HATTA YOICHI’S SOUTH SEAS SURVEY

Abstract

 Hatta Yoichi has conducted a survey on hygiene in South Seas countries for about two months from April to June in 1916 during World War I. He participated in an investigation team formed in response to the development of new sea routes in South Seas and traveled with about 60 participants including governors of Taiwan, professors, members of the parliament, journalists and businessmen. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the actual situation of the South Seas survey and thereby contribute to a fuller picture of Hatta Yoichi, an exceptional engineer. Although his activities as a member of the team were greatly restricted, Hatta worked on the on-site survey and prepared a report on the local water supply, sewerage systems and the sanitary conditions in the cities. In this paper, we tried to clarify the actual situation of South Seas survey, and to analyze what young Hatta observed and experienced in South Seas according to Hatta's survey report.