Shiroi Kyoto

A story about two doctors who have different styles. Eguchi plays the compassionate doctor, Satomi and Karasawa plays the ambitous doctor, Zaizen, who is near promotion.

[Daily Yomiuri excerpt, October 17, 2003, Wm. Penn]: While Beginner offers a penetrating look at the legal profession on Mondays at 9 p.m., Shiroi Kyoto takes a very sharp scalpel to the medical profession on Thursdays at 10 p.m. Both shows air on the Fuji network. Shiroi Kyoto is based on a 1963 Sunday Mainichi magazine serial that was turned into a best-selling book in 1965 and was first dramatized in 1978-79. That the tale is so apropos even today is a sorry indicator of just how slow the pace of change in the Japanese medical system has been. The medical establishment has been suffering from a chronic illness for a very long time and cannot seem to find an appropriate cure for itself. The 21st-century version of this tale will run for a full six months. Although the acting is excellent and the dialogue sharp, it may be just too depressingly realistic for anyone who can imagine themselves one day being a patient in a large Japanese teaching hospital. Toshiaki Karasawa plays Dr. Zaizen and Yosuke Eguchi is Dr. Satomi. Despite their opposing views of the job, they are both talented physicians at a typical medical school tightly controlled by older professors who monopolize the perks and power and give considerably less attention to medical ethics and quality care. One scene shows a top doc thumbing through a deck of gift certificates that has been presented to him by a patient who, following a widely practiced custom, has just attempted to buy more personal attention. Below these professors in the hierarchy, we find long lines of doctors, all jostling for a spot on the ladder and a slot at the top for themselves someday. The most ambitious, and perhaps the most talented, surgeon is Zaizen, who gleefully jumps at the chance to operate on a rare case of pancreatic cancer he feels might be good for his career. Eguchi again gets to play the nice guy. He is a doctor who actually sees the patients not as ATM machines or guinea pigs but people with real problems. He continually reminds the other doctors they are not gods but humans. In Episode 1, Hitomi Kuroki was very good as the two-faced "mama-san" at a posh club frequented by the medical men. She runs her own "operating room" extracting and implanting bits of information in her "patients"--for a price, of course--but the doctors just love how the polite language rolls off her tongue as she lights their cigarettes. She takes a special interest in Zaizen and it is from her that he learns he may not be in line for a professorship after all if he continues to attract attention to himself rather than lay low until his professor deigns to promote him. Zaizen also has a very sneaky-looking gynecologist father-in-law (Toshiyuki Nishida) looking out for his interests. Shiroi Kyoto will make excellent viewing for those who don't get queasy easily. Three stars. Personally, I'd prefer to board a ferry for a trip down south to Dr. Koto Shinryojo.

[Second Series]: Goro Zaizen and Shuji Satomi are assistant professors at Naniwa University Hospital. Goro is a brilliant surgeon who will do anything to make his way up the corporate ladder. On the other hand, Shuji is a physician who earnestly devotes himself to medical research. Though the two doctors have contrasting personalities and are considered to be rivals, they highly recognize each other's skills.

The entire medical department is restless while preparing for the election to choose a new Surgical Department Professor. All Goro has on his mind, is how to win the election. Meanwhile, Shuji is looking after a patient who apparently has pancreatic cancer. He carries out tests on the patient cautiously, and is very careful in telling the patient of the cancer. However, Goro barges in on their conversation, and out of the blue, tells the patient he has cancer, and that he needs an operation right away. Shuji is furious at Goro's rude attitude, and yells, "Doctors are not God!" Goro ignores this, and starts laying the groundwork for the operation. But when Goro finds out that the Director of the Medical Department has already given a diagnosis of stomach cancer, he cancels the operation. He feels that pointing out his boss's misdiagnosis will only hurt him in the upcoming election. Shuji however, is determined to save the patient's life and go on with the operation

SPECIAL INFO: [Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, Wm. Penn, January 15, 2004]: Yosuke Eguchi gets to play Sakamoto Ryoma in this one. He is having a big year. He also has the role of the good doctor in Shiroi Kyoto (Thursdays at 10 p.m. on Fuji). I am constantly amazed at just how good that series is. The scene in the 2-hour Jan. 8 Shiroi Kyoto special, in which a hearse driver, suspicious of the bowing herd of doctors bidding them good-bye, informs the widow that it is likely her husband was the victim of medical malpractice and she should probably demand an autopsy, was a Japanese drama classic.

Cast: Eguchi Yousuke, Karasawa Toshiaki, Kuroki Hitomi, YadaAkiko, Mizuno Maki, Sawamura Ikki, Kataoka Takataro, Ibu Masato, Wakamura Mayumi, Nishida Naomi, Nogawa Yumiko, Ikeuchi Junko, Ito Hideaki, Ishizaka Koji, Nishida Toshiyuki and more.
Theme Song:
NETWORK: FUJI TV
DURATION: October through Present 2004 / Special: Shiroi Kyoto: The Great White Tower starts on January 8, 2004.
REVIEWS:

I really enjoy medical-based Japanese dramas and I thought that the first "Kyumei Byoto 24-Ji" was awesome! But here comes Shiroi Kyoto which is waaaaaay better than "Kyumei"! I highly recommend this series!