Kakuzou Watanabe (渡辺　覚造 1891–1972)

Founder of the Welfare Hospital (predecessor of the National Hospital of Mito)

Kakuzou Watanabe

The Welfare Hospital in Mito at the time of its founding

Suffering from tuberculosis in the midst of highschool entrance exams, Watanabe temporarily gave up school, only to return with the determination of becoming one day a doctor himself, making use of his own experience in the process. He opened the Welfare Hospital in Mito in 1929, later to become the National Hospital of Mito, and also invested his greatest efforts from 1936 in the long-ambitioned treatment of tuberculosis, which was at the time considered as an incurable disease, at the Onuki Beach Hospital in Oarai, a sanitorium aimed at individuals with tuberculosis. Morever, he served as a member of the House of Lords as well as Mayor of Mito during the very distressed times of war, before being appointed as a consultant for the Japan Atomic Energy Forum and founding the Ibaraki Atomic Energy Development Council for which he acted as the Chairman. He greatly contributed in making a peaceful use of atomic energy in Ibaraki, which was at the time the unique prefecture throughout all Japan to be equipped with atomic energy. Then, in 1961, he exerted a strong influence in the Ibarakian world of politics and finance, by occupying for example the function of Chairman of the Board of Economy and Commerce of Ibaraki.

Japanese version of this article available here.