MARCH 25, 2011 ISHINOMAKI TOHOKU AREA, JAPAN
Ganbare. ("hang tough" in Japanese)
The Lion Standing in the Wind
24 YEARS BEFORE THE 2011 TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE
Doctor. Please lend a hand.
Be right there.
- Finish up for me. - Got it.
NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, KENYA - Finish up for me. - Got it.
NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, KENYA
NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, KENYA Hey, Yamazaki.
NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, KENYA
Take blood and confirm.
A ring form.
Tertian malaria.
If it develops into cerebral malaria, she'll lose her life.
Check the quinine supply.
Chief, we can't accept more locals.
Our research won't make head way.
I know that.
Two new staff arrive from Nagasaki next week.
A hot female doctor like a flamingo!
Seriously?
Doctor Murakami?
I'm the clueless new guy. Aoki
I'm Murakami. Welcome.
It's not as hot as I expected.
Cause the altitude is 2000 meters.
Where's the other guy? Shimada was supposed to come with you.
I wonder what happened to him.
I am so sorry.
You were supposed to come three days ago. What were you doing?
My Narita flight was at 13:30. I figured if I left Nagasaki early I'd make it.
But I overslept.
Normally...
spending the night at Narita is what people normally do.
Do they?
I never thought of that.
What a great idea.
I'm truly sorry.
Fine, fine. No worries.
You'll be fine.
I thought he was useless but he seems to be capable.
Yes. He's a talented surgeon.
We're back.
Later today, I'm going to pick blood fluke larva so finish up
- All this? - Fine, fine.
Fine, fine. No worries.
Please handle these.
Fine, fine.
Hello.
Please wait.
Koichiro and I were college mates.
He didn't get accepted the first time so he's a year older than me.
Anyway, the guy would do anything you asked.
We called him Mr. Fine, Fine.
The Nagasaki University Institute of Tropical Medicine...
was Dr. Katamine's baby. An endemic disease research lab in Nakuru.
Both a lab...
and a medical clinic.
I guess it was half a year after we went tn Nakuru.
We had a staff dispatch request from the Lokichogio Red Cross hospital.
What is the chief thinking.
We're shorthanded as it is.
I'm tired of the flamingo in Nakuru. I'm out of here.
And we'll be back in a month.
What?
Haven't you heard what Lokichogio is like?
Thank you.
Thanks.
The Lokichogio Red Cross hospital...
treated anti-government troops wounded in the Sudan civil war.
Help me...
Doctor.
Help me.
You'll be fine.
That day Koichiro and I...
amputated four soldiers including kids.
Doctor.
Help me.
Either way, you couldn't have saved him.
This is no place for a half-assed guy like me.
This going to be a long month.
Koichiro looked like hell when he got back.
His upbeat nature was... gone.
Gotta get back.
The Chief noticed this.
Took him to have fun in the Maasai village.
Want some souvenirs?
Thanks.
Goat meat sure is an acquired taste.
I can't believe you can stomach it.
How can you say that? They killed this meat for us.
Mighty tasty.
Ganbare (Hang tough).
Ganbare.
The sun's about to rise.
Watch it with me?
I like lions.
But lions...
make their women hunt for them. They're pimps.
That's a lion in pride.
A lion outside his pride...
leads a harder life.
You...
think you're a lion? You've got gall.
Doctor...
could you allow me to go to Lokichogio again?
Kusano Wakako. Please to meet...
Bandage this man.
Kusano, stitch up for me?
I gotta attend to another patient.
Are you serious?
If we don't hurry, we can't save lives.
Making a nurse perform this procedure is against the law.
To hell with the law.
Can the law protect someone's life here?
Fine, fine.
Nice work.
Doctor...
nice work.
There is hope for you.
You'll be fine.
No, no. Not enemy.
Let's clean the wound.
Ganbare (Hang tough).
Ganbare.
Ganbare...
Ganbare.
Well?
Got an appetite?
No!
Does it hurt?
Fine, fine.
How do you feel?
If he can speak English, he's from a proper family, Right?
He's got drug track marks. As big as lumps.
How cruel can we humans be?
Let go!
Let me go!
Yabei (Damn it).
I'm losing again. One more time.
Yabei (Damn it).
Please refrain from teaching them improper Japanese.
Let's play together.
I'm busy.
Yabei (Damn it).
L"Ndung'u.
Shit. You're good. A real Pele.
You're like Pele. Pele.
Correct.
You're a genius. A real Einstein!
Yabei, yabei.
Thank you, Doctor.
Good bye, Doctor. Thank you.
Wait, wait.
Itadakimasu. (Grace in Japanese)
Doctor...
Please don't teach the kids hooligan expressions.
Words like yabei. It's embarrassing as a Japanese person.
I got it.
Understood
That's me.
Fuckin' amazing!
This is great.
Are you all right?
I'm fine. He'll take time.
Is Wakako your wife?
No.
What?
Koichiro, no wife?
No.
I was raised on a tiny island among the Goto Islands.
When the sky and ocean melt at sunset it's very lovely.
Wow. I 'd love to go.
Come visit some time.
It's tiny but this island is lovely.
GOTO ISLANDS, NAGASAKI, JAPAN KOCHO ISLAND 2014
GOTO ISLANDS, NAGASAKI, JAPAN KOCHO ISLAND 2014 My father was assigned tn this clinic...
My father was assigned to this clinic...
when he was 35.
I was an only child and...
KOCHO ISLAND CLINIC always thought that I'd be fire only one to take over for him.
Oh, Princess Doc.
How's the numbness in your hip?
Same as every.
Please set me up with a compress later.
You got it.
I was classmates with Koichiro in medical school.
At first I thought he was a happy-go-lucky sort.
Never paid him much mind.
Later...
I figured out that deep down, he was quite serious.
Two years before he left for Kenya...
NASASAKI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1985 Two years before he left for Kenya...
NASASAKI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1985
Does it hurt here?
NASASAKI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1985
How does it hurt?
NASASAKI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1985
Heavy pain or piercing pain?
Hard to describe.
I just don't feel right.
The wife came in with back pain.
Her CT and blood results indicated liver cancer.
With immediate surgery, her hopes were high but...
our university hospital didn't have any available beds.
Putting her on the liver surgery schedule six months later was all we could do.
Can't you do the surgery here?
Other patients are waiting their turn in the surgery rotation.
I'll recommend a specialist at another hospital.
But, we don't want to go to a tiny hospital.
The cancer can spread fast.
Better to have surgery as soon as possible.
Why can't you at least open up one bed for us?
The Fukuda's only wanted to have surgery at the university hospital.
Koichiro went to persuade them after his night shift.
This doctor at a private clinic is respected.
I'll write a referral. Please have the procedure clone.
I'll...wait for a bed to open up at the University hospital.
Even after that Koichiro kept trying to persuade them.
The weather is great today. You can see Mount Inasa.
Finally a bed opened up but...
when Mrs. Fukuda was admitted it was too late.
Hold on man. Don't do anything stupid.
Hold on man. Don't do anything stupid. What's wrong?
Koichiro says he's going to Mrs. Fukuda's funeral.
Going to light some incense for her.
You did your best to make them understand, but the husband didn't.
If you start going to every patient's funeral, it will never end.
I'm going either way.
Wait.
I'll follow you.
Please leave.
Would you allow me to make an offering of incense?
You...killed her.
If you had admitted Kazue...
she wouldn't of had to die.
She didn't have to die.
She didn't...
Your dad's a salaryman, right? Why'd you want to become a doctor?
Why?
In grade school, I read Albert Schweitzer's autobiography.
That is so you, picking a simple reason.
What's wrong with that?
About what Mr. Fukuda said...
My mother died of pancreatic cancer when I was 14.
I saw my dad cry for the first time then.
Deep down Mr. Fukuda knows the truth.
He doesn't believe I killed his wife.
Sometimes pain hurts so much we need to blame others.
What Koichiro said hi! home with me.
And it still does to this day.
Take a big, deep breath.
Blow it out.
Well Doc?
Am I going to live to see the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
You'll be fine until next one.
Really. How about the Olympics after that?
You'll live.
Great news. Thanks.
That's it for today.
Thank you so much.
The year before Koichiro went to Africa...
in the Spring of '86...
my father suffered a stroke.
While not life threatening, my dad had paralysis in his body.
Since he was the only doctor on the island...
he kept on seeing patients.
You Okay?
Feeling Okay?
Open your blouse.
Doc, how are you feeling?
Be quiet.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Nice. Great.
Hope you don't stroke out again. Take care of yourself.
I'm fine. Not dead yet.
Who is?
Me or you?
Both of us.
How long you staying this time?
I got off till the end of the week.
Can you take that much vacation?
Relax until tomorrow then can get back to Nagasaki.
Don't play it so tough.
When you had your stroke, you whined you wanted to see her.
The Princess Doc in the house!
Caught me some mackerel. Fetched you one.
We could never eat all that.
Amazing.
This is for sashimi. The rest you can stew.
Hope your daughter moves back.
All she needs now is a good husband.
Please introduce someone nice to her.
This island is filled with good men.
How about Mitsuru?
He's a little bald so maybe not.
Or Shigeru?
And...
Back than, I think both Koichiro and I...
were aware that we were partners.
And I dreamed we'd move to the island...
and take over for my father.
Akishima.
Free this afternoon?
Think I can find some time tonight.
Got something I'd like to talk about.
What is it?
Akishima.
Would you come to Africa with me?
To Kenya. The Institute of Tropical Medicine.
...So you're proposing?
Yeah.
Please give me some time.
You should do what you want.
So you won't move back, will you?
I'm sorry.
My clinic will be fine.
If I request a dispatch, a doctor will come for sure.
Or I could just close down.
That would be fine too.
So how long are you staying this time?
Leaving on the boat tomorrow afternoon.
Excuse me.
CLOSED TODAY
Hello.
She had a fever, convulsions and threw up many times.
Sorry honey.
She'll settle down. If the fever returns, please come tomorrow.
Thank you.
And saying that I saw her off.
I still had to leave the next day.
Heard the Doc ain't doing well. Came to see him.
He caught a cold, but nothing serious.
I fetched him some vegetables.
Where's your house?
Tomari. Came from there.
That old lady carried that heavy load...
over three mountains to get here.
Mrs. Matsuo. Did you walk here?
Come have a tea and rest.
No thanks. Please give the doctor my best.
And how are you feeling?
I can't complain.
Ran out of my stomach medicine. Could I get me a refill?
How's your body, Doc?
The news says a storm is coming.
Takako, drive her home in my car.
- Don't fuss over me. - It's no trouble.
You walked all this way with such a heavy load?
I'd give up after five minutes.
When I fell sick with a deathly fever...
your father came over three mountains to treat me.
He had him a horrible cold.
When we took his temperature...
his fever was higher than mine.
That's my dad for you.
- Thanks, doc. - No, thank you. Bye.
Princess Doc!
When I stopped by the clinic, they said you hadn't made it back.
Are you hurt?
Let's go.
The next morning, the clinic was
packed with injured folks from the storm.
Ouch, ouch.
- Stay in bed, honey. - Gonna take a peek.
Takako's handling it. Please get some rest.
Yes... The ship's been cancelled.
I'll leave on the first ship out tomorrow.
I'm sorry for the trouble.
Mother...
Please live your own life.
It's your life.
I returned to Nagasaki the next morning...
and worked that afternoon.
Then that night, I announced to Koichiro...
I couldn't go to Africa with him.
whY I"! you leaving?
I'll be back soon enough.
See you.
Could you say "Ganbare" for us?
Sometimes at night you scream it.
You got it wrong.
"Ganbare" isn't...
something you say to others.
I scream it to myself.
Ganbare!
Want some?
My wife won't let me have chocolate. I've got high blood pressure.
By the spring of 1990, my posting was over and I returned to Japan.
But Koichiro stayed in Africa.
That surprised even me.
I always thought he'd return and many Takako Akishima.
Honey, you eating chocolate again?
My wife was high school mates with Koichiro.
In high school, Shimada was...
good with his studies but didn't say much.
Probably because be shuttered.
It seems he was teased a lot since he was a child.
We need to decide the tenor soloist for the chorus contest.
Any candidates?
How about you loud mouth?
No way. Not me.
- You do it. - Not me.
- You do it. - No way.
Could you recommend someone, teacher?
I can't carry a tune, so leave me out.
That's not fair.
Don't any of you want to try?
Shimada.
I... I... c-c-can... I... sing the song?
I... I... guess not.
Shimada is our new soloist.
He sang like he was born to sing.
On that day on, his stutter started to disappear.
The once inarticulate Shimada became a bit of a talker.
Honestly, I liked him better when he was shy and had a stutter.
The tangent of Y is this. You have to recalculate Y and then...
Shimada set his heart on medical school early on.
Maybe he inspired ma.
I set my sights on a nursing school...
and studied like hell.
1977 NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY SUCCESSFUL CAN DI DATES
Shimada had the grades and the talent.
Everyone thought he was a shun-in.
Incidentally he didn't get accepted.
But the next year, he passed. Until he went to Africa...
we worked together at the university hospital.
Koichiro got the highest test score ever. One of the professors said.
I never heard that.
I didn't have the heart to tell you.
Are you jealous? How stingy.
That guy never gave up.
Knock him down and he'll get right back up.
I hate guys like that.
You call that praising him? Have a heart.
I want to drink with him again.
I want to see him.
Itadakimasu.
We'll get thrown out of here. I'll go back and become a thief.
Not with your legs. You can't run away from the police.
All I need is a gun and a car.
I can drive, you know.
Let's steal Afundi's truck.
Niche.
Hey.
Welcome back.
Yabei. (Oh no).
Please. Not my leg.
Don't cut off my leg.
Itadakimasu.
You've still have alrhythmia, but you're fine. No worries.
How long's it been since you became the head doctor?
Two years I guess.
Boy, time sure flies.
Here you are.
Thanks.
I'm so glad you took over for your father.
Honestly, us folks thought he was "over his limit".
You calling me over the hill?
You are.
You too.
Princess Doc!
Not again.
The DHA in fish prevents strokes.
Enough from you.
Taro, you'd better get a wife soon.
I already have a wife.
You do?
My Mia's a mermaid. Can't come a shore.
Keep it a secret.
I 90! you.
Taro should've stayed for dinner.
He's always too reserved.
Did you take your meds?
Not yet.
Tea please.
Takako...
how about if you and Taro got together?
Me and Taro?
What're you suggesting?
Dear Koichiro, How's your life in Africa?
Hope you're not sick or injured.
I took over my dad's practice.
Two fast years have passed.
It seems you extended your posting in Africa.
Aoki told me when he got back.
Actually...
my life is taking a big burn as well.
Mail for you from Japan. It's back dated a bit.
Thanks for that.
What's wrong?
Looks like you aged ten years in two hours.
Chief...
next time I come, could you hold a letter from me?
Now's fine too.
I haven't written it yet. But I will by next time.
Thank you.
Dear Takako Akishima.
Hello.
Who's he?
A Japanese doctor.
I've heard the rumors. We thank you.
My pleasure.
Nice watch.
Seiko, yes?
You cannot pass.
Understood. We'll go back.
- I'm home. - Welcome home.
Today was a bumper catch.
Check it out.
Oh, bonito!
I'll clean it.
Hello...
Oh, Aoki, it's been a while. What?
No, I'm good. Finished for the day.
TO: TAKAKO AKISHIMA
He lost his appetite so I got worried.
- Do you feel bad? - I'm fine.
KOICHIRO SHIMADA
Do me a favor. Be happy.
That's all the letter said.
I think if...
said it all. All that he felt inside.
Mom!
Welcome home.
That Japanese doctor treated my sickness.
Now, everyone in Japan is in trouble with the earthquake.
I'm sure they could use some food.
Please send this to Japan.
Com seeds.
Ganbare.
Fine, fine.
Don't be afraid.
My name is Michelangelo Koichiro Ndung'u.
- Patrol today? - A little one.
I'm going too.
No. No.
You can't get in. Wait here.
Be careful.
Seriously, take care.
Be back before sunset.
I was surprised by your unexpected letter but also glad to hear from you
More than anything, the fact that you have not held any grudges against me
Will sustain and support me from now on
In my everyday life here Thank you, thank you
This is my third April here in Nairobi
But now I miss fire cherry blossoms at night I saw with you in Tokyo long time ago
I miss the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, not the ones at home
Which I myself think is almost funny, almost funny
For the last three years, I have traveled around here and there
And there were many times when I wished I could share the special moments with you
The sunrise at Lake Victoria, the sky that darkens
When a million ﬂamingo es ﬂy away at once
The white snow of Kilimanjaro The silhouettes of the elephants in the plain
Most beautiful of all, the eyes of my patients
When I face illness in this great nature
It makes me think about God and about human beings
I regret to say it, but our country seems have taken a wrong path
Somewhere important in our past
Koichiro, is your mom gonna buy you a Thunderbird 2 model?
I asked her so no problem.
Is the Thunderbird 4 attached?
I envy you.
Happy birthday, Koichiro.
I spent my last Christmas at a village close to the border
Happy birthday.
Santa Claus comes to even such a place I was the one last year
'Their prayers and intense rhythms echo in the darkness
ALBERT SCHWEITZER "THE FATHER OF AFRICA"
ALBERT SCHWEITZER "THE FATHER OF AFRICA" The Southern Cross; stars filling the sky, and the Milky Way
The Southern Cross, stars filling the sky, and the Milky Way
People who gather at my clinic are ill
But at least their hearts are healthier than mine
I still think it was good that I came here
It would be a lie if I say it is not hard, but I am happy here
It is not that I ran away from you or Japan
I just do not want myself to be conceited in living "now"
Like waterfalls falling down, cutting apart the sky
I want to live a life without stagnation
fire white snow of Kilimanjaro And the dark blue sky that supports it
I want to be a lion standing in the wind
Please send my greetings to all
As I close this letter, I am always praying for your happiness
From my heart, from far away
Congratulations
Farewell