Taiwan Governor-General Central Research Institute, Hygiene Department

The Taiwan Governor-General's Central Research Institute (臺灣總督府中央研究所) was established in April 1909 as the Taiwan Governor-General's Research Institute (臺灣總督府研究所), with Takagi Tomoe (高木友枝) as its first director. The original institute comprised two departments: Chemistry and Hygiene. The Hygiene Department was tasked with researching microorganisms, animal and plant pathology, and the production of serums, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals.

In 1921, during a major administrative reorganization, the institute was restructured into the Central Research Institute with four departments — Agriculture, Forestry, Industry, and Hygiene — and a General Affairs section. The Hygiene Department expanded its mission to address the full spectrum of tropical diseases afflicting Taiwan, with particular focus on malaria — which remained endemic across much of the island — as well as plague, cholera, and dengue fever. Branch facilities for drug testing were established in Taichung and Tainan, and a medicinal plant experimental station operated in Taitung.

The institute's researchers made significant contributions to tropical medicine. Pioneering studies on malaria mosquito species, their ecology, and distribution patterns laid the groundwork for systematic disease control programs. In 1929, the Central Research Institute established a dedicated Malaria Treatment Experimental Station. The Hygiene Department's vaccine production capabilities proved essential for maintaining public health across the colony, supporting both the civilian population and Japanese military forces stationed in Taiwan and deployed throughout Southeast Asia.

In 1939, the Central Research Institute was dissolved and its departments reorganized into independent institutions. The Hygiene Department became the Institute of Tropical Medicine (熱帶醫學研究所), which was placed under Taihoku Imperial University. During WWII, these research capabilities were critical for combating tropical diseases that posed severe threats to Japanese military operations in the Pacific theater.

The original Central Research Institute building, an impressive French Renaissance-style structure built in 1907–1909 to a design by Onogi Takaharu (小野木孝治), was located at Sachimachi (幸町) 1-chōme in Taipei, at what is now 5 Zhongshan South Road. The building suffered damage during wartime air raids. In 1971, the front portion was demolished to construct the Ministry of Education building, and in 1996, the rear section was removed for the Central Joint Administrative Building. No original structures remain at the site today.