Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Long Walk

　　I walked my dog today a little longer than usual. The weather was clear and the temperature was that of early spring. It was very comfortable. The total distance of today's walk was 9.8 km. I am posting two pictures that were taken on the way. Though there is unrest like in Libya and the catastrophic disaster in New Zealand in the globe, how peaceful my hometown is! I feel really happy living in this city. One of the pictures shows the scene at a high school, where the students were working out for the Japan high school baseball championships in the summer.
　　I have been recording all the traces of my walk since last May, and the total distance of my walk during the last 10 months reaches nearly 500 km. I plot this data on the map of Japan, and I'm virtually enjoying the trip across Japan. All the procedure was done automatically by my smart phone. I'm imagining I'm in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo now, and I am heading for the south.
　　I ordered a new bicycle, Jamis Aurora, by e-mail the other day. I'm thinking of accumulating the total ride distance on the world map independently of the walking distance. What route should I choose? How about from the North Pole to the Antarctic? Anyway, my wandering area would surely expand and you would be able to see a wide variety of pictures around my hometown.

Orientation of Lions Club

　　I attended a meeting for newly-joined members in Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club today. I got lessons about the organization of the worldwide Lions Club. All Lions Club members seem to be under the same regulations all over the world. It was amazing for me. What can I do as one of the members? I felt something overwhelming. The club is naturally for volunteer work, but it sounded like it will be of use for shaping my character.

Christening of A Baby; Miyamairi in Japanese

　　The word, "Christening" doesn't exactly fit the event that I'm going to write about from now on, but I couldn't find a suitable word for it and chose it as the topic of this entry.
　　The first-ever visit to the shrine is called miyamairi. If the baby is a boy, miyamairi is commonly done on the 31st day after birth, and a girl formally on the 32nd day. However, the day of miyamairi is actually scheduled depending on the weather, the status of the baby and the schedules of the parents.
　　At the Ikutajinja shrine, the miyamairi ceremony was being held. I recalled each miyamairi of my daughter just like yesterday. At my daughter's miyamairi, I got up early and changed underwear into brand-new ones and dressed in a new shirt for the ceremony. The Shinto priests prayed for my daughters' healthy growth and happiness. Judging from their later life, the priests' spiritual power might have been strong enough to keep evil spirits away from them..

 

Kazamidori-no-yakata Under Renovation

　　As I'll show you the link to the official website of Kazamidori-no-yakata at the end of the entry, this building might be called the symbol of Kobe. I had visited there a few decades ago, and I was so delighted to know that it was located near my hotel. However, it was under renovation. The city personnel would like to complete the work this spring, the sightseeing season. Anyway, I enjoyed the atmosphere of the historic site in Kobe city. There remain several old houses around there which used to be owned by foreign diplomats, merchants and other overseas people.

http://www.kobe-kazamidori.com/history/index_04.html

 
 

Wedding Ceremony

　　There were a few lines of seats in the shrine and a newly wedded couple was given advice from the master of ceremony. The stage was perfectly ready as follows: it was not in the high season of sightseeing, but lots of people visit the shrine during their wedding ceremony. How did they feel? This stage was located on the way from the entrance to the main hall, so lots of people would witness the ceremony. This was a Shinto-style wedding, the most traditional one of Japan.
　　Nowadays, various kinds of wedding ceremonies are held in Japan. As for me, the style was the same and this encounter reminded me of our wedding of a-quarter-century-away.

(Vocabulary)
coordinator / master of ceremony　〔【略】MC〕進行係
inner shrine / main hall / main sanctuary / main shrine / shrine chamber 本殿
Shinto-style wedding 神前結婚式

 
 

Kitano-tenmangu Shrine

　　As soon as I finished breakfast, I set out for the Kitano-Ijinkan area, which is one of the tourist attractions of Kobe. I had my smart phone in one hand and the map getting from the front desk in the other. The phone showed my position on its display panel every few seconds. I would never lose my way with this gadget. I came across a shrine which I'll show below. The name of the shrine was Kitano-tenmangu Shrine. What the word "tenmangu" means was written in the past entries of this blog. Please follow the links below. I remembered my daughters abruptly. They were struggling for exams and I visited the shrine to pray for their success in exams.
　　Now, I'll give you some trivia about visiting a shrine. Look at the people in the picture. The stairs are narrow, but people are climbing on the end of the stairs. Why don't they walk up in the center of the stairs? To tell the truth, the center of the stairs of shrines is supposed to be the pathway for the god. So, faithful people don't walk the center, though this rule is often violated during the first three days of the year packed with people.
　　Needless to say, I obeyed the rule and the formal way of praying for my daughters.

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2010/05/dazaifu-tenmangu.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/01/dazaifu-tenmang.html

Walking in Kobe

　　I'm a stranger in Kobe. I wanted to ask my senior to show the city, but the walking was nothing but the burden for him. I was going to kill time until the departure time. When I passed the front desk to go to the breakfast, I happend to find a map. It showed that the most popular tourist attraction was near the hotel. It was the historic site of Meiji Era, which is about 100 years ago. I was so delighted to know that and check the hotel out instantly.

Seeing Again

　　I got out of the office just at noon like getting away from pursuers. My wife picked me up and took me to the train station. When I got out of the car, I saw a bus slip into the bus terminal. It was bound for Kobe. I didn't know the bus service between my hometown and Kobe. I had enough time before the departure time to compare the ticket fees of the bus and the train. Eventually, I chose the cheaper one, the bus. The bus took an hour more than the train, but it connects both hearts of the city. It was very convenient.
　　The doctor whom I wrote about in the last entry was in better condition than I expected, but he couldn't walk without his stick. I felt sorry to see his status, but we were very glad to see each other again.
　　Kobe is well known also as the city of Kobe beef. Kobe is a big urban city, but it has a rich natural environment. Lots of ships want to be supplied with water here in Kobe. We enjoyed the Kobe beef and domestic wines.

Two Day Trip to Kobe

　　I was in a very rural village for three years 15 years ago. The population of the village was only 1500. At that time, an elderly surgeon was in a small town clinic adjacent to my village. He had considerable experience and used to give me good lessons. He had accompanied the whaling fleet in his younger days as the fleet's doctor. His travel notes were published and are very interesting.
　　While he had run his private clinic in Kobe for decades, which is one of the famous ports of Japan and located near Osaka, he had held a hope that he would serve people in a more isolated, rural place as a surgeon. After the big catastrophic earthquake in Kobe, his mind was made up. He closed his clinic and moved to the village and we met there.
　　At the beginning of this year, his postcard read, "I'm getting older and feeble. If you don't come to see me at once, you'll lose the last chance of seeing me." I was so surprised and decided to visit Kobe.

(Vocabulary)
whaling fleet  捕鯨船団
My mind is made up. 決心がついた。 

Human Testing

　　I felt a slight chill last night and went to bed earlier than usual. I usually don't take medicines with a cold, but I thought it was a valuable opportunity to try medicines myself. I conducted some human testing. I also had a stiff shoulder and posterior cervical pain. I took a Japanese herbal medicine for these symptoms and this was really effective. I will be able to prescribe this medicine confidently. However, the diarrhea began. At first it was like water, but it gradually changed to formed stool. Do you understand what I mean by "formed stools"? I used this term to describe the stools which aren't watery. If you know a better expression please tell me. Anyway, I took another herbal medicine for diarrhea, but it wasn't good for me. It was a good lesson.

(Vocabulary)
human testing/experiment 人体実験
formed stool 有形便
dyspeptic  消化不良性の

A Demonstration

　　I joined in a demonstration that was held in my hometown. The demonstrators appealed for the resignation of the present prime minister, Naoto Kan. He is a left-wing activist. Lots of Japanese people didn't know about it, but now it is said that the internet offered people opportunities to think of his political stance. The support rate sank under 20% in the newest poll. I feel that the critical voice against him is getting louder. It was kind of a change of pace to cry out what I usually complain about to the government over drinking alcohol.

(Vocabulary)
a change of pace 気分転換、やり方を変えること

First Rain in 33 Days

　　My hometown has a mild climate and is a nice place to live in. The product from the sea and the mountainside is rich. It seldom has natural disasters, at least in my memory. However, it has only natural issues. It has repeated shortages of water in summer. In an extreme condition, the school pools are closed. People are told to avoid washing cars, watering plants in their garden, and going to the beach. In the feeding services of schools, cooks make an effort to save water. Economical activity goes to contraction by the water shortage.
　　The city hadn't had rain for 33 days. Which means, we didn't have rain yet this year. But finally we got rain today. It's not enough to fill the reservoir, but better than none.
　　In the southern part of Japan, the rainy season is from the end of May to the beginning of July. If we didn't have enough,,,,,I don't want to imagine the situation.