Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Meeting After 30 years

     The high school which I graduated from tells graduates to inform the school of their contact information all the time. However, some graduates fail to do it and become unable to be reached. They can't get the official organ of the school and invitation letters of alumni meetings or events like that.

     The other day, I found one of my classmates who had been missing for 30 years by chance on the net. I was really surprised and had a contact with him. Additionally, more luckily, he had a chance to come back home through his business and we had a party.

(Vocabulary)

contact information  連絡先

organ (フォーマル) (政府・政党などの) 機関紙［誌］ 

the official organ of the Communist Party  共産党の公式の機関誌

by chance  偶然に, 思いがけず

 

Recent Political Issue

     The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had a landslide defeat in the general election held last summer. Since the long-standing conservative party was beaten, the Japanese administration has been in serious turmoil. Since then, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has been ruling the administration. Most Japanese people didn't really want the change of government. Some just intended to smack the LDP down a little, and some wanted to have the DPJ rule the regime for a certain short time. This idea of the Japanese people has turned to be wrong now.

     The DPJ broke the promise between Japan and the U.S. without consideration. They stopped the cooperative global activity against terror in the Indian Ocean and alternatively threw the Japanese taxpayer's money away into the chaos of Afghanistan. Likewise, they are planning to scatter the Japanese franchise to foreigners including Chinese and Korean, most of whom are anti-Japanese. The DPJ rejected lots of plans that were figured out by the previous regime and this has led to a shrinking of economic activity despite the fact that Japan is amid a financial downturn. The DPJ looks like they want Japan to perish or come under the rule of cruel China. I don't want to be a subject people.

     I decided to do something to stop the DPJ. Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, who makes headlines nowadays, is the power broker not only in this party, but in the country.

(Vocabulary)

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)  自民党

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 民主党

smack  ぶつかる, 衝突する, [他] …を平手でたたく

break one's promise  約束を反故にする

franchise  参政権

subject peoples  被支配民族

gray eminence / power broker in the country  陰の実力者 

Smudge

     In the last entry, "Covering Up Gray", I wrote about concealing gray. Then I said that I couldn't find a suitable word for the Japanese word "bokasu", which means "become unclear like unfocused pictures". My English teacher made a suggestion, "How about smudge?" I didn't know this word and looked it up in my dictionary. It says; 1: if ink, writing etc smudges, or if you smudge it, it becomes dirty and unclear because it has been touched or rubbed; 2: to make a dirty mark on a surface; Conclusively both meanings have dirty images. However, "bokasu" has a good meaning as well as a bad one. "Bokasu gray" means suppressing the glitter of gray, not dyeing or changing the color of hair and consequently gray diminishes contrast and becomes less conspicuous. I think this is just like lowering the resolution of the computer screen.

(Vocabulary)

conclusively  　疑う余地もなく, 明確に

resolution 　（スクリーンなどの） 解像度

Covering Up Gray

     It's really hard for me to express scenes of daily life in English. If you could use some technical terms, it would become easier. Technical terms usually respond to another language's technical ones one by one. It means an easier translation.

     The barber at the barbershop which I wrote about in the last entry advised me to dye my hair, because I have lots of gray for my age. To be honest, I had tried it once about 10 years ago when my gray didn't look so highly visible yet. At that time, my hair became really black and looked unnatural, so I rejected his proposal without hesitation this time. However, he continued to say that he wasn't going to conceal my gray, but make it less conspicuous. Just as when a drop of water falls on a water-color painting, or raindrops get letters on an envelope wet, the color of hair would become ambiguous. The verb "bokasu" in Japanese is perfect in describing this situation, but I couldn't find a suitable word in my dictionary.

     Anyway, I decided to try "bokasu". It required an additional 40 minutes and I was deadly bored, but the remark of my wife was favorable. I'm wondering if I'd have my hair treated the samy way next time.

(Vocabulary)

Covering Up Gray  白髪ぼかし

look highly visible  目立つ

conspicuous  目立つ, 人目をひく

water-color painting  水彩画

Lecture of Former COS Tamogami

     You may not believe it, but the Japanese media don't want to cover what is inconvenient to the Chinese Communist Party. It's because there are people in the media who are obedient to China. It is generally said that lots of Chinese agents built up the underground network of spies. China seems to have established it behind closed doors. Only the Japanese people who can reach the information on the internet on a daily basis had known the fact until the Beijing Olympic Games. Since the Oympics, however, lots of Japanese people came to eye the activitiy of China. China called up Chinese students and residens at Nagano City and made them interfere with the activities of Tibetans and Uighurs. They also attacked Japanese people who purely wanted to see the torch relay. The anti-Japan broadcasting company, NHK, couldn't help reporting the fact.

     There was a chief of staff in the Japan Air Self-Defence Force who officially mentioned that Japan used to be a good country. I think his comment wasn't a problem, but he was replaced promptly due to this remark. Can you believe it? He is Japanese and he just praised Japan. Now you know how seriously brainwashed Japanese top officials are.

     A year later, he became one of the heros. He wrote a dozen books and has been invited to speak all over the Japan and sometimes the U.S. Today, he came to my hometown and I attended his lecture. It was very productive.

(Vocabulary)

media  単数形で用いる

cover/ report  報道する

behind closed [locked] doors  秘密裏に

call out/ call up（部隊を）動員する

interfere with sth ＜…＞を妨害する, 害する, に支障を来す

torch relay  聖火リレー

chief of staff (COS 幕僚長)

Japan Air Self-Defense Force  航空自衛隊

praise  …を称賛する, ほめる

praise sb for (doing) sth  ＜…＞（すること）に対して＜人＞をほめる

productive  実りの多い, 有意義な

Pictures are presented by the host.   

Two Barbershops

     I've been going to the same barbershop for more than 30 years, and the shop is run by a married couple. They are congenitally deaf and thereby couldn't speak with a normal voice. As I've been a regular customer of theirs, I can distinguish just a few of their words, but they usually work silently without essential questions. As for me, I say, "Just as usual". It's all that I say to them". It's absolutely calm except for the noise of the TV in the shop. I drop in at the shop after night duty, and like to have my hair cut while having a nap. They cut my hair, wash my head and give me a massage of my neck and shoulder. It's very comfortable and I often fall asleep.

     By the way, my father, who is a retired elementary school teacher, told me that one of his old pupils had opened his barbershop near my house and he told me to go to his shop sometimes, so I went to his barbershop today. His barbershop was modern and comfortable, but he was very talkative. I wished that I could have a nap. He wants to get lots of customers and his talkativeness might be his effort to get his business on track. I decided to go to both alternatively.

(Vocabulary)

get one's business on track  事業を軌道に乗せる

2010 Winter Olympic Games

     The Vancouver Olympic Games will begin soon. I've been to Vancouver five or more times. Skiing is my family sport and we were going to visit Vancouver this season, but various factors didn't allow us to enjoy the Olympic Games in Vancouver. We really wish that we could stay in Vancouver for a week. Just after coming back home from the last visit to Canada, I wrote this entry.

     The other day, the new outfit of the Japanese Olympic Team was unveiled. It consists of gold and black, and I didn't feel it was nice, but it sounds like having high potential in keeping body temperature and preventing wind resistance. While I was making outspoken remarks in front of my wife, she said to me, "If the authorities gave you the uniform of the national ski team, you would fly out of your skin and wear it, even if you were making such remarks now. Oh, one thing, remember that the uniform clings to your body and shows your middle-aged body to the public...." "Oh, no!"

     Anyway, it's wonderful to be able to see the scenery of Whistler and other skiing places around Vancouver. I'm not sure, but lots of TV reporters will visit and show us tourist attractions and nice shops and restaurants in Vancouver. For now, I have to content myself with these TV programs.

(Vocabulary)

various factors / various reasons  諸般の事情

wind resistance  風の抵抗

cling to sth  ＜…＞にくっつく

My wet shirt clung to my body.  ぬれたシャツが体にぴったりくっついた．

cling-wear  体の線がはっきり見える衣服

outspoken 〈人・意見などが〉率直な,〈批評などが〉歯に衣(きぬ)を着せない

fly out of one's skin（驚いて・うれしくて）飛び上がる

content (フォーマル) 〈人〉 を満足させる

content oneself with sth   ＜…＞で満足する, に甘んじる

To the Haitian People

     Please accept my condolences. I don't know Haiti well. Do you have earthquakes frequently? Japan has many. Do you have a cold winter? We had a catastrophic earthquake in Kobe city on Jan. 17th in 1995 in the midst of the winter and I went into the city on the second day after the quake as one of the rescue staff. It was just a scene from hell. More than 6000 people were killed.

     I saw the Haitian situation through CNN online. I really want to do something for the Haitian people with my skill as a surgeon, but time is passing mercilessly. I'm frustrated to be here in Japan.

(Vocabulary)

Please accept my condolences   心よりお悔やみ申し上げます

be frustrated to  もどかしい

A Nice Adviser

     I got up late because of fatigue on Jan. 2nd, but this day was a special day. We would have a guest this afternoon. The guest was a charming Japanese lady who had the experience of staying in Freiburg for a year. I met her at the welcome party for German people last year for the first time. I wrote about the party here. Yuri decided to learn about the German culture in Freiburg and we asked her for advice for staying in Freiburg. Yuri began to have an interest in Freiburg after visiting the city with me last year. I didn't give her name here, but all her advice sounded nice.

A Long Drive

     My wife and I left home for Nagoya, where my second daughter, Yuri, lives. It was about 10 minutes after the change of the year. As I wrote in the last entry, the highway toll was set to be extremely low from Jan. 1st to 5th. We used this special offer from the government. Nagoya is a big city located between Tokyo and Osaka, and it takes at least 6 hours from my house by car. We drove the car alternately. Japan is a small archipelago nation, but it extends from a subtropical zone to a subpolar one. The weather varies in each section. There is a place called "Sekigahara" near Nagoya, just east of Biwako Lake, which is the biggest lake in Japan. Sekigahara is noted for frequently having a lot of snow in the winter due to the complicated terrain. The picture was taken at a rest area in Sekigahara. I like driving in the snow and my car is equipped with winter tires, but my wife seemed to get tired in the snow. I took a short nap in my daughter's room while my wife and Yuri loaded things into the car and cleaned up the room. We started for our home before noon and arrived at about 9 o'clock. It was a 9 hour drive and it was a really tough day.

(Vocabulary)

offer  (期間限定の) 値引き, 安売り 

[＋offer on]

There are some great offers on flights to Europe at the moment.  今ヨーロッパ便ですごく安いのが出てるよ．

a free offer   無料特典

a special offer   特価, 目玉商品

alternately  交互に

subtropical zone  亜熱帯

subarctic/subfrigid/subpolar zone  亜寒帯

  

A Happy New Year!

     I've been so busy these last couple of months. It was on Dec. 14th that I wrote the last entry. I had something to write about in this period, but didn't have enough time. I could just jot down stuff for topics that I met in my daily life. I'm going to write the entries going back and rearrange them later.

(Vocabulary)

jot down  急いでメモを取る

going back  遡って