Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Mending My Shoes

　　I wrote last year that I had bought a pair of German shoes, and wanted to use them on the stone pavement of Germany. See this entry.
　　It's 9 months since I posted the entry. I visited Germany twice in this period wearing these shoes and I've been wearing them on my daily commute and walking. As is to be expected, they were gradually getting damaged. I took them to the shoe shop where I had bought them to ask how to keep them nice.
　　The craftsman examined my shoes and promptly pointed out my unfavorable characteristics of walking. I fully agreed with his opinion and followed his advice. He modified my shoe inserts in some 20 minutes, and it made me feel fine in walking. Additionally, I asked him to mend the soles. It cost 4500 yen in total, but this repair made my shoes more comfortable for me than when they were new.
　　To tell the truth, I felt that these shoes were expensive when I saw them for the first time. However, I trusted the spirit of German craftsmen, and got them. My thought wasn't wrong. Thinking that you can use a pair of shoes for a long time with periodic repairs, these shoes were never expensive. To use good items for a long time might be the way of life of German people. The picture shows the soles of my shoes, which are fixed in the heels.

• (Vocabulary)
• as is to be expected さすがに
• craftsman （熟練した）職人, 工芸家
• shoe insert / sock liner 靴の中敷き
• periodic 定期的な, 周期的な

 

Osaka Duck Tour

　　I joined the "Osaka Duck Tour", which was naturally expressed with Japanese letters, "Katakana", and I figured the English spelling as above from the URL of the company's website and the style of the tour.
　　Hearing "Duck Tour", what would you imagine? "Duck" exactly means the duck that can waddle on the land and swim in the water. This tour started a few years ago in Osaka City, where a few big rivers flow. I'd been eager to go on the tour since I heard the news for the first time. This tour was conducted by amphibious bus. The vehicle runs both on the road and in the water. The naming of the tour using "duck" was very smart, I thought. I'll show you some pictures of the amphibious sightseeing bus later.
　　I thought that I'd write about this bus on this blog, and I researched the origin and the history of amphibious vehicles. The origin was a military purpose as I imagined. I wasn't surprised about the fact, but the meaning of "duck" wasn't what I had been thinking. The code name of the development of amphibious vehicles in the U.S. Army was DUKW, and the pronunciation of it was the same as "duck". So, "duck" came to express the amphibious vehicles.
　　Of course, it would have a little of the meaning that I wrote above, but originally it was something that makes people think of war.
　　Anyway, the tour was really fun.

• (Vocabulary)
• swaying walk よちよち歩き
• waddle 〈太った人などが〉 (アヒルのように) よたよた歩く
• amphibious vehicle　水陸両用車両
• DUKW 〔【語源】アメリカ軍の開発コードネームで、D（開発した1942年）、U（水陸両用）、K（全輪駆動）、W（二つの後輪駆動）を組み合わせたもの。〕　ダック水陸両用車

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW

Unbelievable

　　Japan beat the Cameroons in the soccer world cup. It's incredible. Japan had been in a losing streak recently. Lots of Japanese people wouldn't have expected a victory against the Cameroons. Anyway, it's a joy for me, but it'll lead me to lack sleep for weeks.

• (Vocabulary)
• a winning/losing streak  連勝/連敗

Polarized Coverage

　　I think that subscribers to my blog are casually getting information from English-based media on a daily basis. It's natural that they would burst into applause at the success of the Japanese Asteroid Explorer HAYABUSA. As far as I know, the success was unprecedented and was reported in a variety of media. However, almost all of the Japanese media were silent. Why?

　　I could see the live fire streak from the HAYABUSA capsule produced by the re-entry into the atmosphere via the internet. It was aired from the desert of Australia. It was beautiful. HAYABUSA left the earth on May 9th in 2003 and came back on June 13th after 7 years, overcoming various difficulties for the 6 billions km's journey. It's also a fact that indicates the high level of Japanese space science.

　　Do you know about the poor failure in launching a rocket in South Korea a few weeks ago? Apparently the Japanese media refrained from reporting the success of Japan, considering the South Korean people's feelings. Such consideration is nonsense.

　　Why don't the Japanese media report facts that are inconvenient to the Koreas and China?

• (Vocabulary)
  
• polarized/biased 偏向した
  
• coverage（ニュースなどの）報道 
  
• asteroid explorer HAYABUSA　小惑星探査機はやぶさ
  
• on a daily / day-to-day / routine basis  日常的に 
  
• make its re-entry into the atmosphere  大気圏に再突入する

Stagnation and Motor Sports

　　I attended the Japan Rally Championship that was held near my hometown as a member of the rescue team. I was asked to be ready in case of accidents, but fortunately no injuries occurred, though more than 30% of the entrants couldn't reach the goal due to the terrible weather. I simply enjoyed the rally as one of the spectators.
　　When I was addicted to car driving a quarter-century ago, the rally drivers who were allowed to join the country-level competition were envied by lots of young people, including me. It was not easy to be qualified to drive a car in this highest level of the competition. The rally was competed by 60 cars and it was difficult to get into this 60 car field. However, to my extreme surprise, the number of entrants was only 35 this year. The competition rate used to be more than two, but now it was only about 0.6.
　　I suspected that the influence of the recent stagnation cast a shadow also in the field of motor sports. The organizer was struggling to attract spectators. They invited an actively working professional WRC driver and held an autograph-signing session, but it was not so effective as they expected because of the horrible rain. I hope that the world economy will recover soon.

• (Vocabulary)
• human / personal suffering 人的被害
• field
• 《常に単数形で》 競合者［会社，製品］, ライバル
• a strong field of candidates for the job その職を志望する強力なライバルたち
• lead the field 〈企業・製品などが〉 群を抜く, トップに立つ
• 《常に単数形で》 (人・動物などの) 全競技者
• He's racing against a very strong field this afternoon. 今日の午後，彼は非常に強力なライバルたちと競走する．
• lead the field (レースで) 先頭に立つ
• cast / make a shadow 影を落とす
• actively working 現役の
• WRC World Rally Championship 世界ラリー選手権
• autograph-signing session サイン会

 

 

National Flag

　　People other than Japanese will not believe it, but some Japanese hate their country's national flag and national anthem. It is due to the education of the Japan Teachers' Union (JTU). This union consists of teachers who were brainwashed by communism. When I was a little kid, I used to see the flags run up at every house's entrance on public holidays, but now I seldom see it. To tell the truth, I didn't think of it when I drafted the plan of my house. I forgot to prepare a place to put up our flag. Though the neighbours don't put up the national flag, I made up my mind to raise it, and bought the flag which you see in the following picture.

　　I sometimes watch the CNN news and see how people behave in front of their national flags. I don't know of any people who hate their own flags like some Japanese do.

• (Vocabulary)
  
• Japan Teachers' Union (JTU) 日教組 
  
• run up/ set up（旗・看板を）掲げる 
  
• public holiday 国民の祝日

 

No Sovereignty

　　I'm reading a book relating to the Greater East Asian War that was written for the author's granddaughter who was attending a private high school in New York in the U.S. The author is the honorary advisor of the leading Japanese beer company, Asahi Breweries. Ltd. His granddaughter asked him to give her his opinion on the war, because she was learning the history of World War Two.

　　Japan didn't have sovereignty for 7 years after the war. Japan suffered a variety of hardships from the U.S. under scrutiny. I've often been writing about it. The Japanese Constitution was scripted by Douglas MacArthur about 60 years ago when Japan didn't have its own sovereignty, and it has been preserved until now without any revision. You might not believe this fact, but there's even a public opinion that modifying the Constitution is evil. It is irredeemable. Is such a Constitution effective when it has been written by another country? As I was thinking this way, I recalled a monument I saw in Korea. South Korea expresses its appreciation for assistance in the Korean War to lots of countires, and the national flags of those countries were carved on the face of the monument. I wondered why there wasn't a Japanese flag at that time, and promptly I understood there was no sovereign state whose name was Japan when the Korean War began. Do you know where this monument stands?

• (Vocabulary)
• sovereignty  (一国を統治する) 主権, 統治権 
• honorary advisor / honorary consultant  名誉顧問
• honorary (肩書・地位・学位などが)名誉として与えられる; 名誉職の, 無給の
• under scrutiny よく調べてみると; 詳細に吟味［検証］されて, 徹底調査されて
• scrutiny  精査, 詳細な吟味
• Douglas MacArthur ダグラス・マッカーサー (1880–1964), 米国の陸軍元帥,日本占領連合国軍最高司令官（1945–51）
• public opinion 世論
• irredeemable  (フォーマル) 取り返しのつかない, 救いようのない
• sovereign  (国が) 独立の, 自治の

 

Ole?

　　I found a new instant pan-fried noodles. I'll show you it below. "JFA" on the face stands for "Japan Football Association". You can see a soccer ball in the lower left corner. It is rooting for the Japanese national soccer team. The supporters who actually go to South Africa to cheer for their team might take this. By the way, I found the word "Ole" in the upper left corner. What does it mean? I looked it up in the dictionary, but I couldn't find it. It must be a Japanese-made English word. I suppose it means "Hurrah!"

• (Vocabulary)
• pan-fried noodles 焼きそば

Space Food

　　My daughter had a trip somewhere and brought a retort beef curry back for me some time ago. It was space food that I'll show you below. It was made by one of the leading Japanese food companies. The package says that JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have something to do with this product. I imagine that JAXA helps the company develop the space foods.
　　I tasted it today. It was average. If I ate it in space, it might be delicious. The company seems to plan to develop about 100 items of Japanese space food. I'm afraid that all of those might be of the same quality. Anyway, has the era come that ordinary people could enjoy a space trip?

• (Vocabulary)
• retort food  レトルト食品
• the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) 宇宙航空研究開発機構
• 「宇宙空間」の意味ではspaceは数えられない名詞なので定冠詞theは付けない．単にspaceを用いる．

Mobocracy

　　A former left-wing activist, whose name is Kan, became the 94th Japanese Prime Minister. I had thought all the while that democracy is the best system of government, but I knew it was wrong. Democracy requires the condition that people must be wise enough to determine their own leaders. The present ruling party in Japan showed their political manifest last year. The party declared they would make the expressway toll free, provide 26,000 yen a month per child to every household and make high schools free not showing any secure fiscal resource. Lots of people took their propaganda at face value and gave birth to the Hatoyama administration. Mr. Hatoyama hasn't done anything good for Japan until the last minute. Besides, the person who was elected next was Mr. Kan, who had asked the South Korean government to forgive Shin Gwang-soo (신광수) who was arrested for having abducted some Japanese people. He should be called a North Korean politician, not a Japanese one.
　　He never sings the national anthem of Japan. Can you imagine that the top official of the country refuses to sing the national anthem? He seems to dislike Japan in spite of being the Prime Minister. Mr. Kan is such a person.
　　I recalled Carthage which used to be the most prosperous country in the world. Carthaginians disliked and expelled Hannibal from the country with their shallow consideration and consequently they were expelled from the globe.

• (Vocabulary)
• mobocracy　衆愚(愚民)政治
• system of government 政体
• all the while ずっと
• fiscal/financial resource 財源
• fiscal 国家歳入の, 国庫の, 財政上の
• take [accept] ~ at face value 真に受ける
• Carthage カルタゴ
• Carthaginian カルタゴ人

Temporary Job

　　My acquaintance, who is a physician running a private hospital, asked me to stay for some time in her hospital, because she had something to do for her daughter. She and her husband went somewhere and I'm staying in her hospital now. About 80 inpatients are almost motionless, and I'm so bored now.
　　I brought some books to kill time, but I don't feel like reading them, because the outside is totally sunny and a welcoming breeze is coming into my room. I'm frustrated. I wonder whether to take a walk around the hospital. This hospital is located in a rural fishing village. Only 10 minutes' walk is enough to feel the sea breeze.
　　Not a few people have sent me e-mails for years and some of the senders are really in miserable or dangerous conditions. If I didn't receive their e-mails, I wouldn't notice how happy the Japanese people are. The Soccer World Cup is just around the corner. I heard the security in South Africa, where the event will be held, was the worst level in the world. I wondered that people could fully enjoy watching the game in such a dangerous country. Anyway, in a secure non-stressful country, I'm enjoying passing the time by going around the nearby park and the seashore.

• (Vocabulary)
• motionless 身動きしない, じっとした
• hospitable (人が)もてなしのよい, 歓待する;(場所・環境などが)快適な, 居心地のよい;(ビジネス環境・市場などが)適した, 好条件の [反意] inhospitable
• welcoming (人・表情などが）歓迎する, 歓迎を表した；（場所が）くつろげる
• fishing village [C] 漁村
• pass the time ひまをつぶす

iPad

　　The current high-profile gear, iPad was delivered to me. I ordered it as my present for Father's Day last week. I expected that it would take more than a month to get it, thinking about its popularity, and I was a little surprised at how soon it came. I didn't need to wait for the day, the third Sunday in June, and took it to my parents's house at once. My father, who is 78 years old, knew only the name of it, because of Apple's systematic buildup, but he didn't think he'd be able to use it. I set up the wireless local area network and the iPad. It started to work without any problem.
　　The usability was wonderful. It must be designed for people of all generations. My father often uses his cellular phone to send e-mails, but the letters are too small for him. So, he was pleased to understand the method of magnifying letters on the screen. It was really easy. Moreover he can use it wherever in his house and garden.
　　He only just learned how to use e-mails and browse the internet. The iPad will be helpful for preventing dementia. I hope that the iPad will help him to keep his quality of life.

• (Vocabulary)
• buildup [C] 事前の売り込み［盛り上げ］, 前宣伝
• usability 使い勝手； 有用性； 使いやすさ, 使用感 (コンピュータ関連で用いることが多い)

Hatoyama Resignation

　　The Japanese Prime Minister, Hatoyama stepped down at last. I was longing for his resignation since he got into office, and I'm so happy now. I couldn't accept his way of thinking, decisions, policies and morals. I believe that he was the silliest out of the former prime ministers, whereas I'm still afraid about the next prime minister. He will be elected tomorrow, but there will not be such a big difference between the new prime minister and the former Hatoyama. What has become of Japan?

(Vocabulary)
decision  決断力

Foot-and-mouth Disease

　　There are lots of current affairs domestically in Japan, but the foot-and-mouth disease is definitely one of the top issues. The disease broke out in Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu two months ago, and the effect is even now spreading due to the political failure of the ruling party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The government couldn't contain the disease though the Liberal Democratic Party managed to do that 10 years ago. The farmers had and will have to decimate all the cattle in the infected areas. What are the farmers' feelings like? They would have no words for describing them. I'm angry at the DPJ from the bottom of my heart. They shouldn't have gained power. I never agreed with anything that the DPJ did during their eight months of office.

(Vocabulary）
foot-and-mouth disease　口蹄病
contain 〈火事・伝染病など〉 を食い止める, 抑える
Doctors are struggling to contain the epidemic.
decimate 〈住民・動物など〉を多数死なせる,〈森・作物など〉を大量に破壊する, 〈産業・事業など〉に大打撃を与える