Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Charlottetown Airport

　　It was around two hours' flight from Toronto to Charlottetown, the biggest city and also the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island. The time difference was one hour between both cities. Viewing from the plane, there weren't high mountains on the island, and I was impressed with its patchwork-like terrain. The coast was edged with the color of red. I looked for a lighthouse, which I had been keen to visit, but in vain. The name of the lighthouse is "Cape Bear Lighthouse". Do you know it? The year 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. The point of the disaster is about 600km south and offshore from the Port of St. Jones, Newfoundland. The radio distress beacon from the Titanic was firstly received at this lighthouse. I love traveling. In particular, I love to abandon myself in historic sites. However, this lighthouse is far from Charlottetown and I knew I wouldn't visit it. So, I just wanted to see it from the sky, but couldn't.
　　Before this trip, I read volume 1 to 5 of Anne of Green Gables from cover to cover. Volume 5 was published in 1917 i.e. 5 years after the disaster and was titled "Anne's House of Dreams", the stage of which was Prince Edward Island. In this volume, the story got started with a story of a woman. She was supposed to come to Prince Edward Island from England by ship, but the ship didn't come on time. Near people's wits end, the ship ultimately arrived at the island. This story reminded me of the Titanic, and I examined the disaster and knew the time and place of the disaster. The author must have gotten some inspiration from the disaster, I strongly felt.
　　While recalling those stories or something, my plane smoothly landed on the island. I stepped out on the soil of the island. The weather was brilliant. There was only one plane in the airport which I had been on board. There was almost nothing within my eyesight. Such a scene couldn't absolutely be seen in Japan. While I was moved to see around the airport, my daughter went on to the gate. The signboard said "Welcome . . . " in two languages, English and French. How do they feel in a multiracial, multi-language society? I'd like to know the Canadian way of life as much as I can and I decided to observe how people interact in Canada, especially in the eastern part of Canada.

(Vocabulary)
edge 《[他]通例受け身形で》〈服・布・場所など〉を縁取る
be edged with/by/in sth   ＜…＞で縁取られている
mark  [他] 〈…周年など〉 に当たる
2003 marked the 150th anniversary of his death.  2003年は彼の没後150周年であった．
radio distress signal/beacon from an unidentified boat 不審船からの無線救難信号
Near people's wits end  あきらめかけた頃
distress  苦悩, 心痛, 嘆き, 悲しみ
in distress  困窮して
in distress  〈船・航空機などが〉 遭難した
distress signal  遭難信号
abandon yourself to sth(文)  ＜感情・快楽など＞に身を任せる, ふける
abandon yourself to sth literary  to feel an emotion so strongly that you let it control you completely:
She abandoned herself to grief.

Fly Into Prince Edward Island

　　We flew into Prince Edward Island from Toronto on July 25th. I had some items that I was concerned about on this trip. One of them was whether my daughter could come back to Japan by herself. Could she pass smoothly through the inspection or check in at the airport? As her trial, I left all the procedures of this flight to her and I just followed her. As a result, she was able to check in her suitcase and get her ticket. I was very glad. One more thing. As I wrote before, I don't like Bombardier propeller aircraft, Q400 or Dash8, and I hoped that we'd take other aircraft. Luckily, my plane was a CRJ. When I entered the plane, I asked a CA to allow me to take a snapshot of the cockpit and she said "OK" promptly. I was surprised to hear her words because it was very rare or would rather never happen in Japan to open the door of the cockpit in front of passengers.
　　The bridge in the second picture is the Confederation Bridge connecting mainland Canada and Prince Edward Island. I wanted to drive a car on the bridge, but I didn't have enough time to do so. I heard or saw the word "confederation" on the island several times and I had a mixed feeling about that. I'll show you my private opinion later.

Hungry

　　I woke up around 2 o'clock after midnight. I had kept motionless with my eyes closed for some time, but I couldn't sleep. I resigned myself to the influence of jet lag and got out of bed. I wondered what I should do. Besides, I felt awfully hungry, but there was nothing to eat apart from the leftover cookies from our in-flight meals. Reading a travel guide book, watching TV using my headphones, packing my suitcase,,,; when I was doing these to kill the time, my daughter woke up and got angry at me saying "be quiet!" Actually, she was right. The hands on the face of the clock on the wall seemed to be at a standstill.
　　Finally, it got past 6 o'clock. I went out to foray, and got something like a sandwich, the name of which I didn't remember. I just chose it in the showcase. Its taste was terrible, though they say, "Hunger finds no fault with the cookery." The picture is it!
　　One more thing, it was my first visit to Toronto and I found that almost all the signboards were written in two languages, English and French. Fliers found in the airport were also written in both languages. In Vancouver, I didn't notice this. The number of people who use French in everyday life would be larger than that in Vancouver.
　　Anyway, it would be troublesome to prepare two versions of everything.

Got to Toronto

　　When I was following the flow of passengers from the plane to immigration, I found a propeller aircraft set in the parking area. I didn't exactly remember the name, but it would have been a Bombardier Q400 or Dash8, both of which frequently cause problems in Japan. All of them were luckily minor, but those minor problems sometimes lead to bigger ones. I was going to fly to Prince Edward Island the next day, so I was afraid I'd have to get on board one.
　　We sailed through the immigration procedure. We picked our luggage up and headed for the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, which was connected to Terminal 3 of the Toronto Pearson International Airport. This hotel was really convenient, because we had to take an early flight the next day and I didn't want to be far away from the airport, in particular, in such an unfamiliar place.
　　It was about 7 o'clock in the evening, but we didn't want to have anything to eat, maybe due to the jet lag. My daughter went swimming to get a better sleep. On the other hand, I tried to connect my PC with the internet via the wireless router which I rented in Narita, but in vain. I wondered why the hotel didn't provide the guests with free internet access. I took a shower, drank a canned beer and went to bed, but ,,,,.

(Vocabulary)
propeller aircraft  プロペラ機

Narita International Airport

　　It was a wildly hot day. As we took a rather long walk around the Tokyo Skytree and Naritasan-Shinshoji Temple, we  perspired and really wanted to have a shower before departure. We expected that there would be several shower rooms in the airport and we were glad to find them on the plan of the airport. As soon as we received our luggage from the transport company at the airport, which we had sent from our home two days before, we checked in our luggage. The shower rooms weren't wide and were rather shabby, but it was really comfortable to clean my body before being confined into a small seat for around 12 hours.
　　I almost forgot. I had to write about the wireless router which I rented at the airport. I heavily rely on the map of the smartphone in Japan when traveling in an unfamiliar area, so I was going to use it in Canada, too. The router which I rented was supposed to work across Canada. I'll write about it later.
　　The plane which we got on board was a Boeing 777 and relatively clean inside. I had a rough impression that Air Canada wasn't clean from my several experiences of being on board an Airbus A330 between Vancouver and Japan. It was not true, however, this time. The picture shows the in-flight meal between dinner and breakfast. The combination of a cup of noodles and sandwiches was great.

(Vocabulary)
check in one's baggage  搭乗手続きをして荷物を預ける

Trip of Atlantic Canada

　　My daughter has been eager to stay abroad and learn English during her summer vacation since her admission to university. She earned enough money tutoring some high school students or working in a restaurant as a waitress. The destination which she chose was Toronto. It's because there were fewer Japanese in Toronto rather than on the West Coast or western Canada such as Vancouver. She was going to fly into Toronto by herself at first, but her grandfather was afraid that she might be involved in some accidents on the way and told me to take her to her homestay destination. This is the commencement of this trip.
　　I chose Air Canada AC002 which would start at 5:20 PM every day from Narita International Airport. To reach the airport from my hometown, you have to travel to Tokyo International Airport firstly, and next travel to Narita International Airport by bus or train. It takes about one hour. Even if we left about noon, we could make it on time, but we set out for Tokyo International Airport on the first flight in the morning to spend half a day in Tokyo.
　　My eldest daughter, who lives in Tokyo, welcomed us at the airport. We dropped in at the Tokyo Skytree, which is the 634 meter-high broadcasting tower and was completed this spring. Then we visited Naritasan-Shinshoji Temple to get charms to protect daughters from everything bad.
　　The picture shows our lunch, broiled eels on rice, which is the speciality around Naritasan-Shinshoji Temple.

(Vocabulary)
make it on time  （乗り物などの時間に）間に合う
broiled eels on rice  うな重

(Vocabulary from comments)
feel bad 恥ずかしく思う, 残念［気の毒］に思う, 申し訳なく思う
feel bad about
I feel bad about not helping you. 手伝ってあげられなくてごめんなさい．
feel bad for
I felt bad for him. 彼がかわいそうだと思った．

Barbecue in Hirota Village

　　Someone from my SNS friends came up with a nice plan to enjoy a barbecue in the mountainous village near my hometown. Two designated drivers couldn't drink alcohol, but I spent really nice hours there. It was in the rainy season, but it didn't rain though the sun didn't appear.

Landslide

　　Japan has been in the midst of the rainy season called "Tsuyu". The weather has been rainy or cloudy almost every day, although I enjoy a 60-minute commute to work. I like seeing views in the rain too. I read magazines in the commuter train, listen to music and when I glance up from the magazine, those views make me feel relaxed.
　　On the morning of June 25th, however, I found that the service was suspended when I arrived at the station. A massive landslide seemed to have occurred at midnight and moreover apparently the inspection car derailed, which runs every early morning prior to the commercial services for confirming safe conditions. The company announced that they would transport passengers by bus during the restoration work, which was supposed to take a couple of weeks. So, I could utilize alternative buses for commuting, but I feel sick reading something in the bus. Finally, I commuted by my car. However, surprisingly, the makeshift restoration was completed on June 30th and the transport service restarted on July 1st. I was relieved.

(Vocabulary)
confirming safe conditions, security verification  安全確認

(Movie)  http://dai.ly/LXFdse

Before collapse