Hidetaka Yoshioka: “Dr. Koto Clinic” Revived After 16 years!

The drama series was launched in 2003, and in Season 2 in 2006, it recorded the highest viewer rating of 25.9%, surpassing its predecessor. The drama “Dr. Coto Clinic” (Fuji TV), which set a milestone in medical human drama, has returned as a movie.

The box-office revenue from the December 16th to the 27th was approximately 1.1 billion yen, breaking through the 3 billion yen mark at the box office. On the 28th, their Majesties the Emperor and Empress and Princess Aiko attended a charity screening to support local medical care.

After the screening, they had a chat with Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kou Shibasaki, and director Isao Nakae, all of whom star in the film.

This film is a human drama about a doctor, Kensuke Goto, aka “Dr. Koto,” who is transferred from Tokyo to the island of Shikina in Okinawa Prefecture, which has fallen into a state of doctorless village, and the islanders. The cast and crew of the previous film reunited for the first film adaptation of “Dr. Koto Clinic” in 16 years.

Director Nakae directly communicated his feelings to each of the cast members, and persuaded them to join him in this miraculous reunion.

Nakae’s team is known as one of the toughest at Fuji Television. The location shooting on Yonaguni Island, located at the westernmost tip of Japan, was a special circumstance, and the participation of staff who knew the area back then was a prerequisite.

However, the staff at that time were now in management positions, and it was extremely difficult for them to participate in this film, which was premised on long-term location shooting on a remote island. After overcoming such problems, in early May of last year, the reunited staff gathered at an “art meeting” held at Fuji Television’s Wangan Studio, and began three weeks of location shooting on Yonaguni Island in June.

However, the risks of bad weather, such as sudden squalls and waiting for the sun, were not the only things that awaited the crew. In addition to the difficulty of managing a schedule that required many people to travel to an isolated island in the middle of the ocean, the COVID-19 crisis often caused unpredictable problems.

Even if these negative factors are subtracted, the film is filled with the overwhelming beauty of nature that can only be captured on Yonaguni Island and the life of the people living on the island.