Troy Tashiro Kaji
Troy Kaji, M.D. earned his medical degree from University of California, Davis in 1986. While at Davis, Troy began his personal research on Japanese American physicians and hospitals, in an ongoing quest to understand his heritage from his physician-grandfather, Kikuo Tashiro. He currently works as a Family Medicine physician in a public safety net facility, Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, at their Richmond Health Center site.
Updated June 2010
Stories from This Author
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 7
July 23, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
Read Part 6 >>THE DEBATE OVER CITY VIEWOn August 17, 1984, the Los Angeles Times ran a story on City View Hospital entitled “Financial III Health Plagues an Ethnic Hospital.” For many of the Nikkei who read this article, this was the first sign they had received that the hospital was in crisis. The news was unexpected and immediately raised questions in the minds of many. After all, the community had contributed generously to the hospital each year, how then …
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 6
July 16, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
Read Part 5 >> CITY VIEW HOSPITAL INITIATIVESThe hospital administration was aware of the dispersal of the community, of its aging staff, and of its decreased name recognition. It did try to recruit younger physicians onto its staff and attempted various other approaches towards building up its clientele. It could do little to change the dispersal of the community, but perhaps it could redefine its mission within the community in ways that would ensure its survival in coming years. The …
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 5
July 9, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
Read Part 4 >>TRUSTEESHIP OF THE JAPANESE HOSPITAL AND INTERNMENTWith the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan, the Japanese-American community was subjected to increasing pressure to evacuate the West Coast. The trustees sought a way to maintain the hospital should the evacuation take place.1 Fortunately, the Japanese Hospital enjoyed a friendly relationship with a neighboring hospital, White Memorial Hospital, which was affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The director of White Memorial, Hatsuji Hara, M.D., was …
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 4
July 2, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
Read Part 3 >>THE ORIGINS OF JAPANESE HOSPITALS IN LOS ANGELESThe Japanese community in Los Angeles grew gradually, its growing size reflected in a gradual growth in numbers of physicians. Drs. Ikeuchi Kiyomatsu and Watahiki Tomomitsu both moved from San Francisco, with its older and more established Japanese community, to Los Angeles in 1901.1 By 1905, two more Japanese physicians arrived. In June of the next year, four of the pioneer physicians formed the Association of Japanese Physicians in Los …
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 3
June 25, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
Read Part 2 >>ETHNIC HOSPITALS IN THE UNITED STATESMany immigrant populations in the United States formed their own institutions. Perhaps these institutions helped to ease the impact of the new world, providing help via a shared language and culture. “La Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance Mutuelle de San Francisco, a benevolent society composed of French immigrants, established a mutual-aid hospital in 1851.”1 French hospitals also persist in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California. During the 1890’s in Florida, Spanish and …
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 2
June 18, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
Read Part 1 >>MEDICAL LICENSURE OF THE JAPANESE PHYSICIANSTypically, to obtain a license to practice medicine in California required the applicant to show proof of prior schooling, attestations of good moral character from other physicians, and the passage of an exam given by the State medical board in English. The case of Isami Sekiyama, MD, illustrates the process.1 He applied to take the State Board of Medical Examiners exam in two successive years. After finishing a year of post-graduate medical …
City View Hospital and the Japanese Hospitals of California - Part 1
June 11, 2010 • Troy Tashiro Kaji
INTRODUCTIONIn the waning days of July, 1985, City View Hospital was transferring its last few patients to St. Vincent’s Medical Center across town. The administrator and the board decided to close the hospital after many months of financial losses, seeking to conserve the remaining assets. They attributed City View’s demise as a result of DRG’s (Diagnosis Related Groups) and the economic hardship which DRG’s created. No doubt this scene occurred often across the nation in the wake of the first …
