Doctor and author Minoru Kamata appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on May 16th. He talked about building health in the community and using barbells to train the body.
After graduating from university, I was assigned to a hospital in Nagano Prefecture. At that time, there were only 4 to 6 doctors and few patients. I saw patients in the outpatient department of internal medicine, and in the evening I went to a community center at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains to speak to local residents about "health promotion activities" such as how to avoid dying from strokes.
Kamata said, "I was poor when I was a child, but I was able to eat meals thanks to many people, and if someone asked me to come over for a meal, I would go right away. Word spread around the village that if you invited someone over for a meal, Dr. Kamata would come, so I started to get invited by all kinds of people." Over the meal, he talked about his dream of "making the community healthier," and when he mentioned he was going to give a lecture at such and such a place the next week, the men who were drinking with him spread the word, saying, "Lots of my classmates will call you," and as a result, couples started attending the event together, and his activities expanded.
"Dr. Kamata and his wife are serious about making the community healthier. Men should support them from behind and not interfere unnecessarily," the men said, and the community began to change. One man said, "Good doctors always go back to Tokyo after a year. Bad doctors stay in the community. That doctor (Dr. Kamata) is going to be gone, so there's no need to listen to him," but he smiled and said, "Thanks to the women's serious efforts, the community is getting healthier and healthier."
Kamata, who will be 77 in June, is working out with barbells. He lifts the same number of weights as his age. "I'm thinking of lifting a 77kg barbell in June this year. My wife does squats with 30kg to 35kg barbells," he said, revealing that the couple are both working on improving their health.
