The 55th 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 June 12th, and Burns' (Asadora Howard) fluent Japanese became a hot topic among viewers.
One day, Burns visits Tada (Michitaka Tsutsui), the director of Teito Medical University Hospital, and hands him some documents that he received from Principal Kajiwara (Shima Ise) of the Umeoka Girls' School Nursing Training Center. After Watanabe (Kanro Morita) examines the documents, he mutters, "Kanji are difficult for foreigners, aren't they?" Burns replies, "Yes, I still can't read much." He then picks up the documents from Tada's desk and asks, "Thanks to you, I can now read at least that document, the 'Teito Medical University Hospital Nursing Department Establishment Plan.' What do you mean?"
Tada explained that the hospital would be establishing a new nursing department and would no longer be accepting trainees from the nursing academy. When Burns pressed him, saying, "Didn't you say that if the trainees were excellent, you would continue to accept them?", Tada replied that it was precisely because the trainees were so excellent that many people wanted to train good nurses within the hospital. He then declared, "This is a final decision. It cannot be reversed."
Tada was about to say he would tell the principal by letter, but Burns' fluent Japanese made him say, "I think Mr. Burns could probably get the message across in Japanese." Then he added, "Since when have you been so good at Japanese?" and "It's because the teachers are excellent that the students are excellent too," to which Burns replied, "I am extremely honored by your compliment."
On social media, comments included: "Mr. Burns' Japanese skills are amazing," "How much Japanese does he know?", "Mr. Burns is practically a native Japanese speaker," "Mr. Burns' Japanese skills are incredible," "He's surprisingly fluent," "Even native Japanese people rarely use phrases like 'I am deeply grateful'," and "Mr. Burns can probably read classical Japanese as well."
