Japan has seen an increasing number of mountaineering accidents amid the boom in alpine trekking, with many victims in their 50s and 60s.
This in turn has led to increasing demand for doctors with expertise in mountain medicine, prompting some doctors to obtain an international diploma in the field that was introduced in Japan in 2010.
In early July, Dr. Kazue Oshiro, 50, was examining a 73-year-old man with angina at Hokkaido Ohno Memorial Hospital in Sapporo.