Asia: Doctoring the Economy

Until a few years ago the most important asset in the prefecture of Okayama, 350 miles southwest of Tokyo, was the scenery. The people, mostly small farmers and fishermen, were among the poorest in Japan. Today, Okayama reverberates with the din of industrial expansion—so much so that last week Emperor Hirohito made one of his rare trips out of Tokyo to see for himself what was going on in Okayama and to meet the man responsible, a teetotaling bachelor physician named Yukiharu Miki.

Okayama's rebirth began in 1951 when Miki, the crusading author...

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