Akahige

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
It smells like rotten fruit.

Genzo Tsugawa:
It's the smell of the poor.

Genzo Tsugawa:
We knew you were coming two weeks ago. It seems he likes you. He's unfriendly to people he likes. Not me. He never finds fault with me. He ignores me completely.

Dr. Handayu Mori:
The pain and loneliness of death frighten me. But Dr. Niide looks at it differently. He looks into their hearts as well as their bodies.

Genzo Tsugawa:
[Showing the newly-arrived Yasumoto around the clinic] It's terrible here. You'll have to stay and see for yourself. The patients are slum people, full of fleas and lice. They even smell bad. We don't get much money. And Red Beard is after us night and day.

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
"Red Beard"?

Genzo Tsugawa:
The head doctor. His beard is sort of reddish.

Genzo Tsugawa:
It's really terrible here. Being here makes you wonder why you wanted to be a doctor.

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
[Suddenly noticing an unpleasant odor] It smells like rotten fruit.

Genzo Tsugawa:
It's the smell of the poor.

Genzo Tsugawa:
[Showing Yasumoto a waiting room filled with sick people] The waiting room for outpatients. They're treated for free in the afternoons...

Genzo Tsugawa:
[Giving a heavy sigh] I don't know... All of them would be better off dead.

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
Are these things the rule here?

Genzo Tsugawa:
Red Beard's rules. He's the dictator here. A good doctor, dedicated to his work. Many daiyamo and rich people trust him. But he's stubborn, inconsiderate, radical... and proud.

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
[At dinner with the other staff: the newly-arrived Yasumoto refuses to eat] Why don't you eat, Yasumoto?

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
I don't want to!

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
Does it mean that you're not hungry, or that the food doesn't suit you?

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
It means this place doesn't suit me.

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
Even bad food tastes good if you chew it well. Same with our work here if you try hard.

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
[shouting an order to the kitchen staff] Go and get me some sake!

Genzo Tsugawa:
We don't drink sake here.

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
That's why I'll drink! I'll break every rule! No uniform. I'll be such a nuisance he'll ask me to leave!

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
[At Lord Matsudaira's mansion: the overweight lord and his chamberlain are being counseled by Dr. Niide] As I've said, you're not ill, my lord. But you're in much worse condition. It is due to a life of luxury and ease. You indulge in rich food, you hold nothing heavier than chopsticks. Fat gathers, intake and discharge lose their balance.

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
[Now reviewing the lord's menu with the chamberlain] I told you that white rice is detrimental to his health... One bowl of seven parts wheat and three parts rice at each meal... No fowl, meat or eggs... And not too much fish or salt...

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
[the overweight lord looks on, obviously distressed that he's being put on a strict diet] Keep to this for 100 days.

Tokubei Izumiya:
Pardon my abrupt question, but is it true that doctors play no part in life and death?

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
It seems so.

Tokubei Izumiya:
The people meant to live recover, and those meant to die pass away? Doctors have nothing to do with it?

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
It may mean that.

Tokubei Izumiya:
Bad and good doctors are the same, then? Expensive medicines and those sold in pharmacies are the same? Of course, an eminent doctor like yourself is different, I am sure...

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
Don't make me an exception. Don't hold back. Say what's on your mind.

Tokubei Izumiya:
I'm afraid I have displeased you.

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
Of course not. All doctors have to butter up rich men.

Dr. Handayu Mori:
[In the background, the women cooks can be heard calling Chobo's name into a well. Tsugawa is confused by this] The cooks are calling Chobo back. There's a belief that if you call into a well, you can call a dying person back. Wells lead to the bottom of the earth.

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
Poverty's a political problem they say. But what has politics ever done for the poor? Has a law been passed to get rid of poverty and ignorance?

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
But this place! Government funds-...

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
Better this than nothing. The problem is deeper than that. If it weren't for poverty, half of these people wouldn't be sick.

Dr. Noboru Yasumoto:
I know.

Dr. Kyoj? Niide:
There is always some story of great misfortune behind illness.