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By the summer of 1900, as the after-effects of the Chinatown disaster began to dissipate, these same people decided to found a hospital focused on the needs of the Japanese community in Hawaii. The first edition, called Japanese Charity Hospital, opened in Kapalama in 1900. Two years later, some land in Liliha was acquired and the permanent Japanese Hospital was constructed. The picture here shows the buildings created in 1914.

For 40 years it was thoroughly Japanese. The nurses spoke no English; the employees always bowed when receiving their pay; charts and records were in katakana; the role of nurses followed the Japanese tradition of doctor's assistant rather than patient's mediator; communal baths; teahouse parties; primary fundraising activities came from Japan rather than Hawaii.

On Dec. 7, 1941, things changed. The U.S. Army moved in and created a military medical facility. Although the hospital was "Americanized" during this period, changing records to English and using Western dietary and care standards, the Army retained virtually all the staff and did little to erase the "Japanese" traditions that didn't have anything to do with health care.

In 1945, the hospital did close down a unique wing, one devoted to the health care of prostitutes that serviced American troops.

In a capital-improvement expansion in 1953, for the first time, most of the money came from American sources.

The hospital has continued to modernize and grow, and this year marks its centennial. We know it today as Kuakini Medical Center.

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