Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Rally Japan

     Rally Japan is just around the corner. I'll show you the brochure below. I'm going to participate as an interpreter in the Sapporo Dome. I'm sorry I don't have English version, but you can see the figure on the left top and feel something exciting.

Rinzou Mamiya, Japanese Adventurer

     In this entry,I'm going to introduce a Japanese adventurer, Rinzou Mamiya. He was a samurai who lived in the early 19th century. The Russians often showed up around Japan from the north at that time and sometimes attacked the frontier guard of Japan on the Kurile Islands. Rinzo was one of the guards of Etorofu island, which is one of the Kurile Islands. He was talented in surveying and Ainu, so Japan's feudal government dispatched him to Sakhalin to make a map of Sakhalin and investigate the border of Russia. It was his achievement to confirm that Sakhalin is not a peninsula but an island. Though Sakhalin must be a part of Japan based on the international laws, Russia is controlling it now. Anyway, setting that aside now, I'd like to visit Sakhalin. I had seen it a few years ago from the northern tip of Hokkaido. When I saw the statue of Rinzo at the north tip, I decided to visit Sakhalin and cross the Mamiya Strait between Sakhalin and the Eurasia continent.
     The signboard in the picture reads that Rinzo left for Sakhalin from here. In other words, here was the boarding point and the statue is viewing toward Sakhalin.

(Vocabulary)
He was a warrior who lived in the late 16th century.
彼は16世紀後半を生きた武将です。
Kurile Islands  千島列島
Japan's feudal government  幕府
Sakhalin  樺太　サハリン(ロシア名)
surveying  測量
based on the conventional wisdom  これまでの常識に照らせば
farthest north // northern tip  最北端
Eurasia continent  ユーラシア大陸

Banana Case

     What is the hottest topic among girls in Japan? it's banana dieting. After mainstay TV shows and magazines featured the dieting technique of regularly eating bananas, bananas have become scarce on the supermarket shelves.
     I think this kind of stuff is ridiculous and if people want to lose weight, they should reduce their food intake or work out. Who on earth would believe that bananas are effective in shedding weight. I've been thinking like that.
     However, much to my surprise today, I found a lot of bananas in my kitchen. "Who bought them!", I shouted. It was my youngest daughter, A. I asked her the reason. Apparently, she eats bananas that are relatively low-calorie and bananas will occupy some part of her stomach. Bananas seem to decrease her appetite in this way. She become unable to eat much. Her story sounds agreeable, but she is in the midst of the growing-up period. There's no doubt that her body requires enough nutrition. I'm afraid of trends that pressure people into dieting.
     I'm showing the curious case below. As you see, it is the shape of a banana. It is a container of a banana. She took a banana with her lunch box to her school every day. Stupid! Inner beauty with health, integrity and kindness is far better than the artificial beauty.
     I'm a little mad papa tonight.

(Vocabulary)
get [become] scarce  品薄になる
tendency / trend  風潮
inner beauty  内面の美しさ
artificial  見せかけの

National Flag

     Every country has good things and bad things. One of what the U.S. has and Japan doesn't is the national flag in the original and proper sense. I believe that Americans mostly love and are proud of their national flag, but most Japanese don't think like that about their national flag.
     Nationalism and patriotism are expressed with one word "Aikokusin" in Japanese. I mean, these two notions aren't distinguished in Japanese. Therefore, the Japanese people often confuse patriotism and nationalism. The national flag that encourages the patriotism often symbolizes the nationalism in Japan. Leaders in the field of education are afraid that instilling patriotism in children lead to stir up the nationalism. Some groups of leftists show strong hostility against the national flag in various events or ceremonies, like a commencement ceremony.
     Besides, the Japanese children are taught that Japan was an evil country. The education system has been still influenced by the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals, which is already demonstrated as the travesty of justice today. The education of Japan is depriving children of confidence as Japanese. There has never been such funny country in the world.
     I hope that Japan become the country that could be proud of its national flag. Though northern territories and Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks) are obviously the traditional Japanese territory, Russia and South Korea are controlling them effectively. In order to repel invaders, first of all, every Japanese person should become one who can feel proud of his own national flag.

(Vocabulary)
original meaning of the word  その言葉の本来の意味
in the proper sense of the word  その語の本来の意味で
Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals   東京裁判
instill  人に感情などを植え付ける
commencement ceremony   卒業式
control effectively  実効支配する
travesty of justice  茶番劇の裁判
a travesty of   インチキの～～
repel invaders  侵略者を追い返す