Death Investigation System in Japan

, Eui U Park; , Eui U Park

Original article

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 1992;16(2):68-71.

Department of Pathology Konkuk Universit y College of Medicine Chungju, Korea

Abstract

According to recent developments and strong public interest on the issues of organ transplantation and brain death, undoubtedly a more expansive role of the death investiga- tion system in Korea is necessary. This article is concerned with the medicolegal inves- tigative system in Japan for the purpose of development in our country. The medicolegal system in Japan was taken from China and Korea. In the late 19th century, Japan adopted knowledge of medical and scientific investigation from the western world. In Japan, Katayama established the department of judicial medicine within the College of Medicine at Tokyo University in 1888. Thereafter, the term “judicial medicine” was renamed “legal(or forensic) medicine”. All medical schools presently have a department of forensic medicine mainly performing judicial medicolegal inspections and/ or autopsies. Meanwhile, the medical examiner system was adopted under the influence of the United States after the second World War. Cities having a medical examiner's office are Tok5 o, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe. Along with police officials, the medical examiner' s offices per"erm administrative medicolegal investigations and autopsies. The Japanese police department conducted the investigations of over 68,000 cases in 1989. About 9,100 autopsies were conducted.