100 Books in Japanese - Book 3
Title: 神様のカルテ
Kamisama no karute
The Medical Chart of God / The God's Medical Chart / など
Author: **Natsukawa Sousuke (夏川草介）
Illustrator: Ishikawa Saburo (石川サブロウ)
Story: Based on a true story, this two-manga series tells the story of Kurihara Ichito, a doctor of internal medicine at Honjyou Hospital in Shinshu, Japan.
Summary: In this volume we continue the adventures of Dr. Kurihara as he meets up with an old friend from school, and looses one of his dearest coworkers, and climbs a couple of mountains. Though to be honest, the mountain climbing is more of a nice bookend than anything.
The majority of this volume deals with the new doctor at Honjyo Hospital: Shindo Tatsuya. Originally Kurihara's classmate, and the only other member of the Shogi Club, Shindo was an exceedingly popular, well loved doctor. Kurihara was relieved to hear that the new member of staff was someone he knew so well, someone he could rely on. Thing was, Shindo had changed an awful lot since his school days. Now he treated the hospital like a day job, leaving as soon as his shift ended and cutting off all communication when not in the office. Patients and nurses alike came to hate him. Kurihara was sent to talk to him multiple times, one decisive conversation even ending in Shindo covered in coffee (this is far less dramatic of a move than it sounds. There was no throwing, just a smooth pour...). As it turns out, however, Shindo's stubborn insistence that doctors are people too, that they should be allowed to have lives outside of the hospital, that they shouldn't be at the beck and call of every patient, has a solid source. His daughter and absent wife bring up a lot of questions about the role a doctor should play and serous troubles brought up by career mothers.
At the same time as this drama, Old Kitsune and Kurihara keep meeting outside of work. Their wives, who was never able to have children, and one who lost her parents at a very young age, form an even stronger bond through repeated meetings in and out of the hospital. Old Kitsune tells us the story of Big Tanuki and how he came to be in charge of the hospital. Then, one day, Old Kitsune collapses.
You can imagine how things go from there.
Another patient worth mentioning from the book is Ms. Toyo, who spends much of the volume in a coma. Her husband comes every day to sing to her, his voice echoing throughout the hospital for everyone to hear.
And in the culmination of the short series, we see our favorite doctors getting reprimanded for shutting out every light and around the hospital to give a patient something close to a final wish. This brings up one of the best lines from the manga as a whole: 医師の話ではない、人間の話をしているのだ. Or in English, "I'm not talking about doctors, I'm talking about people." As the theme of the whole book goes, doctors have to remember that they are more than an ideal; they're people too.
Favorite Moment: Kurihara, utterly exhausted, insists that he has to go check on his patient. He stands, and promptly falls back into his chair. Shindo steps up with his current cup of coffee and gives Kurihara a choice: go home to rest, or go home to get the coffee out of his clothes.
Recommendation? Of course. This volume is just as good, if not better than, the previous. If you've the time and capability, please give this short little series a read. It's worth your time.
Vocabulary Gleaned from the Reading:
忍耐 patience, perseverance
褒める to praise, laud, compliment
懲らしめる to chastise, scold, punish
確認 confirmation, affirmation
正確 precise, accurate
多忙 hectic, busy
信頼 trust, confidence
苦情 complaint, grievance
要するto require, need
案ずる to ponder, consider
診る to examine
良心 conscious (like the cricket)
浅い shallow, superficial
効く effective
芽生え a bud, sprout
企てる to plan, scheme, plot
停電 power outage
支える to support