For 61-year-old Nayako Yamaguchi, taking care of her 66-year-old sister, Etsuko, is a job she does 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Etsuko had a stroke in July 1999 that left her bedridden.
One night earlier this month, Nayako became alarmed by her sister's irregular pulse and called an ambulance. After hours of waiting at a hospital, it was around 10 a.m. the next morning when she finally took her home.