Report: Nagasaki Press Tour

Date : April 10 - 11, 2023

post date : 2023.05.02

This press tour was held to promote the appeal of Nagasaki to the world ahead of the G7 Health Ministers' Meeting in Nagasaki in May 2023. Based on the topic “Infectious Disease Research, Treatment of Radiation Exposure, and Medicine in Remote Islands—Nagasaki, the First Place Where Western Medicine Was Introduced in Japan, on the Frontlines of Global Medical Issues,” the tour visited the city of Nagasaki and Goto City on Fukue, one of the Goto Islands. A total of nine journalists joined the tour, from media organizations based out of France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Turkey, the US, and Vietnam.

*This tour was sponsored by the G7 Nagasaki Health Ministers' Meeting Promotion Council and planned and operated by the FPCJ.

*For more details on the tour stops, see the tour notice here.

[Day 1]

<Dejima (Dejima Dutch Trading Post, a National Historic Site)>

A curator with the City of Nagasaki provided an explanation of the history of Dejima as the only place in Japan open to Europe in the Edo period, and of the history of infectious diseases and Western medicine in Japan, and their connection with Nagasaki.

<Nagasaki University Institute of Tropical Medicine, National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases BSL-4 Facilities>

The tour visited the Nagasaki University Institute of Tropical Medicine and listened to a briefing about the history of Nagasaki and infectious diseases, and the institute’s contributions to the fight against infectious diseases around the world. The journalists asked questions about the results of research on SARS and COVID-19, and what hopes the briefers had for the G7 Health Ministers' Meeting. Afterwards, the tour saw the National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases’ advanced biosafety experimental facilities (BSL-4 facilities), which were completed in 2021 as a key part of infectious disease research, from the outside.

<Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum>

Museum staff guided the tour around the museum. The journalists heard about the reality of the atomic bombing, including the effects of radiation on the human body, and showed great interest in the exhibits and videos.

<Nagasaki University Atomic Bomb Disease Institute Professor Noboru Takamura>

Professor Noboru Takamura explained to the tour the effects of radiation on human health, and how medical support was provided to people in Chornobyl and Fukushima based on the experience of treating atomic bomb victims.

＜Dejima Messe Nagasaki ＞

The tour visited Dejima Messe Nagasaki, the MICE facility that will be the venue for the G7 Health Ministers' Meeting. The journalists saw the convention hall and roof of the facility, and asked questions about how much it was used, and who its main users were.

At the end of the day, the tour climbed Mount Inasa, which gives a view of the whole city of Nagasaki, and saw the night view which has been said to be one of the three most beautiful in the world.

[Day 2]

<Nagasaki University Island Medical Research Institute & Mobile Clinic Project>

The group traveled by jetfoil to Fukue in the Goto Islands early in the morning, and heard from a doctor with the Nagasaki University Island Medical Research Institute about the current state of and issues for medical care on remote islands in Nagasaki, and about remote medicine initiatives being used to solve those issues. In January 2023, Goto City began a mobile clinic project, dispatching a specialized vehicle with medical equipment to areas without clinics, and having doctors provide online consultations to patients in the vehicle. After a briefing from a Goto City official and a doctor with the Island Medical Research Institute, the tour saw a demonstration using an actual mobile clinic, and asked questions about the opinions of residents regarding online consultations, as well as how the budget and medical staff were arranged.

<Sora-Iina>

The tour visited Sora-Iina, a company using drones to deliver medicine and daily necessities within the Goto Islands. After a briefing about the business, there was a demonstration of a drone taking off and dropping a package of medicine using a parachute. The journalists seemed surprised at how quickly the drone took off, automatically dropped off its package, and then returned to base, and showed great interest when asking questions such as how much the delivery cost the end user, and whether they planned to expand their business to other remote islands and areas outside the Goto Islands.

<Goto no Tsubaki Project>

The tour visited a camellia (tsubaki) farm owned by Goto no Tsubaki Inc. where over 10,000 camellia plants are grown in four hectares, and learned about the Goto no Tsubaki Project, with the goal of using the camellia which grow natively in the Goto Islands to stimulate the local economy by making skincare and food products. The journalists listened intently to the story of how the yeast used in making cosmetics and food products was discovered from the flowers of the camellia native to the Goto Islands, and to a young camellia farm manager who returned home to the Goto Islands from Osaka.