Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

"Minshuku" Guest House

　　There are various types of hotels in Japan; western style hotels, Japanese traditional ones, youth hostels, riders' houses, dormitories, , , . Among them, the accommodations which are run by ordinary people are called Minshuku. They give their guests meals and overnight stays in their houses. Most traditional houses in Gokayama provide this type of stay to visitors and I became intersted in the life of the mountainside. Especially, what is life like here in the winter? I'm thinking of visiting there again and staying for a few days in the winter. You can see the scenery of winter in Gokayama village here.

About the structure of the houses:
The floor was designed higher than usual, because people were cultivating the soil under the floor. Potassium nitrate, which was the main material of gunpowder, was secretly produced by biochemical methods here. Various plants, feces of silkworms, human urine and some other marerials were put into a hole under the floor and cultured for years. People live on the first floor and the heat goes up to the upper floors. It helped raise silkworms to obtain silk. After that the heat went out of the house through the roof which was made of straw.

　　Ancestors' wisdom is concentrated in this style of house. These houses thoroughly deserve a World Heritage designation, I think.

(Vocabulary)
potassium nitrate  硝酸カリウム
designation [U] 指名, 任命, 指定／[C] 称号, 呼称, 名称

 
 
 

Gokayama (World Heritage)

　　Last night, we spent a happy time with people who would become relatives soon and slept well and truly.
　　By the way, we were going to drop in at or stay in Itoshiro village for a day, which was known as the home of mountain stream fishing. The mineral-rich subsoil water from Mt. Hakusan pours into the Itoshiro river and it makes the river abundant in fish. Naturally we'd enjoy fishing there, but because it had been raining in the Hakusan mountain region for a week, the amount of water was dangerously high. The fishing became impossible and so we visited Gokayama historical village, which is notable for its distinctive roof structure of houses called the "Gassho dukuri" style. "Gassho" means the shape of hands when people pray for something in a shrine or somewhere like that. Can you imagine? Both hands put together palm to palm. My expression might be incomplete and I hope you'll see them in the picture below.
　　This region is surrounded by mountains and has been isolated for centuries. The feudal lord of this region made people produce gunpowder evading the inspection of the tycoon in power at that time. Actually, even now, this region is known as one of most snowy areas in Japan. People would build such style houses so as not to be flattened by the weight of snow.

(Vocabulary)
mountain stream  渓流
river-bed water / subsoil flow[water] / underflow water  伏流水
gunpowder  火薬

 

Location of "Sakano Ueno Kumo"

　　"Sakano Ueno Kumo" is the title of a famous novel written by Ryotaro Shiba, dealing with the Japanese-Russo War (1904-05). Just for your information, greedy Russia hatched a plot to invade Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula and Japan at that time and Japan was able to foil the plot and fight them back in the war. It was the first-ever war that the colored race could repel the white race. All Asian and colored people erupted into cheers and applause for Japan's victory because lots of countries and areas in Asia and Africa were ruled by the white people then.
　　To continue, the major naval battle fought during the war is the Battle of Tsushima, commonly known as the "Sea of Japan Naval Battle" in Japan. The flagship of the Japanese fleet was "Battleship Mikasa" and I wrote about the battleship (1, 2, 3) before.
　　Now my friend is shooting the NHK TV drama "Sakano Ueno Kumo" as the executive producer. He talked with me about the location site of the drama and I had wanted to visit the site. The site, then, was on my way to today's destination, Toyama City. Naturally, we visited there and expected the full-scale Mikasa, but it was disappointing.
　　That is to say, it was built only for shooting the drama and not for the museum which has historical significance. The stern of the ship was omitted and the space under the left side of the deck was the storage space for shooting materials and stage properties. The commander, Heihachirou Togo, is said to have stood still on the deck during the fight to know how things went on against the risk of his life. The place where he was standing must have been important in terms of shooting the drama, but it was not set up. That scene would have been shot in another place using a smaller set or something. To my surprise, this backlot was utilized not only as Mikasa, but as Russian military vessels as well. Some pictures were displayed and I'll show you some of them. The destroyed Russian battleships in the pictures were reproduced on this same Mikasa. It would be an usual way of shooting movies.

 
 
 
 
 
 

(Vocabulary)
location / shooting place  ロケ地
Japanese-Russo War 日露戦争
Manchuria  満州
hatch a plot  陰謀を企てる, たくらむ
foil a plot  陰謀を阻止する
To continue,  話を続けますが、
as large ［big］ as life / full-scale 実物大の
stage properties 小道具
backlot (映画会社所有の) 野外撮影用地
reproduce  再現する

Tojinbo

　　This day we had made our daughter's fiance's parents a promise to visit them. The designated time was 15:00 and so we had enough time to drop in at some tourist attractions. First we stopped over at Tojinbo, which is well-known for its strange rocks called columnar joints. It is located on the seashore facing the Sea of Japan, near Fukui City.
　　On this day, Niigata and Fukushima Prefectures, which are 350 km to the east from Tojinbo, suffered from heavy torrential rain and we were afraid that it would rain around us, but it was clear. Though we saw waves break against the rocks, we got on the sightseeing boat in the first picture. The sea may look calm in the pictures, but actually the heave of the wave was 1 meter from the announcement of the guide and it scared me. I sometimes go out on the sea to enjoy fishing, but my home of Seto Inland Sea is like a serene pond compared with the Sea of Japan. The boat was tied up in a small dent of the columnar joint wall as you see in the picture. I took video clips when the boat cleared out, ran and returned to the tiny quay. I'll embed those video clips. You'd know or feel the heave of the boat.

(Vocabulary)
the heave of sth    [U](文) ＜海＞の（激しい）うねり, ＜船＞の上下の揺れ

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Overbooking

　　We were going to stay in Awara Onsen hot spring in Fukui Prefecture. It was the first time to visit this hot spring and we reserved a moderate room at a high-class hotel there. We were strangers there and thought that everything would be nice in a decent hotel. We'd enjoy various types of hot springs. We got to the hotel uneventfully guided by the navigation system.
　　When I spoke to a doorman through the window of the car, we were showed to a small desk not to the front desk. It seemed that after my reservation a group of visitors wanted to stay on the same floor and my room was occupied. Therefore, my room was transferred to another part of the hotel, and the newly designated room was utterly luxurious as I'll show you at the end of this entry. We were totally lucky. If we had paid the normal room fee, our dinner would have been served in the room, but we had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. I forgot to take my camera to the restaurant and couldn't take pictures of the dishes. I miss showing the dishes here in my blog. I think you'd become interested in the Japanene traditional cuisine, Kaiseki Ryori.
　　One thing, the room had its own open-air bath. We could soak as long as we liked, of course, privately. We got the blessing of the magma deep underground.

 
 
 
 

Eiheiji Temple 2

　　After we paid an admission fee, we were showed to a big Japanese-style room. A monk showed up here and gave a short lesson to us visitors for some time. He told us that around 200 ascetic monks were undergoing strict training all the time. In the grounds of Eiheiji temple, there are a few dozen buildings and he told us about some of the main ones. You can see the outline from the rough sketch in the picture. This temple was built on the slope and the stairs in the second picture are the way to the main hall that is located at the highest point.
　　The numbers of visitors was not so small and several monks were walking or working to and fro. Some visitors wanted to pose together with the monks, but it was prohibited to take pictures of the monks. However, if you are interested in the monks' life, you are welcomed by the temple. The temple offers some programs for visitors. You can stay three nights and experience a similar training as the monks. It was considerably hard work, but I'm thinking of taking it, maybe next summer.
　　The last picture is the official entrance that was shot from the inside. Only the head of the temple can use this entrance as the doorway. The ascetic monks are allowed to pass this entrance only twice in their lives, that is the time they arrived at the temple for training and the time they leave the temple.

(Vocabulary)
ascetic monk  修行僧
ascetic  苦行の, 禁欲的な

 
 
 

Eiheiji Temple 1

　　We parked our car in the parking lot in front of the temple and stepped into the grounds of the temple which was forested as I'll show you in the picture at the foot of this entry. Visitors were allowed to take pictures freely inside the temple with a few exceptions. I'll post those pictures in the next entry and I'd like to write about the outline of the temple at this time.
　　Eiheiji temple was built in 1244 by a Zen Monk, Dogen, and so it means that the temple has almost eight centuries' history. This temple is the home of Zen monks and is famous for its long history, tradition and strict rules. However, it's not only due to them, but a noted TV program as well that it is so famous. NHK airs a program, "Yukutoshi, Kurutoshi", which means "passing year and upcoming year" in English, once a year for an hour from 23:45 on Dec 31st. In this program, Eiheiji temple has been frequently featured. Fukui prefecture, that Eiheiji belongs to, is very snowy and the scene of the Zen seated meditation in heavy snow evokes some special sensation in our minds. So, most Japanese know at least the name of Eiheiji.
　　Something survives after lots of hardships through eight centuries. Don't you think it amazing?

(Vocabulary)
religious meditation / seated meditation / Zen sitting meditation  座禅

(Vocabulary from comments)
serenity　(人の) 穏やかさ, 安らかさ／ (場所などの) 穏やかさ, のどかさ
reverence [U](フォーマル) 尊敬, 敬意 [＋reverence for]
Your/His Reverence (やや古)  尊師 (聖職者に対する敬称)
timeless 時代を超えた, 不朽の／(文) 永遠の, 永久(とわ)の
landscaping  造園／景観設計
line.....curve
in unison  同時に, いっせいに
work/act in unison   一致協力して働く［行動する］
betterment (フォーマル) (社会的・経済的地位の) 向上, 出世
for the betterment of sb/sth   ＜…＞を向上させるために［の］
epitomize …を集約的に示す, の典型である

Lunch (Shojin Ryori dishes)

　　We got off the highway some time after the short stop at the Shizugadake Service Area. The next destination was Eiheiji Temple. This temple is so famous that you can find its features in the English literature or on the internet.
　　When we reached a few kilometers before the temple, we decided to have lunch. The temple would be large in area and it would take more than two hours to see around. That's why we had lunch before visiting the temple.
　　My wife found a lavish restaurant by the roadside, which served tofu dishes. Originally Japanese Zen monks didn't eat meat and obtained protein from soybeans. As we all know, soybeans are the material of tofu. Several temples which have a long history often have their own recipe for tofu and now their original tofu became one of the main products of the region around the temples. So, my wife wanted to have them, but I don't like tofu.
　　Soba, buckwheat noodle, is also in the same position. Old temples were usually established deep in the forest or in an isolated place. In such places, not so many crops have been harvested. However, buckwheat could have been planted on deserted land or even in dry land. Zen monks raised buckwheat for their food and it has also become one of the products around the temples. Naturally, there were many soba restaurants around Eiheiji temple, but I hate soba too.
　　My wife pestered me for a choice between tofu and soba, both of which I hated. In such a case, if I didn't follow her, she would have continued to complain that she wished to have eaten tofu FOREVER. I gave up and stopped my car at the parking lot of the tofu restaurant.
　　The ordinary meals for Zen monks are called Shojin Rhori, which means vegetarian dishes. Shojin Rhori is actually the specialty of the temple, but,,,I don't like it. The menu was all tofu-related and awful for me, and I ventured to choose the dish in the first picture, which was soba soaked into soybean milk. There was no more terrible dish for me, but it was not bad. The second picture was my wife's. These were completely vegetarian dishes.

(Vocabulary)
specialty  自慢の品［料理］, 特産（品）, 名物料理

 

Shizugadake Service Area

　　We arrived in Osaka at 6:00 in the morning. After breakfast on the ferry, I left for Eiheiji Temple, one of the most famous temples in Japan which was located on our route. Just when we got  off the ferry, I found that the navigation system was upset, and it was funny. It was just like the system looked like a live person. I knew the reason why the system didn't work. I inputted today's drive plan into my car navigation system last night when we had started. That meant, the car was transported with its engine stopped. If you place yourself in the system's position, it must have recognized that the car had moved 200 km in a second. Anyway, it was no use if I'd have left it. I re-inputted the destination in the system.
　　To the engineers' credit, the system worked perfectly after that as I had expected. We smoothly went up north on the highway and took a short rest at the Shizugadake Service Area, which is at the northern end of Japan's biggest lake, Biwako. The term "Service Area" might be a Japanese-made English word and let me add a remark about it. The Japanese highways are all toll roads. If you leave the highway, you are charged the toll fare. So, various kinds of services are offered to users of the highways. Restaurants, hotels, shower rooms, dog runs, gas stations and so on. These services are available in the service areas.
　　When we dropped in at this service area, the maintenance of the street lights was under way. I'd never seen it and was watching how things went on for more than five minutes. When I got back to our car, my wife laughed at me, saying that several people were watching me while I was looking up at the work.
　　One more thing, Shizugadake is one of the famous historic battlefields, which I have been eager to visit, but I'd never done it until now. Everytime I passed here by train in the second picture, I wished I had come here by car. This time, however, I came here by car, but we didn't have enough time to get off the highway and walk around the ancient battlefield. I could just take pictures pointing toward the historic site. I'll visit there next time.

(Vocabulary)
place oneself in sb's position  （人）の身になってみる
to someone's credit （人）の名誉のために言っておくと
point [他] （銃・カメラなど）を向ける／《[自]常に＋[副]/[前]》(銃・カメラなどが) 向けられる
point a gun/knife/weapon at sb　銃［ナイフ，武器］を＜人＞に向ける
The man pointed the gun at him and told him to keep still.　男は彼に銃を向け，じっとしてろと言った．
point at sb/sth　 ＜…＞に向けられる
When he woke, a gun was pointing at his head.　彼が目を覚ますと，頭に銃が向けられていた．

(Vocabulary from comments)
funnel  じょうご／(機関車・汽船などの) 煙突
《[他]常に＋[副]/[前]》 (じょうごを使って) 〈液体など〉 を注ぐ
《[自]常に＋[副]/[前]》 (狭い場所を) 通り抜ける
《[他]常に＋[副]/[前]》 (狭い場所に) 〈大勢の人・たくさんの物など〉 を通す
ambush　待ち伏せ（攻撃）／…を待ち伏せ攻撃する
archer 　弓の射手, 弓術家

 

Short Domestic Trip

　　I took a week's leave the other day and had a short domestic trip. I'm writing this article on Aug. 6th, but I'll arrange it in chronological order later.
　　First of all, the purpose was to visit the original house of my eldest daughter's fiance. If you can see the map, check my route. It must be enjoyable. The destination was Toyama City about 600 km from my house by air. I dropped in at several tourist attractions on the way and I'll post pictures of them.
　　My wife and I decided to use a ferry service from Toyo City to Osaka. Until a few years ago, a convenient ferry service was availabe between my hometown, Matsuyama City to Osaka, but now it has been abolished due to one of the stupid policies of the present government, DPJ. Everytime I recall this party and the prime minister, I feel fed up. Anyway, we couldn't use the port 15 minutes from my house and had to drive to Toyo City for an hour and a half.
　　The ferry company's website is here(link). Our ferry was "ORANGE 8". For your information, orange is one of the main products of my prefecture. As you see from pictures on the website, it was comfortable. Much to my regret, I forgot to take pictures inside the ship. I was busy having a bath and drinking beer,,,,

(Vocabulary)
in chronological order  時系列で
by airline distance 直線距離で
The house is two hundred yards from here in an airline. その家はここから直線距離で200ヤードのところにある。

Rip-off Bullet Train

　　Have you ever seen the Chinese High Speed Trains? They are just copies of Japanese Shinkansen Bullet Trains and German ICEs. If you had seen the bullet trains in Japan or the ICEs in Germany, you would surely agree with me. I wondered why China didn't modify them even in a small way, but maybe they couldn't due to the overwhelming high level of achievement. They must have thought that just a little bit of addition could impair the functions of trains.
　　There's an epigraph that remains unnoticed by all under the stairs of the 18th platform reading "NEW TOKAIDO LINE, Product of the wisdom and effort of the Japanese people". I feel that the monument is imbued with strong yet modest Japanese pride. Japan produced the most secure, most punctual and fastest train in the world only in 19 years after the war in the midst of devastated conditions.
　　Did you notice "the Japanese people" in the epigraph? I'd like to place an emphasis on this. The main cast of this great achievement was not the Japan Railways(JR), not the big figures, not the engineers, but the Japanese people. Those who wrote this epigraph must have carved those words with pride as Japanese people, not as staff members of the JR.
　　Ordinary Japanese people always think of others. Do you know that more than 3000 personnel work every midnight to maintain the security of the railway. Nothing happens. It is the best and natural. Those who engage in such maintenance work would never be applauded, but they never cut corners on their routine work. No one was injured for 45 years since the start of the service. This fact proves their sincerity.
　　The other day, a big accident occurred in China. Additionally, I've heard that other many small accidents had often happend in China. The Chinese authorities hide the fact from their people that they had received assistance from Japan and Europian countries and moreover insist that they should have developed by themselves. However, there's one thing that they didn't notice. That is, they can never steal the spirit of Japanese people, who treat others with respect.

(Vocabulary)
rip-off 　ぱくり
way [C] (状況などにおける) （…という）点, 面
In what ways is Japanese society changing? 日本社会はどのような点で変化していますか．
in a/one way  ある点［意味］で（は）
In a way you're right, I suppose. ある点では君が正しいと思うよ．
I was glad he left in one way. ある意味で彼がいなくなってうれしかった．
epigraph  (彫像などの) 碑銘, (巻頭・章頭の) 題辞
applaud [他] …を称賛する
applaud sb for sth  ＜人＞の＜…＞を称賛する
She should be applauded for her honesty. 彼女はその誠実さを称賛されるべきだ．
cut corners  手抜きをする [＋cut corners on]

 
 
German InterCity Express　（ICE)

Clean Up Bookshelves

　　I had my house built 7 years ago and designed a big storage space for books that I had expected to be enough at that time. However, the space is getting small these days and I decided to throw some of my books away. During the tidying up, I found that not a few books remained untouched since I had placed them there when my family had moved from the previous house. I have not read for seven years and it meant that those books were useless. I sorted them out and placed them in the waste box. Finally the amount of books to be thrown away became three cardboard boxes. The bookshelves got neat, but I wondered where I would store these three boxes.
　　The next municipal collection of paper was scheduled two weeks later. My wife asked me why I didn't take them to a used book shop. I called and asked the shop if they could receive all the books no matter how useless and valueless the books were. The answer was OK. I took them to the shop, along with 10 year old maps, travel guides, dirty books with lots of personal notes on, and so on. (I knew that these were absolutely no use, though.)
　　I didn't want anything from the shop and I just wanted to throw them away, but I got 1000 yen. It was really nice work.

(Vocabulary)
used book shop / used bookstore  古本屋

Nuclear Crisis in Fukushima Daiichi Plant

　　I'll refer to the nuclear crisis in this entry that occurred on March 11th in Fukushima Prefecture.
　　I heard lots of people express their opinions. Some insist that Japan should abandon the nuclear plants forever, but I don't think so. Unfortunately, Japan's present leadership is unbelievably childish and lack the necessary ability to cope with this unprecedented disaster. Additionally, when the enormous earthquake broke out in Japan's big city of Kobe in 1995, the leadership was a left-wing government just the same as this time. They cheapen the spiritual backbone of Japan and never show any respect to people who were killed on behalf of Japan. I've taken them as human flops. I realize that the disaster of March might be a warning from God to Japan and also an ordeal to human beings which was given to Japan as the representative of the world. At the risk of sounding immodest, only Japan can overcome such heavily damaged conditions.
　　The top level of technology, a high level of culture and security, is the key to understanding present-day Japan. The U.S., France and Japan are the leading nations with respect to nuclear technology. Among these nations, Japan is still continuing research into a fast reactor, which produces energy endlessly, though it also produces plutonium as the waste. If Japan developed a secure fast reactor, this world would have become more peaceful. Lots of international disputes are derived from the scramble for energy.
　　I have something that I'd like people outside of Japan to know. That is, you can see the influence of China and Korea behind those who insist on the abolition of nuclear technology. If we had absolutely secure and environmentally thoughtful energy, I would have agreed with the abolition, but we don't have hopeful resources for energy yet in Japan. Anti-nuclear people, including the Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, never accuse China and Korea of operating nuclear plants, though once the accident broke out, the radioactive substances would have flown to Japan like yellow sand. I mean, their opinions are totally inconsistent. They also call for the government to follow the good example of Germany, but they manage to hide the contradiction between the German administration's stated policy and its actions. When Germany needs extra energy, they can obtain the electricity from neighboring nations such as France, which produces their electricity from nuclear plants. Moreover, most plants are located near the border with Germany to take in water from the Rhine river. If the accident occurred in this area, Germany couldn't evade the influence.
　　One thing, from another point point of view. Neighboring countries like China, North Korea and Russia have nuclear weapons. On the other hand, Japan doesn't. If the U.S. leaves Japan in the future, what will become of their deterrent effect? Japan never throws away plutonium and nuclear technology from the aspect of self-defence. If the Japanese got allergic to nuclear power itself,  nuclear power-driven vessels like aircraft carriers and submarines could have never dropped in to Japan. It is the ultimate purpose of China.
　　The present Japanese administration hasn't noticed yet how fierce and rogue China and Russia are. China has disputes with many countries. As you know, they want to have control of the South China Sea now, which is an extremely important energy supply route for Japan.
　　Thinking as above, I feel that this disaster might be a big ordeal which God has imposed on us. Lastly I'd like to add, I never give up and other Japanese people would say the same. We are tough enough to overcome this difficulty.

(Vocabulary)
flop  [C](インフォーマル) (演劇・映画などの) 失敗作
human flop 出来損ないの人間
ordeal 厳しい試練, つらい体験
at the risk of sounding immodest  うぬぼれているように聞こえるかもしれませんが
conditions 《複数扱い》 (周囲の) 状況, 事情, 情勢
difficult economic conditions  厳しい経済情勢
The people have [are at] a high level of culture. 民度が高い
present-day  [形] 《[名]の前でのみ》現代の, 今日(こんにち)の
our present-day society 現代社会
present-day Russia 今日のロシア
research into
[!] research into (×of) the causes of breast cancer  乳がんの原因についての研究
「…（について）の研究」はintoまたはonを用いて，research into...またはresearch on...とする．
scramble 《常に単数形で》 (欲しい物・必要な物などをめぐる) 奪い合い, 争奪戦
the usual scramble for the bathroom in the morning  毎朝繰り返されるトイレの奪い合い
thoughtful
1 思いやりのある, 親切な
2 考え込んだ, 思いにふけった
3 思慮深い, 慎重な
inconsistent 〈ふたつの供述・結果などが〉 相反する, 食い違う, 矛盾する
contradiction  [C] 矛盾, 食い違い
the contradiction between the administration's stated policy and its actions 政府が公言した政策とその実際の行動との食い違い

Nadeshiko Japan

　　"Nadeshiko Japan" is the nickname of Japan's national team of women's soccer. The Japanese word, "Nadeshiko," is the word for paying tribute to the beauty and spiritual strength of Japanese women. That Nadeshiko won the gold medal at the World Cup. It was an epoch-making victory. They beat the certified champions of the U.S.A.
　　The kick-off was at 3:45 in the morning in Japan. Though it was early morning, lots of enthusiastic supporters cheered them all the way from Japan. Almost all the supporters gave up the game twice, but Nadeshiko managed to catch up twice. The second equalizer was just a few minutes before the end of the game. It was really dramatic. The game deserved to be watched, putting up with the drowsiness.
　　What I was most surprised with was their hearty smiles just before the penalty shootout. I wondered how strong their spiritual backbones were able to relax and keep cool on such a serious occasion. I admire their achievement from the bottom of my heart.
　　I have something I'd like you to know. Most of Nadeshiko's members aren't professional players. They work in the daytime as a cashier, a clerk or various part-time workers. They simply have loved soccer and finally clinched the championship of the World Cup. Their victory encouraged people who live in the devastated area from the tsunami. I felt the existence of God.

(Vocabulary)
equalize　[他]（数・量・価値など）を均一にする, 同等にする／[自](英) (サッカーで) 同点に追いつく
drowsiness.  眠気
penalty shootout  《サッカー》 ＰＫ戦
certified 誰もが認める
equalizer 平等にするもの / (英) 同点ゴール
a great equalizer  平等化に大いに役立つもの
Sports are a great equalizer in schools. 学校ではスポーツが生徒の平等化に大いに役立っている．

(Vocabulary from comments)
hearten 《[他]通例受け身形で》〈人〉に希望を与える
be heartened to see/find/know  …を見て［…とわかって，…と知って］希望がわく
sicken
1 [他] 〈人〉 に憤りを抱かせる, 嫌悪感を与える
it sickens sb (that)   …ということは＜人＞を腹立たせる
It sickens me that someone could lie like that. あんなうそをつける人間がいたなんて腹が立つよ．
2 [他] …に吐きけを催させる, をむかむかさせる
be sickening for sth   どこか具合が悪い
sicken of sth [句動詞]  ＜…＞がいやになる, にうんざりする
excel (人が）抜きんでる, 秀でる
excel at/in sth
She really excels at sport.　彼女は本当にスポーツに秀でている．
despise  …を軽べつする, 見下す, 嫌悪する
prance  ぴょんぴょん跳ねながら歩く
basket  (バスケットボールの) 1ゴール, 得点
about  (目的・意義などについて) …のためで, …を意味して, …ということで
To me, art is about expressing emotions.  私にとって芸術とは感情の表現だ.
be all about (doing) sth 〈仕事・活動などの〉目指すところは＜…＞（すること）にある
My job is all about helping people.  私の仕事の目的は人助けにある.
This is what education is all about. これこそ教育の目標とするところだ.
template 手本, 見本, モデル
aggrandizement [U](けなして・フォーマル) (権力・重要性などの) 拡大, (地位などを) 高めること
self-aggrandizement [名] [U](けなして) 自己の誇張
cheapen …の品位を落とす, 安っぽくする
cheapen yourself (by doing sth)  （＜…＞することで）自分の品位を落とす
implied  暗に示された, 含意された, 暗黙の
fortitude  不屈の精神

Group Riding

　　I joined the group riding tour that was staged by the driving school where I had learnt how to handle big motorcycles. I have ridden several motorcycles for more than 30 years, but all of them were below 400cc of displacement. That's because I had not been allowed to ride over 400cc motorcycles. Two years ago, I was able to lift the restriction of the displacement in this school. I wrote about how things were in the school in the previous entries.
　　On the morning of July 17th, instructors and graduates of the driving school got together at the school and enjoyed riding motorcycles to Omogokei Gorge. The route we ran will be shown at the bottom of this entry.
　　Japan is also struggling against the rapid aging of the population resulting from the decline in the birthrate like other developed countries. Lots of schools, universities, kindergardens and those which deal with younger people are worrying about enrolling students. The number of people who love motorcycles is decreasing. The driving school seemed to have such concerns.
　　The organizer arranged a support car that would help us ride in hot and humid conditions. The car kept our lunch and drinks cool and took them to every rest spot. It was really helpful. They shot lots of pictures and videos of us and seemed to use them to promote the school. When the web page of this tour is built, I'll link this entry to it.

Link to Our Route

(Vocabulary)
displacement
[U] 強制移住［移動，退去］/ [U] 代替 / [U] 解雇, 解任, 離職 / 《常に単数形で》(専門) (船の) 排水量 / [U](専門) (エンジンの) 排気量
enroll  [自] (学校に) 入学する, (講座に) 登録する, (組織に) 入会する ／ [他] …を入学［入会］させる
enroll in sth  ＜…＞に登録する
He plans to enroll in college in the fall. 彼は秋に大学に入学する予定でいる．
enroll on/for sth (英) ＜講座など＞に登録する
promote …の販売を促進する, 宣伝活動をする
She's in town to promote her new book.  彼女は自著の新刊を宣伝するために町に来ている．

 
 
 
 
 

Oktoberfest

　　Oktoberfest (German word) is a well-known German event which is held in October. When I visited Germany in autumn 2009, I missed it though I really wanted to join the enthusiastic beer-people. I had to come back by Oct. 3rd. After the trip, I have been eager to attend the event.
　　The other day, an e-mail came to me from my second daughter, saying that she was chosen as one of the attendants of the "Nagoya Oktoberfest". Nagoya Oktoberfest? What's that? It's July, not October. Oktoberfest is not popular among Japanese. Why in Nagoya? Several questions came up and finally I was surprised to see the official website of the event.
　　Oktoberfest will be held in several places in Japan, and besides they seemed to have been held since a few years ago. I didn't know that.
　　Nagoya is one of the big cities in Japan. The event started on July 15th and continues to 24th. You can enjoy 24 kinds of German beer. Moreover German dishes which go well with beer are served. You can see them on the website. On the stage, German folk music is performed. If I had received the e-mail a few weeks earlier, I would have taken two days off and rushed to Nagoya. My daughter has enough German skills in such a casual situation. It would be the reason why she was chosen.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

　　I've done the first long, at least for me, cycling trip. It was tough for me, but comfortable. I got heavily suntanned, but I hope I'll try to ride longer next time. I had underestimated the pleasure of cycling.
　　However, I had some lessons from this cycling trip. More than a half of the cyclists whom I met were wearing their helmets. When I went downhill, I sometimes felt like toppling forward. I have to get a helmet by the next cycling tour. The jeans were terrible for riding. They stuck around both knees and hampered their free movement. The saddle was small and it caused my buttocks pain. My friends wore pants designed for cycling. They had a pad on part of the buttocks. As one of the subscribers of this blog, Shiroi-Tora, says, I need a helmet and pants for cycling.
　　The scenery passed slower than when I rode my scooter. I noticed lots of items along the way. I could see the whirlpool under the bridge. The current was so rapid. The current around Alcatraz wouldn't be able to compare with it, though I've never seen the current in San Francisco Bay.
　　I reserved a roundtrip ticket of JR transport service for Sept. 4th. I'm thinking of going farther. I'll post the route map then; enjoy it.

(Vocabulary)
topple [自] (ぐらついて) 倒れる, 崩れ落ちる
The magazines toppled to the floor. 雑誌が床に崩れ落ちた．
topple over/backward/sideways   倒れる［後ろへ転倒する，横へ倒れる］
buttock 《[C]通例複数形で》(片方の) 尻, 臀部
sth doesn't/can't compare with sth  ＜…＞は＜…＞と比較にならない, より劣る

Pictures 2

　　As I wrote before, we could stop to take a rest on the bridge though the car drivers weren't allowed to do the same. The first picture shows one of the whirlpools from the bicycle path. The stream was really rapid. The cargo ship which was sailing downstream was really fast.
　　The Shikoku-side starting point of the Shimanami Route was shot in the third picture. The entrance consists of three kinds; for cars and motorcycles, for small motorcycles up to 50cc and for pedestrians. It is amazingly nicely designed on the complex topography.
　　The last picture but one shows the car that we got on. The destination display read "out of service". People who didn't know how it worked would wonder who were the people getting their bicycles out of the car.
　　I was really tired. I was unused to doing such hard exercise, but the cycling was comfortable. I decided to apply for this JR's special service for cyclists again. Needless to say, the person who was lying on the seat in the last picture is me. I'm afraid that there will be so many people that I wouldn't be able to lay down like this next time.

(Vocabulary)
whirl / whirlpool  (水・風などの) 渦, 渦巻き
topography
1 [U] 地勢, 地形 the island's topography その島の地形
2 [U] 地形学, 地誌学
3 [C,U] (社会・経済などの) 機構, 構造

(Vocabulary from comments)
well deserved rest : deserved はこういう使い方もできるんだね

 
 
 
 

Pictures 1

　　I chose 10 pictures for you. If you live outside Japan, these pictures might be interesting. Enjoy them.

　　The first picture shows me riding downhill southward on Ohshima Island. You can also see the Kurushima-Kaikyo Ohashi Bridge in the picture, which is the world's first three-consecutive suspension bridge. The length is 4105 meters.

　　We reached the southern end of Ohshima Island. As you see, this was a fishing port and lots of small fishing boats were moored there. There was a make-shift restaurant serving local sea food and clay charcoal stoves. The visitors could roast and eat the freshly caught sea food. We would have liked to eat them, but the view of the bridge column deterred us from doing that because we couldn't have done without beer if we had eaten roasted sea food there.

　　One of the bridge columns of the Kurushima-Kaikyo Ohashi stands on the really tiny island of Umashima. We descended to the land. The picture shows the elevator arranged to the wall of the column. You can see its whole appearance in the next picture. It helps the inhabitants of this island do daily shopping on the mainland Shikoku.

　　The last picture was shot at the southern edge of Umashima Island. This area is well known as the channel which has the most rapid current in Japan.

(Vocabulary)
suspension bridge  吊り橋
moor [他]（船）をつなぐ, 停泊させる
A few fishing boats were moored alongside the pier.
clay charcoal stove  七輪
bridge column  橋脚
deter …を思いとどまらせる, やめさせる
deter sb from (doing) sth
A loan system would deter many young people from going to college. 貸付制度は多くの若者たちが大学に行くのを思いとどまらせるだろう．

(Vocabulary from comments)
eatery [C] (複 eateries) (インフォーマル) レストラン
wick away moisture  水分を逃がす

 
 
  

Hard Work

　　All the bridges on the Shimanami route span the big artery of ocean which connects the big port cities of Kobe and Osaka with China and both Koreas. So, the height of the bridge beam must be high enough for big cargo ships or tankers to be able to pass under the bridge. The path for bicycles is arranged on the same level of the bridge. The first picture shows me trying to climb up to the height of the beam. It was really hard work for me. I realized my lack of exercise in daily life. It might be my excuse, but jeans were not suitable for cycling. They restricted the movement of my knees.
　　In the second picture, I am riding on the bicycle path. The sky was getting better. This path was for bicycles and small motorcycles up to 50cc. The white line on the road stood for the separator line, but there was no one but us. I could ride freely.
　　The road was even and I was relaxed in the third picture. The weather was getting more and more clear, though distant islands were hazy.
　　The last picture shows a bicycle-parking area on Ohshima island. I've seen something similar in Germany, but I've never seen one in Japan. You would understand that this island welcomes cyclists.

(Vocabulary)
span vt.  〈橋が〉〈川など〉に架かる, を渡る
the bridge spanning the Sava River サバ川に架かる橋
bridge beam  橋桁
separator line  区切り線
hazy かすみがかった

(Vocabulary from comments)
poise 《[他]常に＋[副]/[前]》(特に書き言葉) …を構える, 上に保つ
poise sth over/above sth  ＜…＞の上方に＜…＞を構える
waterline the waterline (船の)（喫）水線; [C] 海岸線
fare
fare well/badly/better(書き言葉)  うまくいく［うまくいかない，もっとうまくいく］
morrow
1 the morrow(やや古) 翌日, 明日
on the morrow of something(文)  ＜…＞の直後に
unused to (doing) sth  ＜…＞（すること）に慣れていない