Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Are the Thai Floods a Natural Disaster?

　　The massive floods in Thailand are repeatedly reported in Japan every day. A number of Japanese firms are operated and lots of Japanese people reside in the country. The unprecedented floods in Thailand are never the fire on the other side of the river for Japan. I only hope that the Thai people will be back to their ordinary life as fast as possible.
　　By the way, the cause of the flood is said to be due to the massive rain in the northern part of Thailand. It might be right, and I think so, but is it the only single reason for the disaster? I have no good evidence, but I'm going to relate my personal opinion.
　　Originally, Thailand has been an agricultural nation. The northern vast area of Bangkok, typified by Ayutthaya Province, has been rice fields since ancient times. Rainwater in the northern provinces of Thailand is stored in those rice fields for some time and is slowly discharged to the sea. It's been a long-lasting natural cycle in Thailand. However, huge rice fields were filled with soil and turned to industrial complexes. The natural drainage system was destroyed in this way. The urban area, which used to be formerly called the Venice of the East, has been changed to modern cities at the cost of the drainage of rainwater. Can we not say that these changes which man gave to the land of the Thai people is also responsible for the floods?

(Vocabulary)
agricultural nation   農業立国
be typified by  ～に代表される
typify (フォーマル) …の典型となる, を代表する
the upsurge in violent crime, typified by the killing of this young boy  この少年の殺害に代表される暴力的犯罪の急増
industrial complex 工業団地
Venice of the East  東洋のヴェニス
at the cost of  ～を犠牲にして

Jigoku Tour 3

　　Geothermal power, steam and hot water from the earth, is harnessed in various ways. The first three pictures show facilities for drinking the water and the treatment for dermatological and pharyngological disorders. The foot bath in the third picture where you dip your feet into the hot water is getting popular in Japan recently. Though you bathe your feet only, your whole body will be warmed. It's a very handy way to utilize the hot spa. You don't have to take off your clothes.
　　The underground water around here is warm, so the water in the ponds around is warmer than that of other places' ponds. That's why tropical plants grow in the ponds. The last two pictures show tropical water lilies.
　　Our ferry would leave at 14:00 and we had up to 13:30 to reach the port. If I'd had more time, I would have been able to visit some other unique hot spas and show you them.
　　The previous night was a wild party night. The hotel rooms were separated by sexes, work sections and ages, but about half of the members got together in a room and chatted until midnight. As soon as I got on the ferry, I fell asleep. It was a nice, relaxing and refreshing trip.

(Vocabulary)
geothermal power　地熱
water lily  睡蓮 (水生植物)

 

 

 

 

 

Jigoku Tour 2

　　The next orifice from the earth are boiling-hot muddy caves. If you accidentally fall into them and aren't rescued instantly, you'll be killed. If you are pulled out of the cave instantly, God knows whether you can survive the serious burns or not. It's really acceptable that the ancient people figured that hell, jigoku in Japanese, must be such a place.
　　In the third picture the steam was artificially made by a tour guide. He explained the mechanism of the genesis of the steam, but I'm sorry I don't remember it. When he blew cigarette smoke into the surface of the mud, steam was produced. Small particles in the smoke would react with the heat of the mud.
　　The last picture is of another hot-water spewing spot and it is only 30 meters away from the muddy ones. To my surprise, two kinds of substances which are completely different from each other come out of the earth at a distance of only 30 meters between them. It's really mysterious. You can also see eggs in this picture. Eggs are placed about 50cm over the surface in this spot though the eggs were sunk in the spot that I showed you in the previous entry. The eggs will be cooked to soft-boiled ones here.

(Vocabulary)
blow cigarette smoke into someone's face  （人）の顔にたばこの煙を吹きかける

 

 

 

Jigoku Tour

　　In the last entry I explained that in Japanese, "jigoku" means "hell". So, some might suspect the meaning of the "Jigoku Tour". It's one of the tourist attractions in Beppu City. We couldn't visit all of them and saw only half of them, but there were a variety of hot springs.
　　Firstly, I have to write about the rod poking from the fringe of the pond in the picture in the last entry. It's not a fishing rod, of course. The water of the pond is rich in sulphur and moreover the temperature is about 90 degrees centigrade. It's partially boiling in the pond. Ordinary creatures can't live in the pond. To tell the truth, a bag is hung from the tip of the rod, which contains several eggs. The staff members of jigoku were cooking boiled eggs and these eggs were sold there. The tourists could enjoy the sulphur-flavored boiled eggs.
　　Next, I'll show you a picture below, which depicts a steam foot bath though I'm not confident in clearly describing this peculiar bath. You open the lid with two hinges and put your legs in the hole and put the cover on your legs, which was laid on the stone panel in the picture. Your legs will be steamed from the heat of the earth and it is very comfortable.

(Vocabulary)
poke out of/from sth  〈物が〉 ＜…＞からはみ出て［突き出て］いる, のぞいている
poke through sth   ＜…＞の中から突き出ている
A few flowers poked through the snow.  数本の花が雪の中から顔をのぞかせていた．
fringe  (集団内などの) 傍流, 非主流; (場所の) 周辺部

 

Jigoku

　　Generally speaking, ordinary Japanese people believe in heaven and hell.
　　After death, people will be placed in front of the Enmadaiou who is the imaginary judge of people's behavior in their lifetime. He chooses people who spent their life honorably and they will be able to live in heaven, but others will be confined to hell. The topic of this entry, "Jigoku", is the Japanese word for "hell".
　　There are several places which are named Jigoku blah blah blah across the country and I wrote about one of them 4 years ago, Jigokudani in this entry(link). Additionally, the Enmadaiou was also displayed in the shopping street near Jigokudani. It mechanically performed the trial and its face turned a forbidding countenance on seeing bad people.
　　As you'd expect, the scenery of Jigokudani is reasonable so that we think that hell must be like this; terribly hot water and steam belch out from the rifts of the earth here and there, no plants, no animals, not even the most tiny ones, and everything around is surrounded by hydrogen sulphide gas.
　　Now, getting back to the story about Beppu City, there are lots of Jigoku in this city. The "Chinoike Jigoku" is a lake which springs boiling red hot water from its bed. We know scientifically that the color of red is from the iron in the water, but we compare the red water to blood. "Chinoike" means the lake of blood. Don't you think that it is a suitable name for Jigoku?
　　I'll post pictures of a kind of Jigoku.

 

Did you find a pole in the first picture? It's never a fishing pole.

(Vocabulary)
honorably 道徳的に, 道義的に; りっぱに, 誠実に, 公正に
belch  げっぷをする [同意] burp
belch sth ↔ out 〈煙・炎など〉を吹き出す
belch out  〈煙・炎などが〉 吹き出る, 噴出する
forbidding  近寄りがたい, 怖い
countenance  (フォーマル)顔つき, 顔の表情, 容貌
rift  (岩などの) 裂け目, (雲の) 切れ間
compare  [他] …をなぞらえる, 例える
compare sth/sb to sth/sb  ＜…＞を＜…＞になぞらえる［例える］

Rainy Morning

　　The next day was rainy. The picture was taken on the way to the restaurant through the window of the aisle in the hotel. In Beppu City, clouds of white steam rise from all over the city. Tourists who visit the city for the first time might think they were fires. I'm really sorry not to be able to show you a clear view of the city.
　　At the restaurant, what you call a smorgasbord style one, I could have as much as I wanted from lots of dishes. I was fully satisfied with them for there was a variety of cuisine. I've only ever stayed in German, Canadian and American hotels and often utilized the same style restaurants. The dishes that had been served there were all western dishes. It's, of course, natural. When in Rome, do as the Romans. However, I sometimes felt like eating acquired tastes. IN JAPAN, I can have both Japanese and western cuisine in a single restaurant. The second picture was my first serving; rice, miso soup, tofu, jako (dried young sardines), a boiled egg which was heated with the steam from the earth and a western style dish. I like my bacon crispy but it was soft, to my regret.
　　After breakfast, we started sightseeing in the rain and I'll show you the unique tourist attractions in the next entry.

 

(Vocabulary)
a variety of sth  さまざまな＜…＞
acquired taste  慣れ親しんだ味, 習い覚えて好きになっていくもの
acquire a taste for sth   ＜…＞が好きになる
like  (好み・嗜好(しこう)などについて) …を好む
I like my coffee strong.  コーヒーは濃いのが好きです．

Company Excursion

　　The owner of my hospital generously gave employees a free company 2-day excursion to Beppu City, which is famous as a hot spring city. The city is located in Kyushu and at the opposite side of Ehime prefecture across the Houyo channel and we utilized the ferry between Yawatahama City and Beppu City. I'll show you the route of the ferry below, because some subscribers enjoy seeing maps.
　　The hospital has around 80 inpatients and cannot be closed, so the employees were divided into several groups and the number of members in my group was 25.
　　The first picture was shot from the deck of the ferry just before the landing. If it had been clear, you would have seen the beautiful view of Mt. Tsurumidake, which lies dormant now, but has continuously been supplying huge amounts of hot water to us. Our hotel was one of the most prestigious hotels and I will show you the link.
　　As soon as we arrived at the hotel, some rushed to the pool but I fully enjoyed bathing in one of the best hot spring resorts. Then, dinner time! The restaurant took a smorgasbord approach. I become dehydrated from bathing, and it made my beer taste really good. We had dinner from 5:00 pm. avoiding the busy hours and went bowling until the late hours.

The Route of Our Ferry

 
 

 

(Vocabulary)
dormant (植物・動物などが)休眠中の, 休止状態の, (ウイルスなどが)潜伏中の; (火山が)休火山の
lie dormant  活動を休止している, 潜伏する
fully 心ゆくまで
a smorgasbord restaurant  バイキングレストラン

My Commuting Train

　　The picture shows my train which I utilize every day. I spend two hours in this car in commuting time. This station was formerly located on a busy line, but after the new modern line was built in an inland area, it got rustic. I like it, though. Most subscribers of this blog are from out of Japan, so I'll upload the map of my commuting route later. I hope you'll enjoy the map and some might feel as if he/she could actually get in the car.

(Vocabulary)
commute time  通勤時間
rustic  田舎らしい, 素朴な, 質素な
The village had a certain rustic charm.  村にはある種素朴な魅力があった．

Wandering

　　The local cultural festival was held today. People display their works like pictures, handicrafts and calligraphy and play some instruments. The junior high school brass band club members were playing in a small space which was normally used as a parking lot. My hospital has a day care department for elderly people and the users of the facility display their works, and little kids display their calligraphy as I'll show you below.

New Job

　　I moved to another office which is located an hour away from my house. It is near my birthplace and people had worried about a lack of surgeons. I had been asked to work there for a long time and I decided to accept their wish. The new office is only an hour by car from my house, but two hours there and back for driving is too much, so I made up my mind to utilize the train for commuting. I have to walk for 20 minutes to the station, but it will be good exercise. The train runs slowly for an hour along the seaside which is said to be one of the best scenes in my prefecture. This train ride will give me time for reflection. The pictures below were taken from atop the hill behind the new office on the day when I visited it for the contract. About half of the inhabitants work in fishing or its related industries and the town is very peaceful.

(Vocabulary)
there and back  往復で
give someone time for reflection　（人）に思索の時間を与える

Cycling Rally

　　The Seto Inland Sea, which my prefecture faces in the north, is well-known for its beautiful and peaceful scenery of lots of islands. As everyone knows, Japan is an island nation and consists of four main and numerous small islands. The Seto Inland Sea lies between these two main islands, Shikoku and Honshu.
　　By the way, there are three routes through the sea connecting Shikoku and Honshu and the most western route is called the Shimanami Line, which means "continuous islands" in Japanese. This route is becoming a mecca for cyclists recently. On this route, the big event, the Shimanami Cycling Rally, was held today and I joined the longest category with my friends. The distance was 100km and it was long enough to exhaust me. The number of participants was around 900 and the event was really vigorous. The person wearing number 272 is me in the picture. The map of my cycling route is here(link).

(Vocabulary from comments)
isle  /aɪl/  島, 小島 (島名の一部などに用いる)
atop  …の頂上に, …の上に
alluvial (専門) 沖積(ちゅうせき)（層）の
immensely  非常に, 大いに
treat 〈人〉 をもてなす, にごちそうする, プレゼントする
treat sb/yourself to sth  ＜人・自分自身＞を＜…＞でもてなす
We treated Mom to lunch at the Ritz.  私たちはリッツで母にランチをごちそうした．

 
 
 
 

Maintenance of Trees

　　The trees in my garden have grown up too high. They scatter their seed and they sprout out everywhere and even outside the garden. It has bothered me. Moreover lots of bees swarm around the trees seeking honey. My dogs, Rio and Mocha, were living just beneath the trees and they might have been stung by the bees. I feel sorry about it at this late date after they have
passed away.
　　My wife and I decided to cut the upper third, which contains flowers, down to ward off the bees. I could ask someone to cut the branches and throw them away, but I had time and tried to use the saw myself. It didn't look so hard at first. However, maybe because I'm not familiar with carpentry,
this task was really hard for me.

(Vocabulary)
swarm across/into sth  〈人が〉＜場所＞に群がる;〈虫・動物などが〉群がる
swarm with sb/sth  《[自]通例進行形で》〈場所が〉＜…＞であふれている
The place was swarming with people.  その場所は人であふれ返っていた．
carpentry  [U] 大工職, 大工仕事, 木工

(Vocabulary from comments)
lop [la:p]
lop a tree  木の枝を切り落とす
arborist  樹木専門家, 樹木医
 

Poster Exhibition

　　I've been a member of the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club since last year. I was present at the regular meeting at noon today. The picture shows the conference room and the poster exhibition which was held there. Each poster was drawn by the students of several junior high schools to encourage people to build a peaceful world. A variey of ideas were woven in every poster and it made me happy. On the other hand, an abhorrent exhibition came to my notice. Look at this link or this entry. These posters were also drawn by Korean junior high school students. What will become of them receiving such an absurd education?
　　Anyway, the club members had to choose three posters which they liked the most. The three drawers who got the highest points will be given an award from the club. I chose three posters which adopted the issue of air pollution, described the scene of shaking hands among several nationalities and depicted a fairy tale land.

(Vocabulary)
abhorrent   嫌悪感を起こさせる
come to sb's notice  (フォーマル)(事実・問題などが)＜人＞の知るところとなる
This never came to my notice (= I never knew about this).
nationality [C] 民族
fairy tale   おとぎ話

(Vocabulary from comments)
hatred  [C,U] 憎しみ, 憎悪
fallacy  [C] (多くの人が信じ込んでいる) 誤った考え, 誤信
denigrate 〈人〉 を中傷する, けなす
denigration  中傷

New Helmet

　　I bought a new helmet for cycling today. An event for cyclists, which will be held on Oct. 16th, requires all the participants to wear one during the event. It is the straightforward reason for buying one, but naturally I know it's for security. However, it looks so simple and I wondered if  it would work well in time of emergency. Anyway, it might be better than nothing.
　　This event was the cue for me to buy a bicycle last year and I'm going to attend the event this year. It's great, I think, to do something new, which I couldn't do before. Ehime Prefecture, where I live, faces Seto Inland Sea in the north. The area called this is very narrow and small from a worldwide view, but it's well-known for the awesome view. If you want to see it, google for images with the key word of "Setonaikai" or "Setouchi".
　　The participants choose their routes from three routes which are 60km, 80km and 100km in length and I chose the longest one, 100km. I'll record my route and post it in this blog with pictures that I'll take on the way as long as my physical strength lasts.

Smart Phone

　I bought a smart phone as a replacement for my second HT-03A which was made in Taiwan. My new one is an htc EVO 3D which I'll show you below. Lots of uncomfortable things in the former version are improved. I'm really satisfied with it.

ghoti and eleven

　　The topic would annoy you. The former word is from George Bernard Shaw and the latter is from my English teacher in my high school days. Both words were used to show how illogical English pronunciation was.
　　The word "eleven" has three "e"s. The pronunciation is [i] [e] [u] respectively. The teacher emphasized that you had to learn the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of every single English word respectively. Japanese syllabic symbols are associated with pronunciation on a one-to-one basis. It's the reason why the teacher emphasised the difference between the spelling and pronunciation in English.
　　By the way, can you imagine the meaning of "ghoti" by Mr. Shaw. "Gh" is pronounced "f" in the word "rough". "O" is likewise "i" in the word "women". "Ti" is "sh" in the word "nation". Finally, "ghoti" is "fish". Mr. Shaw intended to explain the absurdity of the spelling of English words.
　　I'm learning German now. In German, I don't have to memorize the pronunciation of each and every word. You can talk correctly just by seeing the spelling in German. It's great, though I'm not going to judge the comparative merits and demerits of English and German. It goes for Korean and Mandarin Chinese too, which I started to learn the other day. It's very interesting to me to know the features of various languages.

(Vocabulary)
comparative merits and demerits of A and B  AとBの優劣