Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Unusual Dec. 31st

     It's the last entry of the year for 2009. My work has been so hectic in this period and December 31st is not the usual last day of the year.

     This year, my second daughter Yuri, is away from home. My other two daughters are going to apply for each of the next steps; one is graduate school and the other is one of the national universities. Both are prestigious and it's not easy to pass the exams. They are devoting themselves to study. Inside my house all went quiet. It came to a complete silence like someone can hear a pin drop. It looks like my dog, Mocha, knows the situation. He is also quiet.

     Yuri is in Nagoya City now. My wife and I will visit her apartment tomorrow and take her and part of her possessions back home. She is set to live in Germany from April for at least one year and has to cancel the contract of her apartment in March, so all her possessions should be sent to home at that time. My wife wanted to save the cost of transportation and we decided to transport them by ourselves. The toll of the highway will be discounted to 1000 yen no matter how many times we used it for the first 5 days of the new year. We'll start just after the change of the year.

(Vocabulary)

graduate school　〈米〉大学院

all go quiet  静まり返る

(Jan. 13th 2010)

Roast Beef and vegetables

     In this blog, I haven't taken the topic of food so often. When I saw a TV cooking program, I became aware of not knowing fundamental words for cooking. I decided to write something about food dishes this time.

     Look at the picture. It's a plate of roast meat and vegetables. It is not roasted yet. Just raw ones. As you see in the second picture,  solid fuel is put under the plate and it is ignited just after the opening of the party. Needless to say, it's a very simple dish and it would be easy for the kitchen staff. The solid fuel is small and looks not so strong, but it was enough for roasting something on the plate. If you don't take care, you'll over-roast them.

     It is a device for eating something hot and keeping it hot. If you eat the traditional Kaiseki, all the dishes are served from the kitchen keeping a suitable temperature, or the chef prepares some dishes just in front of you. However, we skimped on the money at this party, so the dishes became time- and labor-saving ones.

     This plate is made from stone. I've seen people in the developing world use extremely hot stones for their cooking, boiling, roasting, steaming and so on. I thought stones might retain the heat efficiently.

(Vocabulary)

briquette fuel  (バーベキューなどに使う) 豆炭, 練炭

skimp on  (金・時間・物などを) けちる

cooking[cookery] program/show  料理番組

steam  蒸す

retain heat  保温性が高い

retain  〈性質・権利など〉 を保つ, 維持する, 〈熱･水分など〉 を保つ, 逃さない

The building is designed to retain heat. その建物は熱を逃さないように設計されている．

(Jan. 12th 2010)

  

Sea Bream

     The Japanese word for sea bream, tai, sounds similar to the Japanese adjective "mede-tai", which means "felicity", and what is more it is auspiciously red in color. This fish is often used in celebrations. This dish is slowly-boild sea bream with Japanese sake and soy sauce. This was very good, but I thought, while writing this entry, that people who can't use chopsticks would hardly taste it. It must be very difficult to eat with knives and forks. Anyway, it was nice to eat it slowly over Japanese sake, while picking through it.

(Vocabulary)

sea bream 鯛

felicity  = happiness

auspicious   幸先(さいさき)のよい, 吉兆の

(Jan. 10th 2010)

 

A Portion

     Do you see the three small bowls just in front of you? The left one was made from seaweed and the right one was made from boiled sweet vegetables. The center was a cooked rice cake, which is the symbol of happiness in Japan. In other words, these dishes meant a gift from sea and land.

     The symbolic Japanese cuisine is called "Kaiseki", which is artistic because each dish is served individually with a small amout of carefully prepared and beautifully arranged food. Kaiseki requires many attendants. As soon as each dish is prepared, it must be served to everyone, keeping hot dishes hot, cold ones cold. So that the attendants always have to observe the guests and inform the kitchen staff when every guest finishes the dish. The dishes are served at everyone's pace.

     By the way, our party was planned with low cost and lots of dishes were put on the individual table at once. You'll see the thin transparent sheet on the raw food dish for protection from the dust and keeping it cool with refrigerant.

     If served traditionally, the three dishes that I mentioned in the opening paragraph would be served individually at first with a small glass of plum wine as the appetizer.

(Vocabulary)

bowl   深鉢, わん, どんぶり, (料理用の) ボウル

plum wine  梅酒

refrigerant  保冷剤

(Jan. 10th 2010)

 

Joint Party of Motor Sports-related Groups

     As I wrote several times before, I belong to an auto racing team. I'll report on the year-end party of my team this time because it was unusual.

     After the relatively big motor sports event was held in autumn by the concerted effort of several teams, these teams got together and had a year-end party. The picture was shot just before the party. Some attendants are preparing and checking all the dishes. They would serve some more dishes later. My hometown is noted for the oldest hot spring, Dogo Onsen. Most guests were in the hot spring at that time, and I got out of it a little earlier to take this picture.

     While I took pictures, I hit on a nice and informative idea that I would take every dish and add an explanation to it. It would be interesting to foreigners.

(Vocabulary)

concerted／combined effort  協力

informative  役立つ情報［知識］を与える, 有益な

(Jan. 9th 2010)

 

 

End of the Year Party

     The end of the year party might be called the winter feature in Japan. In other words, it is a seasonal tradition. Lots of people go downtown or have a party in their homes in December. Though people can hold a party whenever they like, the party dominates in December. My hometown is amid an economic downturn, but the weekends in December are exceptional.

(Vocabulary)

seasonal tradition  風物詩

summer feature  夏の風物詩

dominate  集中する

(Jan. 8th 2010)

Assistance

     I have lots of acquaintances who run the clinics, some of which accommodate a few dozen patients. If the practitioner got ill and was hospitalized for a long time, whatever would become of the patients and employee of the clinic?

     I was asked to stay in my friend's hospital two nights a week. Several doctors patched days and nights up like mosaic tiles for a sickly practitioner. It's a kind of mutual aid system. As for me, I have two night duties in my hospital per week regularly and had to undertake two more. The above was one of the reasons for my hectic days.

(Vocabulary)

mosaic tile  モザイクタイル

sickly 　病弱な　病気がちの

mutual aid 互助

(Jan. 8th 2010)

Wako, 倭寇

     Piracy started in 13th century on the Japan Sea. China and the two Koreas call the pirates Wako, which means the Japanese assault. In other words, they insist that the pirates consisted of Japanese people. I'd like to make reasonable and theoretical remarks.

     Some Japanese people started piracy in 13th century to take their properties back from China and Korea. Japanese traders were frequently cheated by their customers and suffered damages. They got bent out of shape and easily resorted to the act of piracy without deep consideration. However it's the case only in the early period of "Wako" and most members of "Wako" were Chinese, who were made out to be Japanese. Japanese students are now taught that Wako was the crime of Japanese people. It is also part of the distorted history, which was made up by China and the two Koreas. I'd like to advise young Japanese people not to use the expression, "Japanese Pirates".

     By the way, I wondered if there was the same example in the world, and looked for it on the internet and found a few interesting facts.

     In the 17th, 18th and the first half of 19th century, American pirates carried out scores of raids on the Caribbean coast of Spanish territory. They were called "buccaneers". Their money stimulated and activated the economy in America (British American states and Commonwealths before independence), and their activities were useful for the resistance against Spanish forces at the same time.

     When the William & Mary College was on the verge of closure, it was the boss of the buccaneers who donated big money and rebuilt the college. This college is the alma mater of the U.S. third President, Thomas Jefferson and also one of the most prestigious univiersities in the U.S. It has a longer history than Yale University. The buccaneers were undertaking the same role as Captain Drake in England. Captain Drake is a hero in England, but in the U.S. the buccaneers are hidden away. We only know it as the name of a football team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

     When you have a talk with Americans and the topic becomes Wako, you should say something like this: You are very lucky, because Caribbean people are mild and quiet. They never accuse Americans of piracy. Japanese people have been accused of innocent alleged piracy for a long time. It's a born burden to be located next to China and Korea which have massive inferiority complexes.

(Vocabulary)
piracy (CD・コンピュータソフトなどの) 海賊版作成, 海賊行為 (船を襲撃する) 海賊行為
copyright/patent piracy  著作権［特許］侵害
get bent out of shape  不機嫌になる、へそを曲げる、怒る
resort to sth      (やむなく) ＜手段＞に頼る, 訴える
be made out to be a Japanese  日本人に扮する
raid  (不意の) 襲撃, 急襲 (+on/against)
buccaneer　海賊　= pirate
British American states and commonwealths 英国領アメリカ諸州 〔ほとんどの州はstateだが、一部の州はcommonwealthなので。〕
be on the verge of (doing) sth   ＜…＞の［＜…＞する］寸前である
sb's alma mater  ＜人＞の母校, 出身校

Something Will Change?

     Do you know the American soldier, Joe O'Donnell? I know him via a documentary program. He was dispatched by the U.S. to Nagasaki City in the immediate aftermath of the Greater East Asian War. His job was to take pictures of the city two weeks after the atomic bombing. On arriving in the city, he was astonished to see the effect of the atomic bomb. He fulfilled his job. He shot lots of pictures and reported it to the U.S., but at the same time he stored many pictures as his own. He might have been shocked to see the victim city. He didn't show his pictures to his family at all. He packed and put them away deep into the attic.

     When many years had passed since the war, he decided to make his pictures public. Most Americans didn't want to know and see them, and he was criticized for doing it. His wife left him and his family came apart. Most Americans don't seem to want to accept their cruel deeds.

     How do the U.S. handle the historical fact of the atomic bombing and the following cruel massacre of innocent people. They have to stand in front of the judge whose name is history. How did they conclude their acts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

     I found an interesting article and will show you it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/for-veterans-day-the-grea_b_353270.html

(Vocabulary)
pack away　（物を箱などに）しまい込む
put away  しまい込む
attic  屋根裏部屋

Electrically-Assisted Bicycle

     I went to the municipal library after lunch today. This public library accepts orders by e-mail too, so I sent an e-mail and asked for some books a few days ago, and I got an e-mail from the library today, saying that all were ready.

     It was about three or four kilometers from my office, and I could walk there, but it was in the lunch break and I didn't have enough time, so I used a bicycle, which was electrically-assisted and which any one of the staff members could use. This was my first experience of this type of bicycle.

     There were no hills between my office and the library. The effect of assistance seemed to remarkably appear on the hills, but I felt it sufficiently even on the flat course. The first pedalling was incredibly light. The bicycle accelerated easily and smoothly.

     Looking for information on the internet, a considerable number of people seemed to use this kind of bicycle for commuting in big cities like Tokyo. They don't need to have parking lots in the center of the city. They can elude the heavy trafic jams. Riding bicycles is good for their health. My commuting distance is only 6 km, but I usually use my scooter. I'm thinking of changing my means of transportation.

(Vocabulary)

a considerable amount/number of sth   かなりの量［数］の＜…＞

  

Recession

     The serious recession hit Japan as well as other developed countries. Lots of workers have been laid off or many companies have scheduled the voluntary redundancy packages. I'm working in a middle-sized hospital as a surgeon. Most of my co-workers have special licenses or abilities, so they, including me, are supposed to be resistant to the economic stagnation, in other words, we are the last people to lose our jobs.

     My hospital has about 70 staff members except for the outsourcing workers such as in the pharmacy, the dietary department and the maintenance service. Several recruits join us occasionally. The tendency of them seems to have changed lately. They are eager to get some licenses. They switch jobs and get started newly in the field of medicine or welfare service. It might be because this kind of jobs are unaffected by the economic depression. The previous job of our most recently coming recruit was the processing of fish meat. He was standing by the line that made dried bonito shavings in a factory. He is going to enter the school of nursing next spring that is open in the early evening. He works in the daytime until 16:00 at my hospital as an assistant of the care workers, and goes to school after that. It takes much longer time to get the license in this type of school, but he has to make money as well. His age is just 30. His late start as a full-fledged member of society, compared to the people of around his age is apparent. His next five years would be hard. I really wish he will get to the destination as soon as possible.

(Vocabulary)

redundancy  [C,U](英) 余剰人員（の解雇）

voluntary redundancy   希望退職

dietary department （病院などの）給食部

company recruit / new recruit  新入社員

occasionally  たまに, 時々, 時折

very occasionally  めったに（…ない）

dried bonito (shavings) かつお節

- / full / full-fledged member of society  社会人

New German-Japanese Dictionary

     I bought a German-Japanese dictionary today. I already have a 30 year-old one, but I thought that the dictionaries must have had a remarkable progress in 30 years. I learned German for only two years in college, and at that time I had only to learn the reading and a little writing. However, what I need now is to listen and speak German, because I'm planning to visit Germany again next spring.

     I picked up and thumbed through every dictionary from the shelves in the bookstore. All of them were printed with more than two colors and easily viewable. Plural fonts are used and it made them eye-friendly. As I expected, the dictionaries on the bookstore's shelves were significantly different from the older. I felt refreshed and am developing my German vocabulary.

(Vocabulary)

thumb through sth  ＜本・雑誌など＞にざっと目を通す = flick through

develop [build up, enrich, improve] one's vocabulary  語彙を増やす