In 1963, the first report on hyperbaric oxygenation in Japan was published by Furuta et al. at the University of Tokyo. In 1964, Wada et al. at Sapporo Medical College described their experimental study on hyperbaric oxygen therapy. These were the pioneering groups on hyperbaric oxygenation in Japan.
During the first several years up to 1969, the passionate enthusiasm for hyperbaric oxygenation spread widely in the all fields of clinical medicine. But two miserable fire accidents in 1967 and 1969 cooled down and allayed the stormy boom of hyperbaric oxygenation therapy in Japan. Many doctors misunderstood that hyperbaric oxygen drenching was dangerous, lost their ardor, and stopped to continue their investigative and clinical works.
Although the Japanese Society for Hyperbaric Medicine（JSHM） established the Safety Standards for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in 1969 and did its best to prevent following serious accidents, it was very difficult or almost impossible to rouse once-lost passion up again.
After several years of catastrophic situation, in 1971, Suzuki et al. at Iwate Medical College reported a successful result in their clinical trial of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for SMON（Subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy）. This disease was identified as chinoform intoxication later, but at that time the ethiology or therapeutic method of SMON had been unknown and considered as a kind of refractory diseases. Therefore, their report promoted again the recognition of the usefulness and safety of this therapy and was the first step to salvage this therapy from the desperate circumstances. Thereafter, many new indications such as acute retinal arterial obstruction and sudden deafness have been developed in Japan, and today, hyperbaric oxygen therapy firmed its position as one of the most effective treatments in therapeutic medicine.
Many efforts have also been done to develop and improve the design of hyperbaric chambers. Remarkable progresses have been accomplished and many beautiful chambers have been constructed in Japan.
In this paper, the history of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Japan will be summarized and also some future prospects will be discussed.

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