Japan suffered from a smallpox epidemic in 1907-08, a bit too late to have hit Sugimoto's parents, but the disease had persisted in Japan since around 735 when it was brought to Japan's shores from Korea. During the Edo period the Shogunate opposed the introduction of vaccination as part of its anti-Western policies. (I recommend the excellent anime Hidamari no Ki by Osamu Tezuka about his grandfather and great-grandfather who tried to introduce "Dutch" medicine.)
An
article in the 1910 New York Times compares the epidemic in Japan to one that hit the US that year. It shows the death rate in the US was much lower because of more widespread vaccination.
Tuberculosis has apparently plagued Japan for centuries.
"Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that caused a public health crisis in Japan from the Meiji Period until the mid-forties. It was the number one cause of death in Japan until 1950, killing more than 100,000 people every year."
Japan's response to an uptick in tuberculosis cases in the late 19th century was feeble at best. A 1910 review reports, "The anti-tuberculosis movement in Japan is still in its infancy." (
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...66085010800766)
Perhaps not too surprising for a country whose popular media claim that if you get cold or wet you will nearly always be infected with a viral cold.