The 73rd episode of the NHK Asadora drama "Omusubi " (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00 AM and others), starring Kanna Hashimoto , was broadcast on January 15th. In the episode, Kasumi (Yuna Taira), also known as "Kasumin", a classmate of Yui (Hashimoto) from her days at a nutrition vocational school, appeared, attracting the attention of viewers.
In the 73rd episode, one month after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Kasumi visits Yui, who is on maternity leave. Kasumi, who works as a nutritionist at a hospital in Tokyo, was a support nutritionist on a joint relief team in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture. When Yui asks her about the situation in the disaster area, Kasumi says, "It was terrible," recalling the state of the evacuation center three weeks after the earthquake.
The members of the joint relief team were all doctors and nurses who had received training in disaster medicine, and there were many reports of illnesses during the meetings. When Kasumi tried to check on the food situation at the evacuation center, the doctor in charge said, "We'll think about food later," and put it off. Kasumi said, "It was frustrating. I wanted to tell them that food is the most important thing, but I couldn't say anything. Everyone was doing their best to save the lives in front of them."
She recalls how many people in the evacuation shelters were patient despite their difficulties, and how she met a young couple who were in trouble because their baby had run out of powdered milk and wouldn't stop crying. When Kasumi went to the warehouse where supplies were stored to look for powdered milk, she found that medicine, food, water, etc. were all stored together, and she didn't know where anything was.
Items that cannot be used without specialized knowledge, such as liquid food for kidney disease patients, were apparently placed at the back, and Kasumi expressed her regret, saying, "Even though the supplies were there, they weren't reaching the people who needed them. If nutritionists had arrived on the scene sooner, I think we could have helped more people who were struggling to get food."
Comments on social media included, "It was heartbreaking," "It was an episode that made me think a lot," "This is the reality of life in an evacuation shelter," "I could feel Kasumin's frustration," and "Kasumin has become a professional nutritionist."
