Kazufumi Nomura

Kintaro Oe is a 25-year-old boy who left Tokyo University and now lives a simple life, traveling by bicycle to learn everything he can about the world.

Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.