JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: Kyumei Byoto 24-ji

Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji Series (24-hour Emergency Ward)

From Wm. Penn [Daily Yomiuri 1/14/99]

The Fuji "ER" clone "Kyumei Byoto 24-ji" (24-Hour Emergency Ward, Tuesdays at 9 p.m.) featuring Yosuke Eguchi as a young emergency room doc and Nanako Matsushima as his unappreciative assistant also fails. It is just one medical emergency after another interrupted by bits of silliness such as the scene where a doctor accidentally

smokes the marijuana cigarettes confiscated from a tattooed character while the staff is busy helping the thug "give birth" to the dozens of heroin-filled condoms he has swallowed. The "birth," like most of the show, was rather unpleasant. I won't be tuning in again.

NOTE: Was voted #1 drama for January-March 1999 season.

[Source: Daily Yomiuri, January 13th & 20th, 2005, Wm. Penn in regards to third series]:

A much more interesting earthquake-related scenario will play out on the popular emergency room medical drama Kyumei Byoto Nijuyo-ji this quarter. The series, which began Jan. 11, airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on the Fuji TV network. At the end of the first episode, Tokyo is hit by a major quake.

Ensuing episodes will show how the medical team deals with the disaster on a
professional and personal level. It is an intriguing but little discussed aspect of such a tragedy. The public expects much of first responders--police, firefighters and medical personnel--but they are not robots. In a real disaster, they will be desperately concerned about their own friends and loved ones, too.

Episode 1 begins with super doc Shindo-sensei (Yosuke Eguchi, who has further polished his medical skills on Shiroi Kyoto) returning to Japan from a tough stint as part of a medical-relief team serving in refugee camps in Africa. He is reunited with Dr. Kojima (Nanako Matsushima) at a medical conference on emergency preparedness. She is still an emergency room doc but is contemplating marriage and a move to Seattle. Also on the scene is Toru Nakamura, who has in my opinion become one of the top five actors in Japan. He plays a Diet man with big ambitions.

The series will show how medical personnel cope with disaster and how Shindo, with his overseas experience, tries to pull the disaster team into shape despite the resistance of the warmhearted but rather ineffectual Dr. Kuroki, the head of the emergency medical center.

The show's creators have evidently done a lot of research on the reality of past quakes to give the series an authentic quality that could give viewers a jolt.

Kyumei Byoto Nijuyo-ji (Mondays, 9 p.m. Fuji network) did get off to an excellent start Jan. 11 providing a realistic portrayal of the initial chaos a big quake could inflict on the ER unit, with equipment, drugs and staff flung in all directions. Four stars if it can maintain this pace.

STARRING: Eguchi Yousuke, Matsushima Nanako, Eto Risa, Sawamura Ikki, Sugimoto Tetta, Kaneda Akio, Suzuki Sawa, Nagae Hidekazu, Kitahara Isaki and more. | Second series with Eguchi Yousuke, Matsuyuki Yasuko, Ito Hideaki, Tabata Tomoko, Katase Nana, Yabe Hiroshi, Kohinata Fumiyo. | Third series with Eguchi Yosuke, Matsushima Nanako,Kyono Kotomi, Fukaura Kanako, Oguri Shun, Megumi, Kawaoka Daijiro
NETWORK: FUJI TV
THEME SONG: "Asa ga mata kuru" by Dreams Come True / 2nd series: "Itsu no Mani" by Dreams Come True, "Flow" by Bird
DURATION: Started on January 5, 1999 through March 1999. Second Series: The second series started on July 2001 through September 2001. Third Series: Starts on January 2005 through March 2005.
REVIEWS:

When my friends and I watch this, we thought....finally an ER ripoff. Actually, it was about time we saw something like this show in Japan. ER ripoff or not...this drama is pretty good!