2021 Volume 18 Pages 125-140
This paper discusses the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Osaka between the 1870s and the 1910s through analysis of the activities of medicine dealers in Doshomachi. Innovative entrepreneurs took key roles in advancing the industry, the reason this area was chosen as the location of this research. Pharmaceuticals are a typical research and development-based industry. In Japan’s case, the foundations of the industry were laid in the Meiji and Taisho era (1868–1925). The Government adopted Western medicine as the basis of the health system and pursued measures to disseminate medical science. The required drugs were expensive and had to be imported from the West, resulting in unstable supply. Medicine dealers in Osaka adapted to the new system. A few dealers started to import Western medicines and grew their companies into pharmaceutical manufacturers. Their activities included founding educational institutions and cooperative companies. Later, World War I disrupted imports of medicine from Germany, plunging the market into chaos. The Government imposed export bans and subsidized the domestic pharmaceutical industry. These actions were influenced by medicine dealers in Osaka. This paper reveals their contributions through analysis principally of corporate histories and industry publications.
