Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Der Vulkan Ontakesan

　　Der Vulkan Ontakesan, der ein sehr berühmter Vulkan ist, brach am 27. 9. 2014 Samstag gegen Mittag aus. Es war in der unglücklichsten Stunde geschehen. Im Herbst wird der ganze Berg rot und viele Leute besteigen den Berg. Außerdem es war am Samstag Mittag. Viele sind zum Mittagessen auf dem Gipfel geblieben.
　　Damals wurde kein Warnung herausgegeben, deshalb hat die Zahl der Opfer bei dieser Eruption mehr als 30 Tote und mehr als 60 Verletzte betragen.
　　Ich habe den Berg Ontakesan schon einmal bestiegen. Das Unglück ist keine fremde Angelegenheit für mich. Ich wünsche den Opfern Glückseligkeit im Jenseits oder schnelle Besserungen.

　２０年くらい前になりますが御岳ロープウェイを使って御嶽山に登ったことがあります。長い地球の歴史の中で２０年というのは誤差範囲。自分がこの噴火に巻き込まれていたかも知れないと思うと人ごとではありません。亡くなられた方々のご冥福と負傷された方の一刻も早い回復を祈ります。合掌。

 

A Volcanic Eruption

　　One of the volcanos in Japan, Mt. Ontakesan, erupted on Sep. 27th leaving 51 dead and more than 10 missing. It appears that the eruption was the worst human suffering in Japan's volcanic disasters after World War 2. The control authority of volcanos is the Meteorological Agency and it was always monitoring the conditions of 47 active volcanos, but it couldn't issue a warning of the explosion in advance. I think that the volcanic eruption occurred at the worst timing. I've climbed this 3000 meters high volcano about 20 years ago and know the mountain well. Mt. Ontakesan is very picturesque in this season of the year with a blanket of colored leaves. The 27th was Saturday and additionally the time of the eruption was at noon. Lots of people were spending lunchtime around the summit viewing the magnificent scenery.
　　The rescue team, consisting of Japan's Self Defense Force, Police, and Firefighters are struggling to recover the victims' remains at present, but it's not easy due to thickly covered volcanic ash.

(Vocabulary)
Meteorological Agency 気象庁
human suffering 人的被害

Space Food

　　I got a set of space food of Neapolitan Ice Cream, Pudding, and Takoyaki. Neapolitan ice cream was new to me. Takoyaki is a famous food in Japan and is a ball-shaped pancake with bits of octopus. The dramatic point is its taste, which was not bad. I admired the developers' techniques. They were available for more than a few years. Naturally, the texture was far different from their original ones, but judging from its condition to be eaten in space, they were acceptable.

(Vocabulary)
Neapolitan /nìəplətn || -pl-/ [名] [C] ナポリ人; [形] ナポリ（人）の
Neapolitan ice cream ナポリタンアイスクリーム《色と味の違うアイスクリームを重ね合わせたもの》.

　良く見ると実際に宇宙飛行士の食用に供されているものではないと書いてありますね。こんなものだけで良いとは思えなかったのでホッとしました。実際のものを食べてみたくなりました。

Altimeter

　　Do you understand what the following picture shows? It's my altimeter, mainly used for climbing in the winter. It shows the altitude of where I am. It was one of the necessities of climbing, specifically in winter. With a detailed terrain map, I could know my whereabouts from its display. It was very useful also for security during climbing. It works by measuring the change in atmospheric pressure as I climb up or down. If you stay at a point, it simply shows the change of the atmospheric pressure at your whereabouts. So, in my house, it's always placed on my writing desk "for weather forecasting". When I wake up in the morning, I check the change of it from the previous night. If the altitude of my house ascends, it means a decrease of pressure, and at the same time, it tells me that the weather will worsen.
　　The GPS receivers and digital devices have been making remarkable progress in recent years. Thanks to them, I reached the point where I just don't need it. I decided to throw it away, saying in my mind, "Thank you for saving my life for years!"

(Vocabulary)
altimeter 高度計
sb's present/current whereabouts ＜人＞の現在の所在

Urlaub in Hokkaido

　　Ich habe Urlaub in Hokkaido gemacht. Ich habe mein Motorrad nach Hokkaido mit dem Flugzeug transportieren lassen. Ich bin zu Osaka Flughafen mit dem Motorrad gefahren und habe dort mein Motorrad abgegeben.
　　Mein Plan war, Hokkaido zu überqueren. Ich bin zum Ende von der Schiretoko Halbinsel, die in Osten Hokkaidos liegt, gereist. Der Eintritt im Ende von Schiretoko Halbinsel ist zum Schutz der Natur und den vielen Braunbären verboten, also habe ich ein Rundfahrtsschiff benutzt. In der Nähe habe Ich Kunaschiri Insel, die durch Russland besetzt wurde, gesehen. Das ist schade.
　　Es gibt viele heiße Quellen und Speisen in Hokkaido und das Motorradfahren in dieser Jahreszeit ist sehr angenehm, aber in diesem Sommer hat es viel geregnet. Das war auch schade.
　　Ich will einige Jahren später wurde eine Motorradreise in Hokkaido planen.

Family Tomb

　　My parents are 82 and 83 years old. They are still healthy and enjoy walking daily, but they began to have their tomb built the other day. My father is the second son and didn't succeed his father, so he needed his own tomb. I've not seen how tombs are designed and built, so it was interesting to see the passage of construction. The picture shows the construction of my family tomb at the halfway point. If nothing unexpected happens, my parents will enter the tomb first and my wife and I secondly. My father is fond of its location, because of the nice view from the tomb. I wondered if he would like to view the scenery after his death. The tomb is near my house and my jogging route. He might have thought of the easy accessibility when he chose the location.
　　My father asked me if I knew any stonemasons. I'm a member of Japan's 8th biggest Lions Club and more than 100 people belong to the club. Stonemason? Yes! My father got a contract with him in June and the design of the tomb was repeatedly modified, and now it's under construction. Below the tomb, a Catholic cemetery is located and my teachers from high school are buried there. The position looking down on their tombs pricks my conscience.

(Vocabulary)
prick sb's conscience  ＜人＞の良心をうずかせる

(Vocabulary from comments)
sort out
sort sth ↔ out ＜問題・困難な状況など＞を解決する
He needs to get a few health problems sorted out. 彼は健康上の問題をいくつか解決する必要がある．
sort sth ↔ out ＜…＞を整理する
I need to sort my desk out. デスクを整理する必要がある．
sort sth ↔ out ＜…＞を区別する, えり分ける
I've sorted out the papers that can be thrown away. 廃棄してもよい書類をえり分けた．
sort sth out from sth ＜…＞と＜…＞を分ける
sort sth ↔ out ＜…＞の段取りをつける, 手配をする

School Festival

　　I live in the same district as my high school. It was founded by the Dominican Order 63 years ago and most students continue to universities. My residence is located on the commuting route of the students and I heard of the school festival from a student who was passing by and I visited my high school today after a long interval.
　　The activities of students reminded me of my high school days. When I happened to walk in the entrance hall, the statue of Thomas Aquinas stood still just like 40 years ago. A funny legend came down in connection with the statue, which is, who rubs its nose before leaving the school will be sure to pass the entrance examination. That's why its nose is blackish.

End-summer Party

　　The super moon has been a popular topic of conversation today and the head of my hospital held an end-summer party on the roof terrace on Sep. 12th, but some clusters of cloud interfered with moon-viewing. The moon in this time of the year is the most beautiful of all the year round and it was too bad not to be able to see the moon. However, the dishes were good and abundant. I, along with my colleagues, spent a really relaxing time in the breeze of autumn. It was such a nice time that I couldn't believe that there were so many conflict regions on the globe. The pictures shows the buffet table on which dishes were placed and my first portion.

Commuting? Touring?

　　In Hokkaido, I used my navigation device, ZUMO550, every day and now even in my hometown I have begun to set my ZUMO550 on my scooter every day. It might become my routine work before riding. Today, I attached the ZUMO550 to my scooter as usual before commuting. Seeing that, my wife wondered if I needed the device for commuting. She must have thought that I would never lose my way on the way to my office. Naturally, I remember the commuting route.
　　I do it just for fun. Putting my ZUMO550 on the meter panel of my scooter makes me high, just like before long riding in an unknown area. My commute route is listed as one of the advisable routes for riding on almost all of the roadmaps. The commuting time is 50 minutes or so and I can run through without any rest, but I always take a rest and drink a canned coffee. I'll show you pictures of my scooter at my favorite place below.