Kirk here an update on Dr. HASUDA Takeshi’s efforts to prevent infant abandonment and some genealogical information about him. First, the news:

Japanese government stays silent on legality of confidential births https://www.japantimes.co.jp/.../kumamoto-confidential.../

As there is a risk that Dr. Hasuda might be held legally responsible for not following current Japanese law regarding the registry of births, he submitted an inquiry to the Ministry of Justice about “whether submitting a birth notification without the mother’s name would violate the Penal Code.” But, the government refused to give a clear answer. In effect, they said “we might arrest you or we might not. Have a nice day!” The Kumamoto city government is supporting Dr. Hasuda, but I don’t know how much that will help if the government decides to charge him with a crime. I guess this is the kind of thing people have in mind when they say “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Now, here’s some genealogy that I think is pretty darn interesting. I was prompted to look into Dr. Hasuda’s family background because Anett mentioned that there are lots of Babyklappe (baby hatches) in Germany but only this one in Japan. I was able to confirm that Dr. Hasuda’s father, Dr. HASUDA Taiji, visited various Babyklappe in Germany in 2003, long before beginning his baby hatch here in Kumamoto in 2007:

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/蓮田太二

And then, somehow (I’m not really sure how myself), I stumbled upon the Wikipedia page of Dr. HASUDA Taiji’s father (the grandfather of the current head of the hospital), HASUDA Zenmei. During his time, Grandpa Zenmei was even more well known than his progeny and was a quite a character, it seems. Here are some highlights:

  • his father owned a sword that once belonged to KATO Kiyomasa
  • was a big fan of the Shinpu rebellion that occurred in Kumamoto (modern right-wing nuts tend to idolize participants in this radical uprising)
  • wrote a ton of books (amazingly prolific)
  • was one of the first to recognize the literary talent of a young MISHIMA Yukio
  • killed his commander when he attempted to surrender at the end of WWII and then committed suicide

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/蓮田善明#家族・親族 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasuda_Zenmei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinpūren_rebellion

One thing I see that Grandpa Zenmei had in common with his son Taiji was the courage of his convictions. Zenmei took decisive, if ill-conceived, action against his commander and Taiji was willing to stand alone to do what he felt needed to be done. But, despite that common thread, it’s the differences that surprised me and prompted me to put this post together.

I wish I had a little pot of gold for those of you who have read this far. I know from experience that long posts such as this one don’t get many eyeballs but I couldn’t resist sharing what I learned today. Thanks for reading!