Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company and Korea in the early half of the 20th century

Hajime Hoshi, the founder of Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company and Hoshi University, was called "the medicine manufacturing king of Asia." He played active parts in the world including the USA, Europe, Asia and South America. In the present study, we investigated the footprint of brisk activities of Hajime Hoshi and Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company in terms of relevance to Korea in the early half of the 20th century, and considered their historical implications. He built a large pharmacy store chain network throughout the Korean Peninsula, appealing to customers with a family-like intimateness and providing good drugs to Korean people. His activities took the initiative at a time far earlier than other Japanese drug companies. Furthermore, Hoshi Pharmaceutical School in Japan, which was founded by him, educated a number of Korean-based pharmacy store owners and their children. After graduating and going back to Korea, they played a key role in the Hoshi chain-store network. It was at the time of Japan's annexation of Korea, but Hoshi's work can be called pioneering activities that will always be remembered in the Korean history of pharmacy.