Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Miscellaneous Thought about 2010

　　The most remarkable characteristics of the year 2010 in Japan was the change in the way of thinking about China. The ratio of Japanese people who feel friendly about China went down from 70% to 20%, according to the leading newspaper's opinion poll. People of integrity have already known about the cruelty of China, but now, ordinary Japanese people are afraid of the recent huge armament of China. As the news originating from China increased, people began to recognize the real China. As for me, I know the spiritual nature of Chinese people. I visited Vancouver about 20 years ago for the first time. Since then, I've been there every 2-3 years. I directly feel the worsening of the security and the atmosphere in Richmond, just to the south of the Vancouver International Airport, where lots of Chinese people settled. Canadian people who had originally lived there couldn't stand it. I heard some of those had escaped from Richmond. That's also the case in Ikebukuro in Tokyo. Chinese people never follow the local rules and never join in the neighborhood community. They don't care about others. The other day, a Chinese fishing boat, which was considered to belong to the military, invaded Japan and hit a patrol boat of the Japan Coast Guard on purpose. Besides that, stupid high officials hid the videotape recording of the violence of the Chinese boat from Japanese citizens. Lots of politicians are thought to be brainwashed by China. A democracy campaigner from China who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace is still in prison. Chinese common sense is by far different from ours. Most Japanese people know the real China. The current administration, I think, is stupid, but the people are never idiotic. I hope the government will be disbanded soon.
　　For my family, every daughter went up to their next step. All the members kept fit. My parents and Mocha are the same. Nothing bad happened to my family and it should be celebrated. I hope that the coming new year will be a brilliant year for all people on the globe.

(Vocabulary)
characteristic 《[C]通例複数形で》特質, 特性, 特徴
opinion poll [research / survey] 世論調査
spiritual nature 精神性
democracy campaigner 民主活動家
current administration 現政権
disband  [自]〈軍隊・組織などが〉解散する; [他] …を解散させる

Winter Vacation

　　Two of three daughters are at home now. Both are on vacation from each university. My house really comes to life in this period. Even our dog, Mocha, looks like he is pleased with the atmosphere.
　　The youngest lives in a local city and needs to drive a car, but the eldest lives in Tokyo. She does not have to use a private car. Tokyo has a developed system of transportation. Finally, the driving skills of the youngest are better than those of the eldest, though the eldest got her driving license four years earlier.
　　The second daughter lives in Germany now, but she will be back at the end of January. She is supposed to go directly back to her university, so it would be in March for all the daughters to get together at home. I can't wait for the day.

(Vocabulary)
life  [U] (場所の) にぎわい, 活気, 活況
There's not much life on the street after dark. 暗くなると通りは閑散としてしまう．
come to life (burst into life とも) (場所が)にぎわう, 活気にあふれる
At night, the city really comes to life. 夜になるとその町は活気にあふれる．
skill 「…の技術［技能］」などを意味する場合，skill of...は不可．skillの前に名詞をつけてcomputer skillsなどとする.

New Year Greeting Card

　　In western countries, the exchange of Christmas cards is common and in many cases they have new year's greetings. On the other hand, in Japan, Christmas cards aren't so popular as in western countries. Instead, new year greeting cards are very popular. The picture shows the officially-issued postcard and this is the basic version. Some are an added donation on its price, some are printed advertisements on it with a price cut. Most photo shops make postcards with pictures you have taken. There are a wide variety of New Year Greeting Cards.
　　Many people used to write them one by one before, when the end of the year was coming near. But now, they use their PCs and can write lots of post cards easily. I sometimes feel obliged, but I think that it's not bad to inform each other of their updates once a year.

A Scene

　　I went out for a walk with my dog following my footsteps today. I took pictures of the Korean school on the way. Deep in the dark forest stood the school. The sign in Korean on the wall reads "Thank you, daddy and mom".
　　Let me add the graphic detail about around here. In the 16th century, the then European superpowers began to invade and occupy Asian and African countries. They always dispatched missionaries at first, who had Bibles on the one hand and arms on the other. The Japanese rulers were afraid to be occupied by them and prohibited Christianity. Some people, however, didn't obey the rule and were persecuted. This area was a former execution ground. Thus, this area had been isolated until 40 years ago when a famous prestigious high school moved there. Until then, only the Korean school stood here.
　　At present, the environment has changed remarkably. The most massive-scale municipal park and the archaeological museum as well as the above noted high school were constructed in this district one after another. My house is also located here. It's like a newly-built artificial housing district. It's very comfortable to live here. Around the Korean school, however, it sounds like the hands of the clock are at a standstill. It's said that pupils who attend the school receive an anti-Japanese education and are forced to respect Kim Jong-il in such a deserted area. I wonder what will become of the Korean pupils?

(Vocabulary)
follow one's footsteps  足の向くままに歩いて行く
missionary  宣教師
execution ground  処刑場

Last Business Day

　　Today was the last business day at my hospital. The opd section was closed and will be open on Jan. 4th next year. The staff members are supposed to be on duty by rotation for this interval. They have only to look after our inpatients.
　　Having said that, to our regret however, my hospital was assigned to be an emergency hospital on New Year's Day. Lots of outpatients will see us on that day and the opd will be packed, because only two hospitals, including my hospital, will be open in my hometown. Thinking about such a New Year's Day, I felt dizzy.
　　Anyway, I have to go on the rounds once a day for the coming several days, but I'm free from duty except for the rounds. What shall I do?

(Vocabulary)
be supposed to do sth  ＜…＞することになっている, ＜…＞しなければならない
We're supposed to check out of the hotel by 11:00.  我々は１１時までにホテルをチェックアウトしなければならない．
by rotation  交代で
go on the rounds （医師が）回診する

Prep Against Winter

　　It's getting awfully cold these past couple of days. My hometown is located in the southern part of Japan and has a mild climate. I mean, it's not so hot in summer and not so cold in winter. In this winter, however, that's not the case. Though the snow didn't accummulate, it was snowing heavily in the afternoon. Snowfall in December is extremely rare. A TV news report said that the mountainous region, 30 kilometers from here, had had considerable snow. I hurried to an auto-supply shop to swap tires for winter ones. I store four winter tires with wheels in my house and before it starts to snow, I exchange them every winter.
　　To no one's surprise, more than 20 cars were waiting to exchange tires at the shop even in December. The owners must have been surprised to see the snowfall just like me. I had to wait for two hours, but could replace my present tires with winter tires. I felt relieved and now I can go skiing at any time.
　　When it comes to skiing, my youngest daughter is in Niigata prefecture now, which is well known as the heavy snowfall area in Japan. It faces the Sea of Japan and the northerly freezing wind brings cold waves from Siberia. I hope she'll enjoy skiing with her friends.

(Vocabulary)
accumulate [自] たまる, 積もる
Huge snowdrifts had accumulated on the airport's runways. 大きな雪の吹きだまりが空港の滑走路にできていた．
winter tire スタッドレスタイヤ 〔英米ではstudless tireという言い方はしない。〕
an auto-supply shop / an automotive supply house 自動車用品店
swap  [他] …を交換する, 取り替える
Do you want to swap umbrellas? 傘を取り替えっこする？
swap sth for sth  ＜…＞を＜…＞と交換する
replace (タイヤ・電池など)を交換する
replace sth with sth  ＜…＞を＜…＞に切り替える
Most washing machines need to be replaced after about ten years. 大半の洗濯機は10年ほどで買い替えが必要になる．
at any time いつでも
heavy snowfall area 豪雪地帯
northerly  北の, 北への; (風が) 北からの
cold wave 寒波

Depression and Healing

　　It might be a part of the symptoms of what you call depression. I've been reluctant to do anything these past couple of months. I don't know why. Due to the empty nest syndrome? Or, I began to hate my job? Having said that, I can't help doing nothing. I have to work. I continue to keep this blog from now too to cheer myself up.
　　Several acquaintances had been concerned about me, because I didn't post any messages on mixi, the most popular Japanese SNS for some time. Messages on the SNS and entries on this blog are just the broadcast mail for my friends, some of whom live overseas. Anyway, to my friends, I'm getting better day by day. Don't worry!
　　By the way, I got an e-mail from my second daughter who lives in Germany. A picture was added and I'll show it to you. She sounded like she had visited Bern with her friends. Only a year ago, she couldn't do anything in Germany, but now she can travel around in Europe. Her growth made me happy and could be an effective medicine. She is now invited to her friend's house to celebrate Christmas day. I am also grateful for the family's favor. I can't wait to see her pictures of German Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

(Vocabulary)
reluctant 気が進まない, しぶしぶの
reluctant to do sth  ＜…＞することに気が進まない
uplifting (人を) 幸せな気分にする, 気持ち［精神］が高揚する（ような）
broadcast mail 同報メール
growth [U] (知能・情緒面などでの) 発達, 成長
personal growth 人間的成長

 

Political Unrest

　　The Japanese ruling party, the DPJ, is possibly splitting now over the Ozawa issue. Mr Ozawa, a political figure in the DPJ, has been accused by the opposition party over some monetary issues, and some DPJ politicians are on his side and others on the opposite side.
　　I think that these politicians' behaviour is never that of the representatives of the nation. It's ugly to spend time on the power game. Japan is facing difficult conditions over its security. China is about to invade the Senkaku Islands and South Korea has already ruled Takeshima and Russia the northern territories of Japan. These islands are, historically speaking, the rightful territories of Japan, whereas DPJ members are giving themselves up to the struggle for power as if they don't know about the territorial dispute.
I'm deeply concerned about the future of Japan.

(Vocabulary)
unrest　（政治・社会的な）混乱
a political figure 　政界の大物
power game / struggle for power  権力闘争
rightful  正当な, 合法の

カテゴリーの整理中 Revision of Categories

翻訳サイトから当ブログへアクセスされる方が増えています。また、カテゴリーの設定が実情に合わなくなってきているため２００９年５月上旬からカテゴリーの整理中です。整理の過程で一部の投稿に和訳をつけていきます。２００９年５月現在、７８０編の投稿があり（よく書いてきたものです）、全ての整理が終わるのは２００９年１２月末頃になると思います。これからも宜しくお願いいたします。整理が終わり次第、この書き込みを削除します。(初期の記事には書き換えたいところもありますが、稚拙な文章でも上達の記念として残しております。)

     Quite a few people have visited my blog via automatic translation sites in recent days. I'm flattered by the number of the visitors, but I'm afraid that the automatic translation is under development right now and I wanted to inform them of my exact opinions. So I decided to revise categories and add Japanese translations for the category of opinion. Besides, the classification of my entries has got unreasonable now. I started checking the categories of the former entries at the beginning of May, and will finish it by the end of December.
     When I counted the number of the entries in early May, it was 780! and I felt a deep emotion. At the same time, I made up my mind to try more difficult topics from now on.

２００５年１１月～２００８年６月　  整理済み

2005 Nov.~2008 Jun.  Revision Done   

２０１１年１月４日現在　２００８年７月投稿分の整理中