Tokyo - A popular Japanese television cartoon blamed for forcing 685 children to seek hospital treatment also afflicted more than 10,000 others with milder symptoms, a newspaper said yesterday.
The Yomiuri Shimbun said the figure represented those who felt sick, but not so bad as to require hospital treatment.
The fire defence agency said ambulances had been called to take 685 children to hospital after the programme on Tuesday featuring the Pocket Monsters. The children were struck by convulsions, blurred vision or vomiting after seeing one of the characters, flash its eyes on television.
