The 114th episode of the NHK Asadora drama "Omusubi " starring Kanna Hashimoto (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00 am and others) was broadcast on March 13th. In this episode, Yui (Hashimoto) decides to live away from her family to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The episode depicted a painful development in which Yui's daughter Hana (Miyazaki Ririsa) was subjected to heartless remarks from her classmates at school, drawing the attention of viewers.
In episode 114, Yui talks with Nurse Kuwabara ( Fu Hinami) and Doctor Morishita (Baba Toru), who are both exhausted by the coronavirus outbreak, and shares their frustration at not being able to save lives that would normally be saved.
Kuwabara confesses that because his mother-in-law has an underlying condition, he has left her to take care of his children and is staying in a hotel instead of going home. Hearing this, Yui is reminded of Masato (Kitamura Yukiya), who once performed cancer surgery on her. After that, Yui calls Shoya (Hayato Sano) and tells him that she has decided to live alone here for a while, and that she will be living apart from him in Osaka to prevent infection.
A few days later, Hana returns home in low spirits after attending elementary school for the first time in a while. Shoya finds out the details and visits Yui, who speaks to her through the front door. Shoya tells her that a boy in Hana's class told her, "Your mom works at a hospital, so she's probably covered in coronavirus. So you probably have coronavirus too, so don't go to school," to Yui's shock.
Shoya told Hana, "Don't worry about those kinds of people. Mommy is working hard at the hospital to help people in need. So be proud of Mommy," and asked her to call him when things have calmed down. He then encouraged her, saying, "Yui, are you eating properly? Try my father-in-law's fried rice, it's delicious!", and left.
Yui smiles as she takes a bite of the fried rice that Shoya brought her. However, her tears gradually begin to flow, and the 114th episode ends with Yui crying as she eats the fried rice by herself.
In response to the abusive language directed at medical workers and their families, people on social media have responded with comments such as, "It's terrible," "I can't forgive elementary school students who say such horrible things when they should be thanking those working at hospitals," "The show honestly portrayed the most unforgivable episode during the coronavirus pandemic," "I'm in awe of the portrayal of the harsh daily lives of medical workers during the coronavirus pandemic," and "This drama accurately depicts what really happened."
