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Western medicine slowly filtered into Japan during the Tokugawa period (1600-1858). While Japanese variants of Chinese medicine dominated Japanese medical practice, western medicine made significant inroads and penetrated Japan. John Bowers claims that Western medicine ultimately triumphed over Chinese medicine due to the perseverance of Japanese students, scholars and European physicians stationed at Deshima. This paper will examine the gradual expansion of western medicine throughout Japan and examine some of its most important practitioners and advocates.