Who was that masked man?

I've had a bit of a cough since Tuesday, but today Yoshie had finally had enough of it and ordered me to the doctors. So, after lessons finished we trundled over to the local hospital (marginally bigger than a UK GP's clinic) which specialises in stomach ailments, but has a drop-in service even for folk with perfectly fine stomachs. Upon entering and telling the receptionist of my condition, I was issued with a thermometer and a surgeon's mask. Fortunately, she didn't expect me to remove any ulcers, just didn't want me infecting anyone else in the waiting room as I stuck the thermometer under my arm. Five minutes later I was in the surgery and was preparing for the fifth degree (it's not unknown to have to give blood, urine and stool samples). The poster on the wall with a variety of pictures of female genital warts didn't exactly settle my stomach. So, I was quite relieved when the doc addressed me in good English (he had lived in Milwaukee for two years) to tell me, very GP-like, I was suffering from a cough and if I insisted I could have an x-ray and blood test as the doctors were going on holiday from tomorrow, but really I had nothing to worry about as I had no temperature. He recommended some pills to deal with the symptoms and to come back in a week, after their holiday, if I still had a cough. Wow, not even a stethoscope in sight. After being given the prerequisite bits of paper, I popped over the road to a building smaller than some garages I've seen, in which seven pharmacists were toiling away. They toiled away some more and provided me with three sets of pills. The cost to me of seeing the doctor? ¥1,170 - about five pounds, and the medicine was ¥600. And I got to keep the mask too, which I wore all the way home, until Yoshie told me to take it off, I wasn't that poorly. Picture by Emma-chan.