By Staff MSNBC December 17, 1997 9:49 AM PST TOKYO -

Colors exploded on TV screens across Japan, a cartoon character flashed his sparkling eyes - and hundreds of young viewers were felled by fits of spasms and nausea. More than 600 viewers of the hit cartoon "Pokemon" suffered epilepsy-like seizures about 20 minutes into Tuesday night's show and were rushed to the hospital, TV Tokyo reported Wednesday. TV Tokyo is canceling the segment on 30 other stations scheduled to show it. The bizarre sickness has officials considering new programming guidelines and mothers concerned that Japan's wildly popular cartoons could be harmful. "I'm worried," said Keiko Murakami, who watched the program with her three children at their suburban Tokyo home, though none of them got sick. "I have to warn my kids that the program could be dangerous." TV Tokyo did not say which scene of the show sickened the viewers, but news reports said an explosion mixed with five seconds of flashing red lights from the eyes of the most popular character, a rat-like creature called "Pikachu," coincided with the viewers suffering the epilepsy-like symptoms. "Toward the end of the program there was an explosion, and I had to close my eyes because of an enormous yellow light like a camera flash," viewer Takuya Sato, 10, was quoted as saying by the national Mainichi newspaper. TV Tokyo said about 650 viewers ages 3 to 20 fell ill, including some who saw part of the show on a news program. About 150 remained hospitalized Wednesday. The show, "Pokemon," - a Japanese rendering of "pocket monsters" - is based on characters in a game produced by Nintendo Co. The weekly show has been broadcast on 37 TV stations nationwide since April and has the highest ratings in the Tokyo area in its 6:30 p.m. slot. It's not the first time kids have been sickened by Japanese animation. Several years ago, a handful of teen-agers suffered seizures while playing video games sold by Nintendo. The company now attaches a warning of epilepsy-like symptoms triggered by the games' optical stimuli.

In the United States, a woman said in 1991 that she suffered seizures from the voice of "Entertainment Tonight" co-host Mary Hart. Dianne Neale's doctors said Hart's electronically transmitted voice was triggering the abnormal electrical discharges in her brain. Neale suffered from a rare form of epilepsy called temporal lobe seizure. In Japan, a country where garishly illustrated and often violent animation is so popular, some people are urging the government to more closely monitor the images that children watch on TV. "I hope broadcasters would investigate it thoroughly and take precautions to avoid similar problems in the future," said Murakami, who complained that TV programs do not provide any warnings about content.

The Posts and Telecommunications Ministry, which supervises TV stations, announced it is investigating the incident. A spokesman for Nintendo Co. said there was no link between its game and the cartoon apart from the use of characters. TV Tokyo spokesman Hiroshi Uramoto said the scheduled broadcast of the same program on 30 other stations nationwide would be canceled. "We are shocked to hear many children were taken to hospitals," Uramoto told reporters. "We will investigate thoroughly, and consult with experts." Tuesday's "Pokemon" episode featured a child and a monster fighting together to escape a computer. Program producer Takemoto Mori said he has used similar flashing effects in most of the previous "Pokemon" shows, with slight variations in color and background combinations. "During editing, that particular portion didn't call my attention or bother me," Mori said. "I'm really sorry that the kids got sick watching their favorite cartoon." Toshio Yamauchi, an epilepsy expert at Saitama University of Medicine outside Tokyo, said that the symptoms suggest a one-time attack triggered by optical stimulus, which is different from epilepsy, Kyodo News said. "There have been many similar cartoon programs in the past, and I don't understand why the program this time caused so many attacks," Yamauchi was quoted by Kyodo as saying. Television and newspaper headlines Wednesday morning were dominated by the reports. "'Pokemon' panic," screamed a national newspaper Mainichi. "What happened to the popular program that abundantly used high technology." Some of the commercial TV stations set up telephone hotlines for viewers to call in more information. The weekly program is watched by millions of children. It has been broadcast on 37 TV stations nationwide since April and has the highest ratings in the Tokyo area for its time slot.

Television epilepsy
The children all came down with the symptoms about 20 minutes into the 30-minute long animation. The Yomiuri newspaper quoted a doctor specializing in epileptic fits as saying the symptoms were similar to fits that some children are susceptible to when they play video games. Doctors who treated the victims said children went into a trance-like state, complaining of shortness of breath, nausea and bad vision when the rat-like creature's eyes flashed. Other children were stricken when they watched TV replays of the offending scene in news reports of the earlier victims. Dr Yukio Fukuyama, an expert on juvenile epilepsy, said bright flashes of light and color from a television screen could trigger a phenomenon known as "television epilepsy." Doctors have known that children are susceptible to such seizures since even before the dawn of television, but it has become more evident with the spread of TV, Fukuyama said. He said the seizures, albeit unpleasant, were not dangerous and that spontaneous recovery was the norm. But parents should be aware of possible side effects of watching programs featuring bright flashing lights. "The networks should definitely think of issuing a health warning beforehand," Fukuyama said. Psychologist Rika Kayama said the phenomenon appeared to be an epileptic effect induced by flashing light, known as photosensitive epilepsy or group hysterics. "Given that they collapsed with their eyes irritated, there is the possibility of photosensitive epilepsy or group hysterics," said Kayama, author of a book on video games, said. "The children must have been totally immersed in the program," she said. Doctors at the University of Tokyo Hospital, where four children were hospitalized, said the patients seemed to have been affected by glaring light that stimulated their nerve cells. One child did not remember watching the cartoon.

The Associated Press and Reuter contributed to this report.