Yuwa Clinic

We provide integrated Oriental and Western medicine.

We provide optimal integrative medicine from the patient's point of view.

Since about 40 years ago, in the late 1980s, medical treatment around the world has undergone major changes. Doctors who felt the limitations of Western medicine turned their attention to Oriental medicine, which eventually developed into integrative medicine that utilizes the best of both medicines.　This has been a major change in Japan, the EU (Germany, France, UK, etc.) and the USA. Oriental medicine mainly refers to food, massage, herbal medicine, acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment, which originated in India and China. This section focuses on acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Western medicine refers to modern/contemporary medicine, which developed in the late 19th century in combination with natural science. Based on anatomy, Western medicine developed as empirical medicine.

Western medicine became mainstream in the treatment of infectious diseases with Koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus in 1882, the cholera bacillus in 1884 and Ehrlich's discovery of chemotherapy (Salvarsan) in 1910. This was because infectious disease epidemics were taking a heavy toll on humanity and overcoming them was a major challenge. The pillars of Western medicine are chemotherapy and vaccination against infectious diseases. The start of Western medicine in our country also saw the development of the vaccination treatment center at the end of the Edo period into the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tokyo. That and the surgical process that began in Roman times are the pillars of Western medicine.

Western medicine has specialized in the prevention and treatment of acute infectious diseases and trauma surgery. Western medicine is mainly strong in acute diseases and has great strength in emergency medicine. However, Western medicine is not good at treating chronic diseases such as chronic hepatitis, chronic nephritis, emphysema, chronic pancreatitis, chronic cholecystitis, diabetes, spinal canal stenosis, postherpetic neuralgia, depression, panic disorder, learning disabilities, insomnia, chemical sensitivity and new corona-related sequelae, and even Western countries have had trouble treating chronic diseases.

Oriental medicine, on the other hand, sees the body and mind as one, and illness is caused by an imbalance between the two, and the method is to cure illness by adjusting them. It is not good at treating acute, emergency or surgical diseases, but it is excellent at treating chronic diseases. Oriental medicine first came under review in 1971, when I was in my fourth year of medical school, following a television broadcast of acupuncture anesthesia in China. The image of a woman greeting "Ni hao" while remaining conscious during a craniotomy shocked doctors around the world, giving birth to integrative medicine, which subsequently led to a re-evaluation of acupuncture, which had been ignored until then.

When I was a medical student, I learnt acupuncture and Chinese medicine from my seniors, Dr Matsuyama and Dr Hirose. There was a major trend among young doctors at the time to find a way forward in acupuncture and Chinese medicine, as they were fed up with the fact that chronic patients could not be cured by conventional Western medicine. This was triggered by Chinese acupuncture anesthesia.

In the USA, acupuncture anesthesia led to the establishment of acupuncture schools and an era in which doctors learned acupuncture. Today, in Japan, Chinese medicine has been introduced into medical school courses and Chinese medicine professors are being created at universities. Acupuncture is also used in outpatient clinics at more than 21 medical schools, including the University of Tokyo and Keio University School of Medicine.

Changes that would have been unthinkable when I was in medical school have occurred in the world of medicine over the past 40 years. Today, we are truly in the era of 'integrative medicine'. The Yuwa Clinic offers state-of-the-art 'integrative medicine' to everyone.

This diagram shows the flow of the medical examination for first-time visitors. We are here to help patients to

1. the greatest emphasis is placed on finding out the cause of the disease and providing treatment and countermeasures against the cause. Therefore, we use a medical questionnaire and spend sufficient time on interviewing the patient by our staff and doctors.
2. the examination consists mainly of Western medical tests (e.g. echography, electromyography, etc.).
3. for treatment, the patient is offered a choice of the most suitable treatment between Oriental medicine (e.g. meridian diagnosis and Chinese medicine and new meridian treatment, diet and guidance on ergonomic measures) and Western medicine (e.g. physical therapy, exercise guidance, Western medicines and orthotic prescriptions).