Charlotte Marshall, an elderly American living in Tokyo, isn't happy. Accompanied by her daughter, Rebecca Peterson, she is visiting a local clinic.

Charlotte has been experiencing some "senior moments" of late and Rebecca is concerned. Things go well at first, but when the young Japanese doctor, struggling to conduct the consultation in English, continually addresses his questions about Charlotte's condition to Rebecca, her mother finally reprimands him: "Don't ignore me! Talk to me, not about me." Chastened, the doctor hastily apologizes and endeavors to include both women in the ensuing conversation.

In real life, "Charlotte" is Ann Endo, a retired nurse who has raised her family in Japan, while "Rebecca" is Christine Benson, a U.S.-registered nurse currently based in Tokyo because of her spouse's work. The doctor is actually a student at The Jikei University in Tokyo. All three are taking part in an innovative program called Simulated Patients (SP for short), which matches foreign volunteer patients with Japanese medical students for role-play.