go to school. Even in the face of adversity, Noguchi took his mother's hopes to heart and poured himself into his studies. His grades in school were astonishingly good. What did he get a hundred percent in? That would be arithmetic, math. Oh, okay. So he was good at sums. Noguchi's intelligence began to draw attention. When he was 12 and going through his graduation examination, he met the teacher, Kobayashi Sakae, who would become his lifelong mentor. What relationship does he have with Noguchi-san? Kobayashi was an examiner for the graduation exam. That's when he saw how bright Hideo was. He invited Hideo and his mother to his home and promised to support his further education, encouraging him to pursue it. That's the kind of teacher he was. And does he offer financial support as well? Yes. Hideo said that Kobayashi was like a father to him, a second father figure. He looked up to Kobayashi for the rest of his life. So was it quite unusual for a young man, particularly I suppose in a rural society like this, to show such talent at a young age? I think it was. This was a farming community where most children had work to do at home, so only about half could attend school. The Noguchi family was poor too, so Hideo would have normally had to help on the farm. But he managed to show his teachers that he had real talent. In 1892, at the age of 15, Noguchi underwent surgery with donations from his friends. He was then able to partially open his left hand again. Moved by what medicine had done for him, he decided to become a doctor. He pleaded to study under his surgeon Watanabe Kanae and began his apprenticeship in Aizu-Wakamatsu. Noguchi had a ferocious appetite for learning. Medicine wasn't all he learned. He also poured himself into languages. He reportedly even memorized an English textbook from cover to cover. When Noguchi Hideo was here in Aizu-Wakamatsu, he wanted to learn German and French. He went to a church and studied with the help of ministers and priests. So he learned German and French. And that's not all. English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian. He reportedly spoke all of those over the course of his life. Impressive. His language abilities were an asset on the world stage too. I can imagine, yeah. In 1896, at the age of 19, Noguchi went to Tokyo to obtain a medical license. On a wooden post in his family home, Noguchi carved a vow. He wrote, he would never again set foot in his hometown until he had made his name as a doctor. Did he himself have a university education? No, he never actually went to college. Why was that? Because he couldn't afford it? That was one reason. Another was that he struggled to meet the entrance requirements. His highest level of formal education was what would now be junior high school. So to become a doctor, he took the examination for medical practitioners and got his license. Interesting. So he was able to become a doctor without going to university. Right. The exam was notoriously difficult. People said it might take 10 years to pass. But Noguchi passed the first and second stage exams on his first try, earning his license in just one year. One year? Yes. Amazing. Noguchi had become a doctor in incredible time. But the Japanese medical world at the time was dominated by elites with university degrees. Without the academic credentials, you could not get ahead, no matter how talented you were. So Noguchi decided to go to a place where results were what mattered. With extraordinary drive, he set off on his own for the United States. In the U.S., Noguchi's brilliant research on snake venom and syphilis made him a world-class bacteriologist. So much so, in fact, that his name came up as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. In one corner of Aizu-Wakamatsu, you can find a place that marked a turning point in Noguchi's life. Welcome. Hello. You have a big photograph of Noguchi Hideo outside. What relationship does this cafe have with him? Originally, this was Kaiyo Hospital, the place where Noguchi Hideo had surgery on his left hand in 1892. This was the hospital where he had his operation. The surgery opened his eyes to the power of medicine. This is where he decided he'd become a doctor. Ah, okay. And after that, he lived here for three years as an apprentice. So he actually lived here. Oh, I see. The current owner is Terushima Toshiaki. After moving to Aizu 50 years ago, he learned about how Noguchi lived. It was an inspiring experience, one that led him to open a museum upstairs to highlight Noguchi's achievements. Are you originally from Aizu? No. I was born and raised in Hakucho Bodhi in Tokyo. Oh. So how much did you know about Noguchi Hideo when you first came to Aizu? Not much. But over time, I learned more and more about him. Do you think there are aspects of his work and his character that would be useful for Japanese people to learn about now? I'm sometimes asked to give talks about Noguchi Hideo. And the theme is always how he lived. One part of that way of life, I think, was that he turned encounters into opportunities. Noguchi had surgery on his hand, experienced the power of medicine, and decided to become a doctor. He met Watanabe Kanai here. And through Watanabe, he met Chiwaki Morinosuke. Chiwaki Morinosuke was a dentist who helped lay the foundations of modern dentistry in Japan. He helped Noguchi both materially and emotionally, scraping together the funds for Noguchi's trips to Tokyo and the United States. For Noguchi, an encounter was never just an encounter. Meeting Chiwaki gave him the chance to go to Tokyo. Then in Tokyo, he served as a guide for an American scientist named Simon Flexner. Since the job had to be done in English, Noguchi interpreted. Flexner probably said something like, if you ever come to America, pay me a visit. And taking those words to heart, Noguchi set off for the U.S. Simon Flexner was an American bacteriologist who would become the first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. By interpreting for Flexner, Noguchi got a foot in the door at Flexner's laboratory. So Noguchi turned encounters into opportunities. When it comes to the encounters we have, I think we're all equal. What sets people apart is whether we can make something of them. Noguchi went to the U.S. in 1900 at the age of 24 and immersed himself in his research, barely eating or sleeping. His first subject was snake venom. Handling dangerous toxins, he tore through a series of experiments and published his findings after just one year. In almost no time, Noguchi Hideo made a name for himself. Thirteen years later, at the age of 36, he cemented his worldwide reputation. During his research on neurosyphilis, which occurs in patients with advanced syphilis, he discovered the pathogen in patients' brains. He demonstrated that bacteria could cause mental illness, a finding that shocked the medical world. One day, Noguchi received a letter. It was from his mother, Shika. The words in the letter conveyed a heartfelt plea. I want to see you one more time before I die. Please come home soon. Noguchi had not even known that his mother could write. The letter shook him and he decided to return to Japan. In 1915, the now renowned Noguchi came back to Japan for the first time in 15 years. His homecoming made headlines. But he put every lecture request and public appearance aside. First, he had to see his mother, the woman who had worked so hard for him. Filled with gratitude for his mother, Noguchi returned to the US with a firm resolve to fight yellow fever, which was raging at the time. Noguchi went to several countries in Latin America, where yellow fever outbreaks were especially severe, and saved many lives. In Ecuador and Peru, there are streets, schools and research institutes that bear Noguchi's name. His achievements still appear in textbooks. Noguchi Hideo isn't some one-dimensional character though. Every angle you look at him from, you see something different. There may be negative sides too. But the facet that really drew me to him was his place as a pioneer on the international stage. Since starting this museum, I've had opportunities to go to the US, Mexico, Peru and Ghana because of Noguchi. In Mérida, Mexico, they gave me an amazing welcome. In Peru, the president met with me. The same thing happened in Ghana, and it was all because of Noguchi Hideo. So there's so much respect for Noguchi across the globe. He built bridges between Japan and the wider world. Our work here is about preventing those bridges from weathering. And keeping Noguchi alive in the present. In 1918, Noguchi went to Ecuador in South America. Ignoring the risk of infection, he immersed himself in his research day and night. After only nine days, he announced that he had identified the pathogen responsible for yellow fever and he proceeded to develop a vaccine and a serum. Deaths in Ecuador plummeted. Noguchi came to be seen as a saviour. But later, in Africa, Noguchi's vaccine failed to produce the intended effect for many yellow fever patients. Doubts about his research began to grow. In Ecuador, what had actually happened was a simultaneous outbreak of two infectious diseases with very similar symptoms. Yellow fever and Files disease. Files disease is caused by a bacterium. Yellow fever, however, is caused by a virus. But with the technology available at the time, there was no way to tell the two apart. At the time, scientists thought bacteria were responsible for many diseases. They had begun to suspect the existence of viruses, which are even smaller. But since electron microscopes had not yet been invented, identification was impossible. Later, researchers found that the bacterium Noguchi had discovered was actually the cause of Files disease. Fukuoka-san, nice to see you. Nice to see you. It's been a while. Fukuoka Shinichi is a biologist. He is also a visiting professor at the Rockefeller University. The successor to the institution where Noguchi worked. In the library at the Rockefeller University, a bust of Noguchi still stands quietly against the wall. So today we're going to talk about Noguchi Hideo. To Japanese people, Noguchi Hideo is a hero. But in the United States, he's seen a bit differently. In terms of the Rockefeller University's scientific history, he wasn't a major figure. He was more like a footnote. And that came as a surprise to me. His work, I realized, hadn't stood the test of time. In the scientific community, that was how his reputation had ended up being. His passion deserves recognition, I think. But whether his work deserves the same credit by today's scientific standards, that's questionable, to be honest. I understand that he actually believed that he had found the cause of yellow fever. But it turned out that he was mistaken. That's right. Scientifically speaking, Noguchi Hideo wasn't the one who discovered the cause of yellow fever. Unfortunately, the pathogen wasn't a microbe. It was a virus. If he was still with us now, 100 years on, I wonder what kind of research he would be interested in. He always seemed to be wanting to do new research, I guess. Well, I suppose most scientists do. I think finding the cause of a disease is a big goal for a scientist. And it's a goal that Noguchi went after with everything he had. But the most important quality for a scientist is self-doubt. The ability to question yourself. But going non-stop, headlong toward your goals, can make it hard to see where you might be wrong. When it became clear that his vaccine didn't work against yellow fever, Noguchi set out for Africa to uncover the true cause against his laboratory's orders not to go. But there, before he could identify the pathogen, he himself contracted yellow fever. He died in 1928. It was just four years before the invention of the electron microscope. His final words were, I don't understand. So he goes to Africa trying to find a cure for yellow fever. And I assume he must have known it was fairly dangerous to do that. Why do you think he went all the way to Ghana? That's probably the greatest mystery about Noguchi Hideyo. Maybe he realized the pathogen he'd been pursuing wasn't the true pathogen. Maybe, in some way, he knew. But he still held on to hope. It's all speculation, of course. He kind of gives the impression of somebody who could have been a pioneer but perhaps lost his way. I think so. When you look at other fields, you'll find other versions of the tragic pioneer story. I feel like that element of tragedy seems to color the end of Noguchi's life as well. Every year on May 21st, the anniversary of Noguchi's death, a quiet memorial service is held at the house where he was born. Noguchi Hideyo remains a hero in the Japanese imagination. But behind the legend was a man whose extraordinary drive earned him acclaim but also brought him pain. Life is complicated. Despite the double handicaps of poverty and physical injury, Noguchi Hideyo managed to learn a number of different languages and passed the examination to become a doctor in record time. He really drove himself to study. What he achieved is somewhat of a moot point. In America, he's not regarded so highly because he did not achieve his ultimate goal of finding a cure for yellow fever. In South America, however, where he dedicated several years of his life to treating poor people with difficult diseases, even almost 100 years after his death, he's regarded with respect. What is success? Quite honestly, I don't know.