Great Construction

Philopon Addiction

     The stimulant named philopon has recently gained notoriety, and all know that its destiny was to be banned. There could be no other conclusion as it is a terrifying fact that to an alarming degree philopon has invaded the world of adolescents. Therefore, not only is suppression the most logical measure, in this case rather, the government was rather late in taking action.
     An important point concerning philopon addiction and its ban that presently people do not perceive is the problem of the addiction of members of the general public to pharmaceuticals as a whole of which we continually warn. Whether it be digestive medicines, miracle drugs for tuberculosis or pneumonia, or cold medicines, all medicines, without exception, cause addiction. Because the medicines used in daily life do not result in rapid addiction as does philopon, people do not perceive what is occurring. I will illustrate by some examples. Those such as habitual users of digestive medicines suffer from acute indigestion, constipated individuals cannot have stools unless they use laxatives, people who tend to suffer from feverish symptoms continually ingest antipyretics, and users of cocaine in various forms are all drug addicts. The above illustrates how the majority of people today are afflicted by drug addiction which leads in turn to nervous breakdown, weak constitution, tuberculosis, shortened lifespan, and many other conditions, truly terrifying.
     The basis for the salvation of humanity is bringing awareness to the general public of the peril of pharmaceuticals and drugs. There is probably no better welcome news for world salvation. The following article should be of reference. “Cause of the tragedy of popular stars,” Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shinbun dated November 6, 1949. “Profiles of Philopon Addicts. The performer Miss Wakana [Sugiko Kawamoto] died due to philopon. The comedian King Nagata [Yoshio Nagata] fell ill backstage at the Nichigeki Theatre, the storyteller and radio writer Isoji Sekiya blundered horribly on a radio program, the singer Akira Matsudaira ruined his voice. It is said the film director and writer Masahiro Makino, even though ruled by love for his wife, the actress Yuriko Todoroki, separated from her for a while as the result of a quarrel due to philopon. Then, there is the singer Noboru Kirijima and his wife, the singer Misao Matsubara who were heavy philopon users and tried very hard to stop. The actor Katsuhiko Haida also realized the dangers of philopon and was able to stop with the use of vitamin and hormone therapy injections. The extent of the problem is tremendous as addicts include many other entertainers such as the writer Hideo Oguni; the film director Fumio Kamei; the actors Jun Fujio, Mutsuko Sakura, and Kyu Sazanka; the singers Toshiro Omi and Minoru Obata; the comedic storytellers Kinba and Akashi San’yutei; the vocal impressionist Kasei Kinoshita; the historical storyteller Saiteizan Ichiryu; the dancer Yo Araki; the NHK announcer Nobukata Wada; the writers Ango Sakaguchi and Kazuo Kikuta; and many band musicians and strippers.”

Hikari, Issue 36, page 1, November 19, 1949
translated by cynndd

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“Hiropon Chūdoku” was one of three of Meishu-sama’s essays that was published on the front page of Hikari, Issue 36, November 19, 1949. Although no translations are known to exist, this essay was reprinted in the anthology Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū (Collected Essays on Medical Science), page 114, that did enjoy a limited circulation. Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū contains no publication data, but internal evidence suggests that its editing stopped several months preceding Meishu-sama’s death. Furthermore, since the book lacks publication data, whether the volume had Meishu-sama’s imprimatur or not is unknown, so details concerning this volume are probably impossible to research.