Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Trip to Tokyo

　　I wrote that my friend got hurt in Whistler when skiing down. At that time, one of the rescue staff was surprised that we didn't wear helmets. He advised me, "You'd better wear  a ski helmet if you want to ski down a 'black' run." 'Black' means the most difficult ski trails at Whistler. I thought that he was right and to tell the truth, I had wanted to get one since four years ago. I looked for one in Whistler four years ago, but couldn't find a nice one. I looked for one this year, but I couldn't find one. The time of the year might be bad. It was the end of March or the beginning of April, i.e. the end of the ski season. Even the biggest one found in Whistler was small for me. The upper temporal part of my head touched the inner part of the helmet. I decided to look for one in Japan.

　　I found various big helmets on the internet, but I had to try them on. In order to try them on, I flew to Tokyo. Then, I called my eldest daughter and her fiance and enjoyed walking in a historic and modern district.

　　Do you know the mountain in the first picture? It was taken from the plane. The second one is the gate of Yasukuni Shrine. The next one is the tallest broadcasting tower in the world called "Skytree", one week before its opening to the public. The last picture is of my ski helmet.

Toronto

　　I'm always proud of my daughters, but the virtue of Japanese people hasn't allowed me to write about my daughters. Silence is most valued in Japan. Naturally, my daughters are alike. However, I'd like to write about my youngest daughter in this piece.

　　Each daughter has language skills respectively. The youngest one is really good at English and far above the average level of Japanese students, though she has not experienced learning abroad. The other day, she asked me to allow her to stay overseas for a month to learn English and told me that she had earned and saved enough money during two years after entering medical school. I was surprised at her resolution, but I said, "Yes, O.K. You can try anything you like." She seems to want to become able to do tough negotiations or discussions about serious issues in her field, medical science, in English. She chose Toronto in Canada as her study destination. That's because there are fewer Japanese in Toronto rather than other cities which noted language schools are located at.

　　However, her grandparents didn't want that. They are concerned about the security of foreign countries. Consequently, I ended up taking her to her homestay accommodation. Because the time difference is 11 hours between Japan and Toronto, we decided to visit Toronto several days earlier than the start day of her language school and enjoy sightseeing around Toronto; Prince Edward Island and Niagara Falls, while recovering from jet lag. When looking for something trendy in eastern Canada, I found a website of a Lions Club (link). Did they give me any recommendation?

(Vocabulary)
homestay accommodation  ホームステイ先

Guided Tour by Bicycle

　　Something has been booming in the past several years in my prefecture; The number of cyclists is increasing remarkably. My prefecture, Ehime, and Hiroshima prefecture are connected by a series of eleven bridges. I'll show you the website and I hope you'll see it. These bridges compose a part of the highway called "Shimanami Kaido", and they are getting popular across the country because these bridges are equipped with bicycle paths. You can cross the bridge as fast or slow as you want on foot or by bicycle. One of the giant companies manufacturing bicycles, GIANT from Taiwan, is going to set up its flagship store in Imabari City, which is the Ehime-side terminal point of Shimanami Kaido. I hope that lots of people from overseas visit here and enjoy the scenery of Seto Inland Sea.

　　I joined a guided tour today. With several guides, I'm free from feelings of anxiety such as injury, flat tires, unexpected physical problem and so on. Additionally they weave some amusement into the tour. I enjoyed cooking pizza myself on the way this time. There is an old shrine on the way, and I bought three charms called "helmet charms", which are getting popular.

　　I almost forgot, I met the mayor of Imabari City on the way. I'm happy to know that he is also a cyclist.

P.S. The CEO of GIANT visited Ehime to see Shimanami Kaido and announced that Shimanami would be a paradise for cyclists. I agree.

Shimanami Kaido:
http://www.go-shimanami.jp/global/english/index.html

The today's route:
http://kumo.typepad.jp/wadachi/Shimanami2012_05_06.html

(Vocabulary)
boom   《[自]通例進行形で》〈関心・人気が〉急に高まる
weave sth into sth  ＜計画など＞を＜…＞に織り込む
Weave some time alone into your routine.  一人になる時間を日常に織り込んでおきなさい．