Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

E-mail about Bougainville Island

     An Australian, who had stayed on Bougainville Island for 1 year as a worker for Bougainville Copper Limited, sent me an e-mail. It seems like the Island is getting peaceful, but is not good for sightseeing or spending a vacation. He showed me some websites for getting information on the Island.
     It's ok, because I don't have enough time and money now. I just want to say here that the internet and search engine system are wonderful. I wrote about Bougainville Island at the end of January. http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/01/my-father-gone.html Only a month later, an Australian came across my blog and sent me an e-mail. I just started writing this blog to improve my skills in English but now I'm getting a by-product from all over the world that I couldn't have imagined at that time.
     There are many kinds of people, culture, nature, ways of thinking, ways of life,,,on the globe. Of course, I know it's natural. However it was only knowledge I gained from my school teachers. After I started writing this blog, I began to realize it was true.       (Written in Nagoya)

Electronic Dictionary

     The photo shows my electronic dictionary. It has English-Japanese, Japanese-English, German-Japanese, Japanese-German dictionaries and some other dictionaries about Japanese. It always helps me to write this blog. I can easily carry it in a pocket of my white coat, even in the ward. I'm wondering about getting the Korean-Jananese or Russian-Japanese version now. Those are a little expensive because of the smaller demand than the English version.

 

Learning

     I'm thinking, just thinking of learning another new language. Mandarin Chinese? or Russian?
     A motorcycle trip around the Sea of Japan is one of my dreams after retirement. Starting from Shimonoseki in Japan, to Pusan by ferryboat, going up the east coast of South and North Korea, entering into Russia, crossing Mamiya Strait (the Strait of Tartary in English) to Karafuto (Sakhalin in Russian) and coming back to Wakkanai in Hokkaido. Both Mandarin Chinese and Russian look so difficult to learn, even if I only learn daily conversation in those languages.
     I know that there is so much still to learn in this world. I turn 49 in September. Though it means that I've already passed a half of my life, I feel that I am just beginning to scratch the surface of all there is to learn. Maybe if I can learn some of what there is to learn, I can pass that on, but I know that there is so much that I will never begin to learn.
     Anyway, MAKE IT HAPPEN!

(Vocabulary)
scratch the surface
表面を引っかく、上っ面をなでる、上っ面だけを扱う［論じる］
〔研究・学習などを〕ほんの少し学ぶ［かじる］
やらなければならないことがまだまだある
Your explanation's just scratched the surface of the matter.
君の説明は上っ面をなでたにすぎない。

(KW:間宮海峡 樺太)

Bocchan Train

     I went out in lunch time today. The photo shows the Bocchan Train which is one of symbols of my home town. My town is famous as the place from the scene of the novel, "Bocchan" and "Sakanoue no kumo". Both novels describe people in the Meiji Era (1868- 1912). This train, now mainly for tourists, shows up in "Bocchan" and runs near my hospital.

My Study

     It's a PC nerd's room. (grin) This room is designed my way. I always feel relaxed in this space. I can talk to many people in the world from here. I'll show you the back side of my uplifting space some time.
     My priority is my family now. But in the future, after my retirement and the independence of my three daughters, my wife and I are going to join some activities for handicapped people both nationally and internationally. My wife is kind of a specialist of social welfare.
     I'm charging my batteries here.

(Vocabulary)
uplifting   (人を) 幸せな気分にする, 気持ち［精神］が高揚する（ような）

Filing An Income Tax Return

     The time had come for me to file an income tax return. You have to file it from Feb. 15 to Mar. 15 in Japan. I did my own taxes. My 2nd and 3rd daughters had a dental treatment for straightening their teeth last year and I paid a lot of money for it.
     The tax return that I calculated was as much as I expected. I felt happy and I was keeping this calculation secret from my wife and the tax return was to become my pocket money.
     However, the sad thing is, the calculation sheet was found by her today. It's my fault for leaving it on the tray of the printer. The bank account that the tax refund was dispatched to was changed from my private account to the household account. I'm in the doghouse!

(Vocabulary)
dispatch  〈手紙・荷物など〉 を送る, 発送する
be in the doghouse (informal) (へまをやって) まずい状況にある

Lunch on Valentine's Day

     In Japan it's an annual event for ladies to present chocolates to men who mean a lot to them. I think that it is a sales strategy of chocolate companies.
     A small chocolate cake that is shown below was served for every staff members at today's lunch. It was kind of fun and was arranged by the chef. He sometimes entertains us with his humor.

A Relaxing Duty

     Today is a national holiday in lieu of Japanese National Foundation Memorial Day that falls on a Sunday (Feb. 11). My hospital is closed as well as most other hospitals. However, as for me, I'm in my office now. Today is my turn to stay in my hospital for hospitalized patients.
     Fortunately all the hospitalized patients are stable. It means that I have a lot of time to spend freely. Although it's duty hours now, I'm going to read some books and learn German, one of my hobbies.

(Vocabulary)
in lieu of   ～の代わりに
fall on 《常に＋[副]/[前]》 〈祝日・記念日などが〉 (ある曜日などに) 当たる
fall on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday etc.  月曜日［水曜日，金曜日］に当たる
My birthday falls on a Friday this year.
今年の私の誕生日は金曜日に当たる．

A Tailor

     A tailor has been attending my hospital to get physical therapy once a week for more than 2 years. I have heard many times that he sometimes selects casual wear for a massage practitioner who has eye trouble and can't choose his clothes by himself. The massage practitioner's co-workers always say, "That tailor is very good at choosing clothes that look good for him at a reasonable price."
     I asked him about his work in the consulting room today. He was more talkative than I expected. I knew that he likes sailing dinghies like me and we were on the same wavelength. He was going to the US for about a week to stock merchandise for his shop. I asked him to select my casual wear in the US. I'm looking forward to seeing him next time.

(Vocabulary)
stock  〈商品〉 を店に置く, 在庫を置く
The store stocks a wide range of kitchen equipment.
その店は台所用品の品ぞろえが充実している．

Trouble with a Broadband Router

     My house was built four years ago. The residential broadband was getting popular and reasonable at that time and I had the house designer install LAN domestic wiring. Three desktop PCs, a DVD recorder, a networked printer, two networked HDDs and an internet protocol telephone are always connected by LAN and sometimes two laptop PCs are networked with a wireless connection. As you think, I'm a kind of PC nerd.
     The condition of the broadband router has been bad these days. I had to reset it once a week since a couple of months ago. Finally it broke down on Feb. 5. I send it to the repair department of the manufacturer. It seems that it will take 10-14 days to be repaired. I can access the internet in my office, but my daughters can't. They complained so much that I bought a new router. To my surprise, the price of the router was a fourth of the price four years ago and besides it's less than the repair fee.
     Anyway, I can post this entry now from my study.

(Vocabulary)
residential broadband  家庭用ブロードバンド
domestic wiring  屋内配線

Walking in Tokyo 2

     I got up at six, earlier than usual. I had breakfast with my two daughters. One of them lives in Tokyo. I was going to take my second daughter to the university and stay there but no attendant was allowed to enter the campus.
     I thought, what shall I do for 7 hours until the end of the exam? Just sit somewhere? No! Play Pachinko? No! It maybe costs a lot! Watch movies? No! I can watch movies in my home town too! Let me do something that can't be done if I weren't in Tokyo! I decided to take a long walk after much debate.
     I moved to Shinjuku by train and started walking without any destination. I got into the Kabukicho area, which is the biggest nightlife circuit in Japan. Though it was daytime, I was overwhelmed by its gaudiness. Next, I headed east or north, because the university where my second daughter was taking an exam was in that direction. I mean I didn't want to be far away from that university.
     I came across the Korean town. I could read Korean characters, so it was fun to walk around with a canned coffee in my hand. I didn't have any map. I just saw where I was by the map board on the street. I found Waseda University on the map. I've never been there. I set my destination to it.
     I walked around and around Waseda University and found a street car. This street car was the one which I had wanted to get on for a long time. I felt lucky to find it. This street car's trip would be a long story. I'll write about it in another entry.

(Vocabulary)
after much debate  十分考えた後で
nightlife circuit  夜の歓楽街
gaudiness  けばけばしさ