Go Tokyo Your Experience
The “Withdrawal from the Team” phenomenon in reality: A Japanese city councilor drives out a school doctor, leading to a series of troubles.
In recent years, the trope of “Withdrawal from the Team” has been popular in Japanese light novels, depicting a protagonist who, after being pushed out of a team due to lack of recognition, flourishes in a new environment, ultimately causing regret for their former employer. Recently, a true event unfolded in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, that mirrors the plot of “Withdrawal from the Team” novels.
A city councilor, dissatisfied with the school doctor, had him removed, resulting in a chain reaction. The city council and city hall were in a state of chaos, and the citizens were in an uproar. Let’s take a look at the details of this incident.
The cause of the incident: The city councilor was unhappy with the school doctor’s assessment that his daughter was overweight.
The origin of the incident is 44-year-old city councilor Saito Toshio, who, dissatisfied with the school doctor labeling his elementary school daughter as “obese” during a health check, became agitated and demanded the doctor’s resignation.
The catalyst for the incident was the school doctor marking “obese” in the BMI (Body Mass Index) section for Saito’s daughter and recommending medical consultation. Saito believed his daughter was not at the level of obesity and was extremely unhappy about it.
Saito Fujio expressed during a media interview that he was very angry upon seeing the “obesity” mark on the checklist, believing that the school doctor’s judgment was overly arbitrary.
Especially since his daughter received the obesity notification, she has started skipping breakfast, reducing her lunch, and even refusing to eat dinner, which has made him even more worried.
He stated that at the time he impulsively thought the school doctor made such a judgment just to earn money, so he asked the school doctor to “stop.”
The school doctor resigned, and health checks in the city fell into crisis.
Surprisingly, this school doctor in his seventies really resigned.
The position of school doctor itself is a “thankless” job, with compensation much lower than that of an ordinary doctor, so there are not many doctors willing to take on the role.
After resigning, the health check work in many schools in the city fell into paralysis, and there was a lack of candidates for school doctors, severely impacting the health management of students.
The situation rapidly worsened, and citizens flooded the city council and municipal office with complaints, demanding that Fujio Saito take responsibility for the matter.
The city council even publicly apologized to the citizens during the meeting, stating that this incident had caused much disturbance.
The city’s education committee also stated that due to the absence of a school doctor, the health check work could not proceed normally. They have been requesting the local medical association to help find a new school doctor, but so far they have not found a suitable candidate.
It’s too late to make amends.
This incident has been referred to by Japanese netizens as the “real-life version of quitting the group,” because its subsequent developments are almost identical to light novel tropes. City councilor Saito, realizing that his impulsive behavior led to serious consequences, personally went to apologize to the school doctor and requested him to return to his position.
However, just like in the light novels, the school doctor refused Saito’s request and chose not to return to the position.
Saito admitted in an interview: “I spoke too harshly, and I apologized to him, asking him to continue as the school doctor, but he still refuses to come back.”
The sincere apology and attempts to make amends by the city councilor failed to change the outcome; the resignation of the school doctor has become a foregone conclusion, and the city government and city council are still in a frenzy to find a new school doctor.
This incident not only puts City Councilor Saito Fujio in a difficult position but also highlights the importance of the school doctor position and the real challenges it faces. Although the job of a school doctor is often seen as “thankless,” when this position is truly lacking, the normal operation of school health inspections can be severely impacted. This incident reflects the importance of respect and communication for professionals, especially during emotional moments, where impulsive actions may lead to irreparable consequences.
Although the efforts of Councilor Saito to turn the situation around are genuine and sincere, it is, as in light novels’ “resignation trope,” already too late to make up for the loss of key talent.