Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Inside of An Ambulance

     The photo shows the inside of an ambulance. There is some sophisticated medical equipment at your right hand. When the emergency lifeguard is unable to make a decision, the data of the patient is transmitted to the emergency hospital and they can get the doctor's advice. You can see other medical equipment; a heart monitor, an oxygen saturation monitor, cardiography equipment, a blood pressure monitor, an emergency oxygen cylinder, an aspiration device,,,. They eliminate redundant storage space and the ambulance is designed to be very functional and easy to use. In anticipation of frequent emergency calls, the location of the ambulance is always automatically sent to the central fire department. The commander can allocate ambulances properly.

(Vocabulary)
redundant  冗長な、重複する、不必要な、余分の、余剰の

A Snowy World

     I drove my car for about four hours to my wife's original house, where my father-in-law lives alone. Though Japan is a small country, only a 4-hours' drive changes the climate very much. There was snow as far as the eye could see around his house. It was a snowy world. My wife had grown up in such a cold region and doesn't like winter. On the other hand I had grown up in a warm area and don't like summer. I love winter. My daughters and I were verry happy to see snow. The 2nd photo shows my wife's household grave. My youngest daughter is making heart-shaped offerings with snow to show respect to her grandmother and commemorate the deceased.

(Vocabulary)
commemorate the deceased  今は亡くなった人々をしのぶ

Inside of an Ambulance

     I had seen the inside of an ambulance in the US about 20 years ago. I was surprised to know that the equipment was good and sophisticated. Though the Japanese ambulance crews were barred from practicing medicine by the Doctor's Law at that time, the American crews could do some technical procedures; endotracheal intubation, electrical countershock, insertion of an intravenous line,,,. These treatments were allowed for the doctors only in Japan at that time. Needless to say, the first aid at the scene is the key to whether the critical patient can survive or not. For such a reason, the Law Concerning Emergency Lifeguard was issued about 15 years ago. By this law, the emergency lifeguards were allowed to do some treatments and their role is getting more important now. Consequently the ambulance is fully equiped for first aid. The photo shows the ambulance just before going back to the fire department after moving the patient into the emergency care unit.

(Vocabulary)
bar  〈人〉 を締め出す, 除外する
bar somebody from (doing) something
＜人＞が＜…＞（すること）を妨げる［禁じる］

Ambulance

     A surgeon who works in a Mid-Eastern country asked me to show him a Japanese ambulance. I took a few snaps of an ambulance that came to my hospital today. He is not in Iraq, but he seems to have experienced the treatment of the injured by the terror. TV news tells us almost every day that many people died or were injured at the same time by simultaneous explosions. I've never thought how the ambulance crews select patients who are transferred to a hospital among many injured or dead until I received his e-mail. The Japanese ambulance is made for first aid and transportation of only one patient. It has only one stretcher in the ambulance. I took snapshots of the inside of the ambulance and am going to show them later.

Matsuyama and Russia

     I spent a leisurely lunch break today. I didn't have any urgent task after lunch. I took a walk around my hospital and dropped in at a bookstore. I flicked through the latest magazines about PCs.
     The photo shows a tram. There are two types of tram; modern and traditional. This is the modern style tram. These trams come every ten minutes in the daytime. There are some lines. One is a ring line around Matsuyama Castle. I like this line. This line is through both the busiest area of this city and the tranquil area. Most tourists can enjoy the link between two kinds of area. Another line takes us to the hot spa area. The hot spa of Matsuyama city is called "Dogo Onsen". It's famous as the oldest hot spa in Japan. The US Air force didn't bomb this area in the Greater East Asian War because they wanted to enjoy bathing here under their occupation. During the Japanese-Russo War, there was a big prison camp here. Though many war prisoners were transferred here, their treatment was very good. They were allowed to take a walk in the city and to bathe in the hot spa too. Japanese hospitality in Matsuyama was well-known to the Russians. When the Russian soldiers surrendered, they seemed to shout "Matsuyama" with their hands up. The graveyard of the soldiers who died in Matsuyama is kept up by the people in the neighborhood association and the junior high school students.

(Vocabulary)
leisurely  くつろいだ、のんびりした、急がない
flick through  〈話〉〔本・書類などに〕ザッと目を通す
the Greater East Asian War 　大東亜戦争
Japanese-Russo War　日露戦争
prison camp　（戦争）捕虜収容所
keep up  管理する、手入れをする、整備する

Late-Night Snack

     Today is Sunday. It's a holiday, but I'm in hospital now and I'm on duty now, though today is Christmas Eve. I have to stay here until tomorrow evening. If there aren't any acute changes in the hospitalized patients, I have some free time. I wonder what to do today.
     I'm going to have a hospital dinner that the patients eat for now. This dinner is a little small in amount for me. The photo shows my late-night snack.
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/11/todays-lunch.html

Waste of Time

     Today is a national holiday, the Emperor's birthday. I was on night duty last night. My hospital is open all day, including at night, every eight days. (See http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2005/12/every-eight-day.html) Though the last night was not the due day, I had to stay late at the ward. Three epilepsy patients are hospitalized now, and two of them brought on a fit last night. I couldn't go to bed until three o'clock. About ten patients saw me this morning. All of them had some wounds and those wounds need daily gauze exchange. I had to get up by eight o'clock. I got back home at about ten o'clock. I was so sleepy and took a long nap. I felt I wasted time. I'm very sorry. I don't like wasting time.

(Vocabulary)
bring on 〔病気・発作・惨事・危機などを〕起こす、引き起こす、招く
fit  《医》〔てんかんによる〕引き付け、発作

International Sensibility of South Korean Government

     China, along with North and South Korea have spent much time in recent years distancing themselves from Japan.  They view their anti-Japanese policies as a national virtue and this sentiment is encouraged in the heart of young people.  South Korea, in particular, has some egregious examples of treating Japan and its citizens poorly.

 

     On a banner that was brandished by Korea at the last soccer Asian Games, the face of "An Jung-geun 安重根" was boldly displayed. According to Japanese history, An Jung-geun is the terrorist who assassinated Mr. Hirobumi Ito, who had been elected Japanese Prime minister four times. An Jung-geun was arrested by Russian police and was turned over to the police of Japan. Then he was on trial for the assassination and was hanged. He is clearly a terrorist in Japan, but in South Korea he is honored as a hero. How can there be such varying opinions? This man was not a soldier. He murdered a citizen, not a military figure. He did this deed while in casual dress, not in a military uniform, and it was during peace time, not wartime. Is his conduct heroic? The Russian police arrested An Jung-geun; obviously the police thought of him as a terrorist at that time. Not only was he not a hero, he killed a man that was actually supportive of South Korea. Mr Hirobumi Ito was against the annexation of Korea and yet, An Jung-geun murdered him. He was not a brilliant man, but the South Korean Government honors him and constructed a memorial hall for him.

 

     There is a small rock reef called Liancourt Rocks （竹島、독도）in the Japan Sea. Both the Japanese and the South Korean Government claim sovereignty over these rocks. The South Korean Government runs a sensational campaign about this sovereignty across the country and occupies these rocks by force. On the other hand, the Japanese Government has been peacefully proposing that this issue should be filed in the International Court of Justice since Sep. 25 1954. However the South Korean government has avoided or evaded the court battle all the way and continues to occupy the rocks. Seoul always says, "We are confident about our historical data". If this is really so, they should put this issue to trial.

 

     A Korean fishing boat was caught by the Japanese Coast Guard in the Japanese exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The boat was stopped on May 31, 2005 because it intruded into Japanese territorial waters and the occupants were illegally fishing. When two maritime safety officials boarded the fishing boat, the crews of the fishing boat captured and abducted them. The fishing boat broke away into international waters, where the South Korean Coast Guard was waiting for them. After a 48-hour standoff and diplomatic negotiations, the Japanese Government avoided a military confrontation and obtained the release of the 2 abducted Japanese officials. The action by Korea was clearly an unacceptable violation of international law by the South Korean Government. Moreover, the South Korean Government added insult to injury by giving honorable recognition to the South Korean Coast Guard for the rescue of this fishing boat. (Chosun [Korean] Daily News, June 3, 2005).

 

     Yes, Japan is being demonized by the South Korean Government. After this incident, in the high-level conference between both Coast Guards in December of 2005, Korea requested that they'd like to have compulsory investigative authority on the fishing boats that intruded in Japanese territories. Such a suggestion is unbelievable. Japan, of course, rejected their request. Is there on earth any country that gives up its investigative rights on criminal acts that are done at home?

 

     We have to understand that South Korea is not a law-governed country. South Korea isn't one of the developed countries from any angle. What do you think about my opinion? (和訳)

(Vocabulary)
distance sb from sb  ＜人＞を＜人＞から遠ざける, 疎遠にする
view ~ as a national virtue ～を国是とする
sentiment  （ある事柄に対する）意見　感情
egregious  〈失敗・問題などが〉 はなはだしい, 目に余る
treat each other poorly  互いに嫌なことをする
brandish  〈武器など〉 を振り回す
boldly  大胆に, 堂々と  (色・形などが) 目立って, はっきりと
turn over ~ to  ～を…に引き渡す［引き継いでもらう］
figure   要人, 名士
annexation  (領土などの) 併合
military confrontation  軍事衝突、軍事的対立
add insult to injury  追い打ちをかける　さらにひどいことをする
make honorable recognition of  ～を表彰する
demonize  …を悪者扱いする
law-governed country  法治国家

 

韓国政府の国際感覚

(Corrected by Maria)

　南北朝鮮、シナはこの数年間、日本と距離を置いてきた。反日を国是とし、反日感情は若者の中で鼓舞されてきた。特に韓国は日本と日本人に対して目に余る行動をしている。 　この前のサッカーアジアカップで韓国が掲げていた横断幕には「安重根」の顔がプリントされていた。日本の教科書では伊藤博文を暗殺したテロリストと紹介されている人物である。安重根はロシア警察によって逮捕され、日本側に引き渡された。その後裁判にかけられ死刑となった。日本の考えでは明らかにテロリストであるが、韓国では英雄と考えられている。 　どうしてこれほどの評価の違いが出るのであろうか。この男は兵士ではない。そして彼が殺害したのは兵士ではなく一民間人である。兵士の格好ではなく、平服での行為である。まして戦時でもない。ロシア警察が彼を逮捕したことは、明らかに当時テロリストと考えられていたことを示している。英雄などではないだけでなく、韓国併合は間違っていると主張していた伊藤を殺害したのである。まぬけな男である。しかし、なんと韓国政府は彼を讃えて記念館まで作っている。 　アメリカ建国の父ワシントンは宗主国のイギリスにとっては憎い存在だろう。見方によって評価が変わることがあるのは当たり前であるが、安重根の例は全く事情が違う。 　日本海に竹島と呼ばれる小さな岩礁がある。日韓両国が主権を主張している。韓国は国内で大々的なキャンペーンを行い、武力でこれを占拠している。一方、日本政府はこれを平和的に解決すべく国際司法裁判所への提訴を１９５４年から提案しているが、韓国政府は法廷闘争を拒否し不法占拠を続けている。歴史的文献に自信があると言っているが、それなら法廷でどうどうと発言して欲しいものだ。 　一隻の韓国漁船が海上保安庁によって日本の排他的経済水域で捕らえられた。２００５年５月３１日、日本領海に侵入し不法操業を行っていたため停止を命じられたのである。海上保安官二人が漁船に乗り込んだところ、漁船員は彼らを拉致し国際水域へ逃れた。そしてそこには韓国の沿岸警備隊が待ち受けていたのである。４８時間のにらみ合いとなり、平行して事態打開のための外交交渉が行われ、軍事衝突を避けるため、また拉致された海上保安官二人を救出するため、日本側が譲歩した。韓国のこの行為は明らかに国際法違反であり、決して認められるものではない。韓国政府はさらに追い打ちをかけるように、この沿岸警備隊を表彰しているのである。(朝鮮日報２００５年６月３日） 　日本は韓国政府により悪者扱いされているのである。この事件の後、２００５年１２月の両国の沿岸警備の高官による会議上、韓国は日本に侵入した漁船員を自国で調べさせて欲しいと提案している。信じられない要求である。いったいどこの国が自国で起きた犯罪の捜査権を放棄するのだろうか？ 　韓国は発展途上で、幼稚な国と言えるだろう。しかし、残念なことにそれでも隣国である。どのようなつきあいをすればよいのか。



Hangul Test

     I passed the 4th grade of the Hangul language proficiency test. I got the news today. See http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/11/november.html

     I ordered the certificate at once. I'm going to put it up on the wall of my study. The next target is the 3rd grade and this grade is my last goal. I need to increase my vocabulary of Korean words to pass the test. Though it's hard work for me, I think I can in the near future.
     By the way, I'm wondering what language to learn next. I'm hovering between Russian and Pekingese. I heard that Russian has six types of declinations. I had managed to learn the declination of German nouns into four types. Six types of declination must be more difficult than that of German. As for Pekingese, the pronunciation looks difficult. It's completely different from that of Japanese.
     At any rate, I will slowly start learning one of two languages next spring. I hope I'll reach the beginner level in two years.

(Vocabulary)
proficiency  熟達, 熟練, たんのう
decline  (専門) [他] 〈名詞・代名詞・形容詞〉 を語形変化させる [自](専門) 語形変化する

Oyster Nabe (Food Boiled Together in a Pot)

     Today's evening TV news says that the price of oysters has decreased sharply because one of the origins of the Norovirus infection is said to be from eating raw oysters. Despite that there's no evidence of epidemic food poisoning from oysters, but such a rumor is getting around in Japan. It's a shame to believe such groundless rumors.
     I'm going to have oyster pan dish today or tomorrow. This food is very popular in Japan, especially in winter. We put oysters, tofu, various vegetables, anything if it's needed and Japanese dressing materials in the pan and boil them. Norovirus will disappear when heated up. It's lucky that oysters are cheap now.

Here Comes the Sun!

     Beautiful Morning! It had been raining or cloudy for about one week and I had some strong winds last night. This morning it's very cold but getting sunny. My dog, Mocha, looks happy. He is sleeping at the entrance in my house when it's cold. I made him go out of my house and run freely.
     Three of four photos below were taken moment by moment. It's the rising sun, taken from my house. The last photo shows my bike just before starting for work. There are a lot of autumnal leaves in front of my house. I have to sweep up fallen leaves before going to work. The next morning after a windy night in winter like this morning, I have to rake a yard and my garage. It's hard and tiresome work for me.

End of the Year Party

     I'm a member of Mixi (Japanese biggest social networking service). Five members of Mixi got together at a small Japanese-style pub and held the year-end party last night. Our occupations and careers were different from each other, so everybody's story was fresh and intersting to others. I relaxed. Four hours had passed as quick as a wink.
     The photo was taken by one of us just before starting the party and shows Matsuyama Castle. The complete renovation of it has just been done this month. As you can see, this was taken at night under the display lights of the castle. Don't you think it is very clear and beautiful? It's because his digital camera was up to date.

(Vocabulary)
renovation （renovations） 修復, 刷新

Fly Away Home

     This novel seems to be a story that is made into a movie. There are a dozen photos from place to place in the book. These photos show the key points of this story. A photo shows the scene where the heroine is walking with her geese. Another shows her training to fly. She must take 16 geese to the south by plane. The story of this novel was simple, but heart-warming. I'd like to watch the movie of this novel.
14: Fly Away Home (MMR2+: Macmillan Readers Beginner Classics) (11000 words/ 71139words in total)

Norovirus

     Acute infectious gastroenteritis caused by Norovirus is running riot in the western part of Japan now. It was the first time I had heard the name Norovirus. I scoured many papers and found that Norovirus was SRSV (Small Round Structured Virus). SRSV is well known and was written-up in the textbook when I was a medical student. I don't know why, but the name of SRSV was changed to Norovirus in 2002. I experienced the outbreak of rotavirus infected enteritis about 20 years ago in my resident days but didn't know how serious the infection of Norovirus was. If the patients are aged people, some could die from dehydration. I gave some treatments this week.

(Vocabulary)
run riot  〈人が〉 暴れ［騒ぎ］回る  〈植物が〉 はびこる
scour  …をくまなく捜す［調べる］

Cold Burn

     Our dog, Mocha got a cold burn on his left buttock. My youngest daughter, A, was afraid that he might feel cold at this time of the year. She put two disposable body warmers into a salt pot that was made from steel and gave it to him last night.

     This morning I found Mocha trying to touch or lick his left buttock and there was a burn wound. It seemed not to be infected. I'm going to wait for his recovery while I wash his wound every day to keep it clean.

The Last Leaf and Other Stories

     It's the anthology of O. Henry's short stories. Each story had an unpredictable ending and I was surprised at each ending. I knew only the name of O.Henry before and read some of his stories. In the opening of this book there was his autobiography. It was completely different from what I expected from the style of his writings.
     He committed a crime, flew the country, came back to the US and was arrested and taken into custody. Did he thrive on such experiences of adversity?

13: The Last Leaf and Other Stories (MMR2+: Macmillan Readers Beginner Classics) (9900 words/ 60139words in total)

(Vocabulary)
anthology (物語・歌などの) 選集, アンソロジー
thrive on sth  ＜逆境など＞をばねにする, の中でうまくやる
Some people thrive on pressure.  プレッシャーをばねにうまくやる人もいる．
adversity  逆境, 不運

Car Wash

     I took my minivan to a car cleaning service shop today. When I was much younger, I usually washed my car by myself. I want to do it now too, but it takes an hour or more and bushes me. I make it a rule to ask someone to wash my car at this time. This shop is a time-saving and labor-saving place. While my car was being washed, I could write this over a cup of coffee.

(Vocabulary)
bush （人）をくたくたに疲れさせる
at this time  現時点で（は）、今のところ（は）

The Maintenance of My Car

     People drive on the left in Japan. The driver's seat of the Japanese car is on the right side. When I make my car move backwards, the left side mirror tilts downward automatically to make it easy to look around the left rear tire.
     The other day, I found that it didn't work properly. I took my car to the dealer today. The reason for the problem was due to my mistake. I didn't fully understand the function. I didn't know how to switch between the automatic movement and the manual movement.I was very sorry.

Two Parties

     Two end-of-the-year parties coincided with each other last night. I attended the hospital end-of-the-year party at first, then attended another party of my rally team.
     I had a little hangover this morning. Every time I have a hangover, I regret drinking too much and my wife says, "You just never learn, do you?"

My Parents and South Korea

     My parents went to South Korea today for the first time. They have visited many countries after their retirement. I think the number of the countries where they visited would be more than 20. The local travel agency that they often use organized a tour to South Korea and invited them to participate in the tour.
     They visited South Korea today for the first time but it's not the first time they'd talked with Koreans. This incident had already become null and void, so I'm going to talk about it here. It was about 40 years ago. See also; http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/11/travel-for-me-c.html
     When my family lived on a very small island between Shikoku and Kyushu (you can see it with Google Earth, 33°10'10.34"N 132°17'15.32"E), a few Koreans were camping and poaching shellfish. Japanese people who were on the island knew of their existence but got to have nothing to do with them and didn't report the matter to the police. It's unthinkable at present. Anyway, Koreans were doing their jobs. It was a tranquil time. There was no concept of smuggling on the island in those days.
     One day, a middle-aged lady came to my house. She couldn't speak Japanese. Something unusual seemed to have happened to them and they needed a lot of water and some medicine. It was supposed that someone got badly burnt judging from my present knowledge. There was no police, no hospital, no pharmacy and no fire department on the island. She and her daughters had only 3,4 small pans and buckets as containers of water. My parents went to the elementary school where they were working, opened the sickbay and took out some first aid kits for them. After that my parents and I carried as much water as possible to their camp and gave a few bigger buckets with lids to them. Next morning they disappeared.
     A year later, that lady suddenly dropped in at my house at midnight with a lot of shellfish. My parents was so happy to see her again and gave her as much water as they needed. Our family moved to another place next spring so it was the last time they saw her and her family.
     Before starting for Seoul, my father said to me, "I'd like to see her family again. Look for them on the internet." I'd like to, but both entering a country secretly and giving some help to undocumented people are illegal. I explained that to him.
     I wonder what impression my parents are getting in present day Seoul.

(Vocabulary)
null and void  （法的に）無効な
poach   [他] …を密猟する, 密漁する  [自] 密猟する, 密漁する
unthinkable   考えられない, 想像もできない
it is unthinkable that  …とは考えられない
tranquil  穏やかな, 静かな, のどかな
smuggle  …を密輸する, 不法に持ち込む［持ち出す］
sickbay  (船・学校などの) 医務室
undocumented  正式な文書記録のない, 文書による証明のない  証明書類［許可書］を持たない