<Begin Segment 51>

AI: Well, over the many years that you practiced, you must have seen quite a few of the new improvements in medical technology and changes in the way that different --

RI: Oh, definitely, yes. Well, even, even heart surgery is, boy, it's not new anymore, is it? But you know, when it first started it was like, oh, if you're over seventy, you wouldn't ever think about heart surgery. But nowadays, even on eighty-year-olds they're doing heart surgery. Oh, lots of new techniques, well, kidney dialysis started, all kinds of things.

AI: Are there any changes, medical, in medicine, advancements in medicine that you think really stood out as making a big impact on people, on your patients?

RI: Well, maybe the acceptance of acupuncture and all this alternative medicine kind of thing and you know, I'm not snubbing my nose at them, either. People who believe in those things, maybe they do derive some benefit, so I'm tolerant. Not that I definitely believe in it, but then, maybe acupuncture actually works, but early on, we thought that was terrible. And you know, the Issei people did this, did yaito, you know, they put something on their skin and put a match to it and burned it. In English it's called something like moxibuction, or something like that. But if they think it helps, it's alright with me. You know, maybe it's in the mind, too. So, I'm not opposed to a lot of things like that. I'm not definitely saying, "My way of medicine is the best way," because things are changing all the time.

<End Segment 51> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.