Dr. Hideki Sakamoto is late for the very best of reasons. "I had an emergency at the hospital, but am happy to be able to say that mother and baby are both doing well."
I am being introduced to the good doctor by a mutual friend, Madeleine Jalil Umewaka, a Lebanese mother of two who describes her own confinements in Japanese hospitals during the late 1980s as "bad experiences." Now she recommends Hideki (to whose 13-year-old son she is godmother) to all her friends. She believes everyone in Tokyo should know that a fluent English- and Spanish-speaking doctor exists who puts the needs of parents and baby ahead of bureaucratic processes.
Hideki, as he is quite happy to be called, is licensed to practice endocrinology, obstetrics and gynecology. Dividing his time between Tokyo Medical and Surgical Clinic in Minato Ward, Nihon University's hospital in Itabashi and Hiroo General Hospital, he is a rare spirit for being on call 24 hours a day via both his home phone and his pager.