The Japan ME Association will produce an English-subtitled version of our documentary film about ME/CFS patients in Japan, “Hope to Our Hands: The Hidden Story of ME/CFS in Japan.”which we have been screening before a wide range of audiences across Japan since it was completed in 2018. We would like to introduce the trailer for the film (an English translation of the Japanese trailer follows below).
English translation: Trailer for “Hope to Our Hands: The Hidden Story of ME/CFS in Japan”
Text enclosed in brackets […] are captions (text on screen).
[Hope to Our Hands]
[The Hidden Story of ME/CFS in Japan]
[Trailer]
[One day, all of a sudden]
[Stricken by an illness without known cause or treatment]
[Becoming bedridden and forced to quit work or school]
[With most medical tests detecting no abnormalities]
[People with the illness are told despite suffering from severe symptoms
that it’s just their imaginations or that they’re lazy]
Woman: There are many doctors who have never even heard of the illness.
[An illness that doctors don’t know]
[A lack of doctors to write disability certificates without a diagnosis]
Woman lying in bed: When I met with those five patients, everyone was saying the same thing. Doctors don’t understand. Family members don’t understand. We’re struggling financially because we aren’t able to get disability assistance.
[Not recognized as having a disability]
[Unable to receive government support]
[Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)]
[The illness has been called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Japan]
[Now it is common to use both names: ME/CFS]
Woman on sofa: People don’t take me seriously and say things like, ‘Oh, I have chronic fatigue, too.’ In the end, telling people the name causes even more misunderstanding about my illness.
[Suspected of being lazy or malingering]
[There are an estimated 100,000 patients]
[Patients who have been abandoned]
Woman in bed: When I realized that everyone was suffering the same way that I was, that they were all struggling, I realized that I had to do something.
[So she spoke up, created a patient association to raise awareness]
Title shot : “Hope to Our Hands: The Hidden Story of ME/CFS in Japan”
[Caption: Mieko Shinohara. Diagnosed in 1990 in the United States]
Woman in bed: I realized that Japan was really behind [Western countries].
[I want people to know about this devastating disease]
[Despite being trapped in a body that would not work the way she wished]
[She searched for other ME/CFS patients who would take action]
[From Hokkaido to Hiroshima]
Hope to Our Hands: The Hidden Story of ME/CFS in Japan
[Research for ffective treatments is being conducted overseas]
Woman wearing glasses: I hope they discover the cause and treatments for the illness soon.
[Completed this spring]
[Join our cause by hosting film screenings of this documentary across Japan]
[So that the truth about ME/CFS ]
and the voices of the patients can be heard]
Japan Me Association
Hope to Our Hands: The Hidden Story of ME/CFS in Japan
Seiji Arihara, Director
Contact us about hosting a film screening at 080-4082-6287
Japan ME Association
Japan ME Association 