is a

national university A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...

of Japan. Its nickname is ''Chōdai'' (). The main campus is located in Bunkyo-machi,

Nagasaki City is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...

, Japan.

History

Nagasaki 1945 - Before and after (adjusted)

Nagasaki University was established in 1949 by incorporating several national institutions, namely, Nagasaki Medical College (including College Hospital and College of Pharmaceutical Sciences), Nagasaki College of Economics, Nagasaki Normal School, Nagasaki Youth Normal School and Nagasaki High School. The new main campus (Bunkyo Campus) was formerly a plant site of Mitsubishi Arms Factory (Ohashi Plant).

Nagasaki Medical College

The oldest of the predecessors was Nagasaki Medical College. It was founded in November 1857 as by the branch office of

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. The first professor was

J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort Johannes Lijdius Catharinus Pompe van Meerdervoort (5 May 1829, Bruges – 7 October 1908, Brussels) was a Dutch physician based at Nagasaki, in Bakumatsu period Japan. While in Japan, he briefly taught medicine, chemistry and photography at ...

, and the institute was one of the first western-style (not ''

Kampō , often known simply as , is the study of traditional Chinese medicine in Japan following its introduction, beginning in the 7th century. It was adapted and modified to suit Japanese culture and traditions. Traditional Japanese medicine use ...

'') medical schools in Japan. In 1861 the hospital was founded, and after

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

the school became a public (prefectural, later national) medical school. It was developed into in 1901, then into in 1923. After Japan participated in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, the medical college added several institutes for the war, such as Temporary College of Medicine (1940) and East Asia Research Institute of Endemics (1942, Institute of Tropical Medicine today). On August 9, 1945 the college was heavily damaged by the atomic bomb, because it was located only 500 to 700 meters away from the

hypocenter In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy s ...

. Over 800 professors, students and medical workers were killed. The college was moved to

Omura Omura (小村) or Ōmura (大村) are Japanese surnames, but may also refer to: * Ōmura, Nagasaki, a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan * Omura's whale (''Balaenoptera omurai''), a species of rorqual about which very little is known People ...

in September 1945, and then to

Isahaya is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on September 1, 1940. As of November 1, 2022, the city has an estimated population of 132,385 and a population density of 389 persons per km². The total area is . On March 1 ...

in 1946. The old campus (Sakamoto Campus) was restored later in 1950, after the college was integrated into Nagasaki University.

Institute of Tropical Medicine

The Institute of Tropical Medicine (長崎大学熱帯医学研究所], NEKKEN or NUITM) was originally founded under Nagasaki Medical College to perform basic and applied studies on endemic diseases in East Asia. In 1949, the institute merged with other facilities to form Nagasaki University under the new ruling of the National School Establishment Law. Since 1946, researchers at NUITM have conducted fundamental and applied studies on tropical medicine, tropical and emerging diseases. This includes infectious disease epidemiology studies and vaccine and therapeutics development against infectious diseases. Researchers at NUITM have established several international research partnerships, including in Vietnam the Philippines, and Kenya, to study emerging and re-emerging diseases. The institute has research stations in Vietnam and Kenya, and of note, the field research conducted in Kenya has inspired a popular song, novel, and charity foundation, and has been featured in a film, ''

The Lion Standing in the Wind is a 2015 Japanese drama film directed by Takashi Miike. It was released on March 14, 2015. It is based on the true story of a Japanese doctor working in Africa using information from letters sent home to the girl he left behind in Japan. The let ...

''. As one of the world's leading institutes for training and research in tropical medicine and health care, it is stipulated as a Joint Usage/ Research Center under the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...

(MEXT) to spear-head academic research, and is a member of the Japan Infectious Disease Research Consortium that includes

Institute of Medical Science (Japan) The Institute of Medical Science (Tokyo-daigaku Ikagaku Kenkyujyo 東京大学医科学研究所) is an ancillary establishment of Tokyo University. It succeeded established in 1892 and is the foremost institute for medical and bioscience rese ...

Osaka University , abbreviated as , is a public research university located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is one of Japan's former Imperial Universities and a Designated National University listed as a "Top Type" university in the Top Global University Project. ...

and

Hokkaido University , or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...

. With over one hundred graduate students enrolled, NUITM carries out an extensive capacity strengthening program in counterpart countries, and collaborates with a large network of institutions in Africa, South America, and Asia through MEXT,

Japan International Cooperation Agency The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...

(JICA),

Official Development Assistance (Japan) The is an arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan). The goal of the office is to help developing nations with supplies, civil engineering and other assistance. The ODA was started in 1954 after Japan signed the Colombo Plan, which pledges to ...

(ODA),

Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED; ja, 日本医療研究開発機構), created in April 2015, is an independent Japanese medical research and development organization, overseen by the Office of Healthcare Policy of Cab ...

(AMED) and the

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...

. The institute acts as a

Collaborating Center for Research and Reference of Tropical and Emerging Viral Diseases and as the WHO's reference laboratories, providing confirmatory testing for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the institute led the International Infectious Disease Consortium against COVID-19 (grant-in-aid emergency fund), an international research collaboration to develop countermeasures against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Researchers at NUITM, in collaboration with local public health institutes, initiated efforts in diagnosing SARS-CoV-2, including developing new diagnostic tools. Technology transfer and collaboration with Southeast Asian counterparts has shed light on how the disease spread in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Nagasaki College of Economics

Another notable predecessor was Nagasaki College of Economics. It was founded in March 1905 as . It was the fourth national commercial college in Japan, after

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

(1887),

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

(1902) and Yamaguchi (February 1905), and aimed at educating students so that they could engage in business with China, Korea and Southeast Asia. In 1917 it added the Advanced Course for Trade (one-year course), and the building for the course was built in 1919 (Keirin Hall today). In 1944 it was renamed . On August 9, 1945 although Nagasaki underwent the atomic bombing, the college buildings were protected by Mt. Kompira. Its campus (Katafuchi Campus) has been used by the Faculty of Economics, Nagasaki University.

Undergraduate schools

;Bunkyo Campus * School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences * Faculty of Education * Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences * Faculty of Engineering * Faculty of Environmental Studies * Faculty of Fisheries ;Sakamoto Campus * School of Medicine * School of Dentistry ;Katafuchi Campus * Faculty of Economics

Graduate schools

* Graduate School of Education (Master's courses only) * Graduate School of Economics * Graduate School of Science and Technology * Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences * Graduate School of International Health Development (Master's courses only) * Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences

Research institutes

* Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Collaboration and MoU with foreign universities and institutes

Islamic University, Bangladesh Islamic University, Bangladesh ( bn, ইসলামী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, বাংলাদেশ, ar, الجامعة الإسلامية بنغلاديش), commonly referred to as Islamic University, Kushtia shortly IU, ...

(MoU)

Controversy

In April 2019, Nagasaki University came under fire for banning smokers from their campus. This would prevent teachers from getting hired. Many smokers and non-smokers felt that the measure was discriminatory against smokers and their personal lives. Many also argued that smoking is not relevant to their employment. Several people have filed lawsuits against the university for discrimination. However, no lawsuit has been currently settled.

Notable alumni

Takashi Nagai was a Japanese Catholic physician specializing in radiology, an author, and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. His subsequent life of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title " saint of Urakami". Early years Takashi (m ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

specializing in

radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

, an A-bomb victim. *

Osamu Shimomura was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, and Professor Emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University School of Medicine. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the ...

, organic

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and marine

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

, awarded the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

in 2008 for his discovery and development of

green fluorescent protein The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a protein that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to light in the blue to ultraviolet range. The label ''GFP'' traditionally refers to the protein first isolated from the jellyfish ''Aequorea ...

with two American chemists.

References

External links

Nagasaki University
{{Authority control Japanese national universities Buildings and structures in Nagasaki Universities and colleges in Nagasaki Prefecture Medical research institutes in Japan Tropical medicine organizations Virology institutes 1942 establishments in Japan