Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Raw Fish

　　I'll show you some Japanese traditional cuisine in this entry. Do you know a fish named the Japanese horse mackerel? We dropped in at a restaurant near my family graves. The picture was shot at that time.
　　There are several methods for preparing the fish. The picture shows the preparation called "arai". The dish looks like "sashimi" which is well-known globally, but it isn't "sashimi". Have you ever heard of "arai"? If you are interested in it, look for the recipe on the internet. You have to use the live fish and need hot water in the preparation of "arai".

(Vocabulary)
horse mackerel  《魚》/ Japanese horse mackerel  アジ
prepare   [他] 〈料理・食事など〉 を調理する, 作る
prepare sth for sb  ＜人＞のために＜食事など＞を作る

Family Graves

　　The next day after the day when we had marked my mother's 80th birthday, we visited the family graves, a part of which are shown in the picture below.
　　I came from a long line of Buddhist monks, but the monks hadn't been permitted to get married until fairly recently. The monks were single until 100 or 200 years ago. It means that those monks had no descendants, so their graves have been honored by successive temple masters. The picture shows the graves of the monks who had lived more than 300 years ago in the temple and my original house at the same time. If the monk of each grave had worked as the temple master for 30 years, the grave to the left in the pictures would be supposed to have been built about 500 years ago. To my surprise, the names of the monks are recorded. I wondered what they and their lives were like.

(Vocabulary)
come from a long line of  ～の家系である
until recently   最近まで
a temple master （寺の）住職
successive 歴代の

 

80th Birthday

　　My mother turned eighty this month. She gave birth to three boys, who had healthily grown up and went into responsible jobs respectively. Two of them, including me, are medical doctors, and the other is a journalist. We live apart now, but we got together today to celebrate our mother's healthy longevity. Her grandchildren were present too. Her sisters suffer from dementia or have already passed away, but she is fit enough to perform the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage and collected all the autographs of each temple out of 88 temples. You can see the autographs on the hanging scroll in the picture. I've already written about the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage here(link). Please refer to the linked article.
　　People of her generation have been required to rebuild Japan after it had been devastated by the Greater East Asian War and their task has been completed. I hope that they'll spend peaceful days from now.

(Vocabulary)
go into ＜職業など＞に就く, ＜業界など＞に入る
go into business  商売［事業］を始める
responsible (仕事･地位などが)責任を伴う, 責任ある
a very responsible job 非常に責任の重い仕事
hanging scroll  掛け軸

Tired

　　I was coffeed out today. I had no consultation appointments. Moreover there were few inpatients. You might think that I had spent a very relaxing time. However, I had lots of desk jobs left, like the paperwork of charging the cost of medical treatment for the Fee Payments Fund, recording the summaries of hospitalization therapies of all the inpatients and writing other official certifications.
　　I can see some people walking outside in comfortable sunshine. I could manage to control myself from going out and did a week's worth of work.

(Vocabulary)
I'm coffeed out today.  今日はコーヒーを飲みすぎた。
paperwork  文書事務, 事務作業
Act Concerning the Social Medical Fee Payments Fund  社会保険診療報酬支払基金法
hospital care / treatment // hospitalization therapy  入院治療

E-mail

　　You might wonder why I was moved to read an e-mail even now, but I really felt that the internet was wonderful. I got an e-mail from my second daughter, Yuri, who is staying in Auckland now during her college vacation. The Rugby World Cup is held in New Zealand now and she is asking me what I want concerning the rugby games. I asked her to get a towel or something which has the World Cup logo. The game between Japan and France will be tomorrow. My desire will be passed on to her in time. Though she is in the southern half of the globe, she looks like she's living in the neighbourhood. The e-mail system is thoroughly useful.
　　I have two brothers; one is also a surgeon, who specializes in orthopedics, and the other is a journalist working for the local newspaper company. We are planning to have a party celebrating the ages of 80 years of both parents on September 18th. The Chinese letters for 80 resembles an umbrella, so this celebration is called "Sanju", meaning a happy umbrella. My brothers are spending hectic days and it's not easy to get in touch with them and we use e-mails for preparation.
　　The e-mail is getting essential to my life.

(Vocabulary)
pass sth on ＜情報・伝言など＞を伝える, 知らせる
If I get any news, I'll pass it on.  何かわかったらお伝えします．

September 2nd

　　Russia arrogantly carried out a military drill near the border with Japan the other day. A Russian fleet of 24 military vessels passed through the Strait of Soya, just north of Hokkaido, in a rude manner. They were surely looking down on Japan. Moreover, a Russian bomber flew the circuit over Japanese territory. It was not a reconnaissance aircraft, but a bomber! They presumably would like to know how the Japanese government would react, but it was so provocative that we even ignored this silly defiance.
　　Russia insists that they won the war against Japan, but Japan actually didn't fight them and Russia didn't sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Just like committing a theft in the scene of a fire, Russia started the invasion into Japan after the defeat of Japan. Japan signed the document of capitulation on Sept. 2nd in 1945 on board the U.S. battleship Missouri. The month of September always reminds me of the arrogance and self-righteousness of the allied forces.
　　Anyway, the magma in the ordinary Japanese people's mind is getting more and more vigorous now. Russia, China and Korea would be well-advised to be modest toward Japan. The present ruling party, the DPJ, began revealing it's true character and the massive demonstrations against leftists like the Government, NHK and some specific media began to break out frequently. The revival of Japan is not so far away.

(Vocabulary)
fly the circuit　一周する
defiance  反抗, 挑戦
in defiance   挑戦的に
in defiance of sth  ＜…＞を物ともせずに, 無視して
capitulation [名] [C,U](フォーマル) 受諾, 降伏
reveal one's true character 化けの皮がはがれる

"Ukatsu Ayamari": Japanese Way of Apology

　　I'll show you a traditional and offbeat way how to avoid useless conflicts in Japan. It is in our Japanese genes. You would be surprised to know it.
　　If you had your foot trodden on accidentally by someone, you might be angry with him or her, but you would never say "Sorry", or never make an apology. However, Japanese people will apologize in such cases to one who trod on their foot. I'm sure you are confused. The one who was stepped on says "Sorry" to the one who stepped on the foot, and vice versa naturally. This is called "Ukatsu Ayamari", which is considered to be one of the fundamental manners of Japanese people. "Ayamari" means an apology, "Ukatu" means unnoticed. The one who had his foot stepped on apologizes for not noticing another's coming and letting his foot get in another's way. Likewise, when ordinary Japanese bump into someone, both of them say sorry at first in Japan. If it occurred in other countries, what would happen? I'll leave it to your imagination.
　　Anyway, "Ukatsu Ayamari" is the commoners' wisdom to keep harmony and evade unproductive arguments. Such a sense of public morality is one of the reasons for the low crime rate in Japanese society. However, it's regrettable that this "Ukatsu Ayamari" often produces misunderstandings between Japanese and other people.

(Vocabulary)
tread on sth ＜…＞を踏む, 踏んづける
a sense of public morality  公徳心

Tandem

　　I went out for a long-distance cycling trip after a month today. The distance was about 80 km, longer than the last time by 20 km. The fatigue was not so severe that I was afraid. Dating back one year, I heard of the cyclists' event that was held on the islands in the Seto Inland Sea. I instantly hit upon the idea that I would be likely to join it the next year and found myself ordering a bicycle from the U.S. after a great deal of research about bicycles. I've written about this bicycle before and the offbeat idea will soon be achieved at last. I applied for the event after getting enough confidence to complete the full distance, 100 km.
　　The picture shows two tandem bikes which I saw today. The owner was kind enough to allow me to ride on it. Of course, it was my first time to try a tandem bike. Describing it in a few words the tandem pedalling was curious but interesting. The rider in the rear saddle can't control the bike and he just pedals. It's only pedalling that he can do. I imagined that he could cheat and stop pedalling behind the front rider at first. However, the gears attached to both pedals of the front and rear were directly connected and both riders have to pedal at the same cycle. It was fun to ride it.

(Vocabulary)
complete the full distance  完走する
pedal  [自] (自転車の) ペダルを踏む［こぐ］
pedal away/along etc.  ペダルをこいで去って行く［進んで行く