Completion of Shinanomachi Building 1

Image: Completion of the L-shaped Building 1 (April 1965). The first floor is a parking lot where red and white ceremonial curtains can be seen. The 3rd to 5th floors were hospital ward floors; the 3rd and 4th floors housed semi-second-class and second-class rooms, while the 5th floor housed first-class and special private rooms. Nameplates of benefactors who supported the construction costs were placed on the ward floors.

In the spring of 1964, moving from the Pre-medical Course in Hiyoshi to the specialized medical course in Shinanomachi, there was a massive Keio Hospital under construction. Seeing this, I felt for the first time the reality of becoming a "medical student." During the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics in the fall of 1964, I remember watching from the Department of Anatomy behind the hospital as Self-Defense Force aircraft drew the Olympic rings in the sky above the nearly completed Building 1.

The opening of Building 1 in April of the following year was a major event, and medical students starting their clinical clerkships at Keio Hospital were full of curiosity. Keio Hospital was said to have the highest number of first-time patients, and an extremely functional reception area for the time appeared on the first floor of the three-story building at the front. The escalator that moved patients who had finished registration to the examination rooms on the second floor also became a topic of conversation. A hospital with an escalator in the outpatient department was rare at that time.

The five-story Building 1 was also a state-of-the-art ward at the time. The 3rd to 5th floors were patient rooms, and it became a sensation for being an "all-private room" ward, which was unusual for that era. In particular, many celebrities, including Yujiro Ishihara, were hospitalized in the 5th-floor ward on the top floor.

In 2007, then-Prime Minister Abe was urgently hospitalized. Inside the Prime Minister's room, in addition to the treatment room, there were multiple rooms including one for meetings of several people, as well as an attached bathroom and kitchen; the Prime Minister continued his official duties in the hospital room during his stay. Ten days after admission, he held a press conference to announce his intention to resign. Until Prime Minister Fukuda was subsequently elected, the 5th floor of Building 1 fulfilled part of the functions of the Cabinet Secretariat. At the time, I was handling the Prime Minister's hospitalization as the Hospital Director, and I am proud that the group of private rooms on the 5th floor of Building 1, which was over 40 years old since construction, was able to temporarily carry out part of the central functions of the government.

Keio Hospital is also the university hospital closest to a JR station. Crossing the signal after exiting the Shinanomachi Station ticket gate leads to the hospital's main gate, and many patients commute by train. Despite this, parking space was provided on the first floor, and a vast parking space remains in front of the entrance to this day. Building 1 will be demolished this summer and will no longer be seen, but we must not forget Building 1, which has carried the central functions of Keio Hospital for over half a century.

(Professor Emeritus of Keio University, Former University Hospital Director, Naoki Aikawa)