The Changing Face of Shinanomachi: The Late 1980s

2019/11/27

Image: Student Hall on the left, the newly completed Junior College of Nursing building on the right. The Food and Nutrition Research Institute is in the background.

The School of Medicine, located on the Shinanomachi Campus, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017. The following year, the new hospital building (Building 1), a pillar of the commemorative project, opened, significantly changing the overall appearance of the campus. Prior to the opening of this new hospital building (Building 1), there were other developments such as the construction of the Koyosha building for the Junior College of Nursing (1988) and the construction of the Center for Integrated Medical Research (2001) since the late 1980s. However, what visitors to Shinanomachi likely noticed most was the change in the landscape of the main street where the main gate of the School of Medicine and Hospital is located.

Along the main street (Gaien-higashi-dori Avenue) leading to the main gate of the School of Medicine and Hospital in Shinanomachi, there stood the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, established in 1926 through the generosity of business leaders for research into nutritional improvement, dietary therapy, and vitamins; the Student Hall (formerly Sanshikai Hall) built in the same year; and the Nurses' Dormitory constructed in 1922.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute escaped the destruction of World War II, and the light of university research was kept alive here. In the School of Medicine, which lacked research facilities, even this aging building was used for the central laboratory and research rooms for internal medicine departments. However, the deterioration became increasingly severe, and it closed its doors in 1990. The site was leased to Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company and is now named Shinanomachi Rengakan, utilized by many companies. Regarding Keio-related entities, the International Medical Library and Information Center, where former Vice-President Yoshiaki Toyama currently serves as Chairman, operates here. The Center for Integrated Medical Research was established in the center of the Shinanomachi Campus using the revenue from leasing the site of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute and support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Academic Frontier" Project.

Since the South Dormitory had been built in 1953 and the Central Dormitory in 1954 within the campus, the Nurses' Dormitory (East Dormitory) was demolished along with the Food and Nutrition Research Institute during the same period (December 1988). Additionally, the Student Hall, a place of relaxation for medical students located between the Nurses' Dormitory and the East Gate, was also demolished, leading to the construction of the Rengakan on the site of these three buildings as it stands today.