Dr.
Ueno Masahiko is sort of the "Dr. Quincy" of Japan. One of only a
slim handful of doctors in Japan who have made forensic medicine their specialty
ever since their days at medical school, Dr. Ueno served for three decades with
the medical examiner's office in Tokyo, the last several years spent as Chief
Coroner. Now in retirement, he remains active in education, and with authoring
books on the role of forensic medicine and the coroner in society.Through these books, written for the layman, Dr. Ueno explains the current medical examiner system in Japan and attempts to build awareness of the need to standardize the hodge-podge of local practices which is the status quo.
The most striking aspect of Dr. Ueno has to be the attitude of utmost respect for the humanity and human rights of the "patients" under his care. The nature of the material requires a certain amount of blood and gore, but the vicarious thrill seeker will come away disappointed if that was what he sought in Dr. Ueno's books. The doctor's sense of humanity and his public-spirited devotion to bettering society through his profession are the predominant themes, and far outweigh any gore one may find in his books.