The 16th episode of the NHK morning drama series " Kaze,Kaoru " (NHK General, Monday-Saturday 8:00 AM, etc.), starring Ai Mikami and Juri Kosaka , aired on April 20th, in which Sutematsu ( Mikako Tabe ) recruits Rin (Mikami) and Naomi (Uesaka) to become trained nurses. The salary that Sutematsu mentioned at that time became a topic of discussion among viewers.
As Naomi heads to the soup kitchen with Sutematsu and others, she coincidentally finds Yoshie (Taizo Harada) and Rin also there, having come to the same place. Suddenly, a boy who has eaten the soup kitchen falls ill. Suspecting an infectious disease, no one tries to help, but Rin and Naomi immediately rush to the child's side.
When Rin and Naomi tried to give the boy some water, Sutematsu stopped them, saying, "Stop it!" She instructed them on how to safely give him water and how to clean up any vomit, and then took the lead in cleaning up. When Naomi said, "Please stop. Your wife shouldn't be doing that," Sutematsu replied, "Position doesn't matter when it comes to a sick person!" and instructed them to bring plenty of clean water for washing hands.
After the soup kitchen was over, Sutematsu invited Rin and Naomi to her home. Sutematsu began by asking, "Why don't you two become trained nurses?" and explained that it meant "trained nurses." She revealed that in the West, they are respected as professionals, and that she herself had received nursing training in the United States. She then told them that if they attended the newly established training school, they could become nurses in two years, that there was no entrance fee, tuition was 50 sen per month, and dormitory life including three meals a day was 1 yen.
Sutematsu insisted, "This is a job where even a woman can earn a wage that allows her to live independently," adding that in the United States, one could earn about 30 yen a month. That was equivalent to three years' worth of wages at the match factory where Naomi used to work. Sutematsu tried to persuade the two again, but Naomi refused, saying, "I'm not the kind of person who would work for the sake of others..." However, Sutematsu said, "I felt that Naomi is the kind of person who would naturally stand by the side of the weak," and bowed her head to Rin, who had taken the initiative to help, saying, "Please lend me your strength. For the sake of my dream."
This development has led to comments on social media such as, "A step towards becoming a trendy nurse," "She's finally started moving towards becoming a trendy nurse!", and "Sutematsu's dream is absolutely wonderful."
Furthermore, the mention of a monthly wage of 30 yen by Sutematsu reminded many viewers of the previous work, " Bakebake." In that work, the main character Toki (Akari Takaishi), who worked as a maid, earned 20 yen, which would be equivalent to 700,000 to 800,000 yen in modern currency.
Regarding the even higher salaries of nurses in the United States, comments on social media included: "1.5 times what Otoki-chan earns," "If converted to modern values, it's over 1 million yen," "Incredibly high pay," and "The fact that 30 yen can be considered high pay is thanks to ' Bakebake'."
