Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

It Never Rains But It Pours

　　On this trip, one thing was on our mind all the way. That was about the coming huge typhoon. We all moved to Tokyo eastbound from the western part of Japan by bullet train or plane. To tell the truth, the typhoon was following us. We hoped that the typhoon would catch up with us and go far away while we were asleep in the hotel. However, there was no indication that there would be a storm that Saturday night. Today's weather was fine and far from gusty. On the returning bullet train for Tokyo, I knew that we might be meeting the typhoon in Tokyo. The Western region's public transportation system came to a standstill one after another. We parted at Tokyo station. One had a ticket for the last flight to Okayama and would drop in at his daughter's house. One would utilize the bullet train to the western end of Honshu after seeing the outside of the Tokyo station, which was newly renovated, and others, including me, headed straight for Haneda Airport. Only one would reach his house as scheduled. The bullet train was stranded for a few hours. A friend from Okayama and I had to stay overnight.
　　Why only two without three? I was taken to Seoul due to the storm at Narita International Airport when I came back from Vancouver in April. I was held up in Toronto in August by the storm again, and this was the third time this year. I hope that it will be the last time to be stranded associated with flights.
　　However, I'd like to add one thing. I rarely waste the opportunities. I called an old friend and saw him after an interval of a decade, and I met his wife for the first time. I have written about him in this blog several times. In the heavy rain and wind, we enjoyed nice dishes and wines. In spite of the typhoon, the restaurant was crowded. I'll post a picture for you to feel the happy atmosphere in the restaurant and the link to my friend's picture. Two years later, I'm sure that they will appear in my blog again with lots of pictures of Canada. They also love snow. We decided to get together and go skiing or snowboarding at Whistler.

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/11/seeing-after-se.html

(Vocabulary)
It never rains but it pours.〔【直訳】降れば必ず土砂降り。◆ことわざ〕 二度あることは三度ある。
Why only two without three?   二度あることは三度ある
indication  (ある事の) しるし, 表れ, 兆候
gusty 〈風が〉 吹きすさぶ

An Historic Site, Shirakawa-no-seki

　　On this day we were in Fukushima prefecture, which had become well-known worldwide as the victim area of the nuclear accident. The disaster, however, was very localized and was far different from the case of the Chernobyl disaster. I place an emphasis on this point in the first place.
　　After saying goodbye to Y, we had some time until the departure time of the train. So, we visited a nearby famous historic site, which had long been a key junction from ancient times between northern and central Japan. That is a barrier called "Shirakawa-no-seki", which was already recorded in old literature written in the 8th century. The barrier had been functioning at least in the 8th century, but nobody knows when it was established. The barrier's function as a strategic point is thought to have disappeared as early as the 12th century and the accurate position of the barrier had long been unknown. It was identified during the Edo period.
　　I'd like to introduce Basho, who wrote many masterpieces while traveling in the northern part of Japan in the 17th century. He also dropped in at this barrier and left several poems called "haiku". In front of the Shin-shirakawa station, the statue of Basho stands. By the way, do you know about Mr. Donald Lawrence Keene? He is one of the Basho enthusiasts.

His Tomb

　　We had decided on one of the hotel restaurants as the rendezvous last night and got together at 6:30am, the designated time, after check-out from the hotel. I admired their punctuality and toughness. We grabbed breakfast from the tables of the cafeteria and headed for Tokyo Station to catch the bullet train. The nearest bullet train station from Y's cemetery is Shin-shirakawa and it took about one and a half hours to reach it. Then lively conversation followed as a matter of course. The primary topics were about the old days.
　　We rented a car and went to a supermarket at first. We got incense sticks, flowers for offerings, Japanese sake and a lighter. We were all non-smokers and nobody had a lighter. It was about 15 minutes' drive from Shin-shirakawa station to his cemetery. I'll post several pictures of his tombstone for other friends who couldn't visit it. Some cleaned his tombstone up by splashing it with water. Others pulled all the weeds in his grave unit. I lit incense sticks, and arranged flowers in a vase at his tombstone. We prayed for his peacefulness in the next world and wished we could have seen him someday, somewhere again.
　　When I visited last time a decade ago, his mother was alive. Now she was buried with her son and husband. I recalled her last words. "Always remember Y!" Yes, I swore I would never forget Y and his parents, in silence.

(Vocabulary)
decide on/upon sth [句動詞] (多くの選択肢の中から) ＜…＞を選ぶ, 決める
Have you decided on a career (×decided a career) yet? もう仕事を決めましたか．
複数の選択肢の中から一つを選ぶ場合はdecide on/upon sthを用いる．
rendezvous  待ち合わせ場所; (約束の時間に，または場所で) 会う, 落ち合う
rendezvous with sb  ＜人＞と落ち合う
as a matter of course/routine  当然［日常］のこととして
Safety checks are carried out as a matter of routine.  安全点検は日常的に実施されている．
light ［burn］an incense stick  線香をたく

Long Stories

　　The last person arrived at the hotel at about 20:00 hours. He left his hospital after the treatment of dialysis patients as the Saturday routine. As soon as he arrived, we went out drinking.
　　It was a quarter century ago when we got together last time. We were all single and still pretty green as doctors at that time. Now, we had got married, had kids and one had even a grandchild. Furthermore, we are at a certain position in our profession. It wasn't easy to adjust our schedules. We enjoyed chatting and drinking so much, but the most joyful one must have been Y, about whom I wrote in the previous entry.
　　We exchanged stories about each other's quarter century. To my surprise, a friend's wife was from the same year of the same high school as my wife. Time has passed by like a flash. However, it wouldn't be enough if we had a whole night to talk with. We had to get up early the next morning and came back to the hotel about 12 o'clock midnight.
　　The picture shows the Tohoku bullet train we took the next morning, which connects Tokyo and Aomori, the northern end of Honshu, the biggest island of the main four islands of Japan. Japanese bullet trains are really comfortable and have been in service for 50 years without any physical injury or death. Even in the recent catastrophic earthquake, seven trains running over 200 km/h successfully stopped. How amazing!

Visit A Grave

　　I've already lost several friends from my medical student days. I'm writing about one of them, Y, who passed away in his early thirties some 20 years ago. We were really good friends. He and I specialized in radiology and general surgery respectively and had been working away from each other just after graduation. One day he was found dead in his room and the cause of death couldn't be pinned down.
　　His grave was built in Fukushima Prefecture, which was the original home of his parents. You might know about the recent nuclear plant's accident in the same Prefecture. His parents would have been living in Okayama City with him where our medical school is located. After his sudden death, however, his parents sold their house and moved to Fukushima, leaving all their recollections in Okayama City. Now the parents are also in the same grave.
　　On the last weekend of September, four friends of his including me visited his grave. Three friends were from Kochi, Yamaguchi and Okayama Prefecture and I was from Ehime Prefecture. We got together in Tokyo after a 20 year interval. I'll be writing about this short trip to Fukushima Prefecture in the next couple of entries. Lots of items are coming up in my mind now and I feel really sad, but I'm going to write the entries as cheerfully as possible.

Disaster Drill

　　My hospital takes care of around 70 hospitalized patients on average. Roughly speaking, 10 on life support, 10 in a vegetative state, 30 almost or fully bedridden and others who can manage to walk by themselves. I don't want to assume a fire could break out after midnight. However, it can happen. The bigger hospitals over a certain level are strictly regulated to hold a fire drill at least once a year. Today, that disaster drill was conducted.
　　In the evacuation drill, you usually take inpatients out of the hospital as soon as possible. You carry them on your shoulder or with makeshift stretchers made of sheets or blankets, and go downstairs.
　　By the way, today's drill was completely different from usual drills. We had to carry them upstairs. Do you know why? Today's drill was against a tsunami.
　　My hospital is located 500 meters away from the seashore facing the Seto Inland Sea and a few meters above sea level, where the possibility of a tsunami is supposed to be extremely rare, but not zero. After last year's big tsunami, lots of refuge areas were assigned to every single neighborhood throughout Japan. The refuge area for my neighborhood is a 30 meter-high hill just behind the hospital. It's the rule to take all the inpatients to the top of the hill in 10 or 20 minutes, but it isn't practical. We alternatively decided to take them on the roof of the hospital by the stairs one by one.
　　Some staff members played the roles of the inpatients. They could move their extremities to make it easy to be transferred and didn't need any respiratory assistance, but in reality, some patients need respiratory assistance and continuous infusions or some can't flex their knees or elbows due to the contracture. Those things would become obstacles to prompt evacuation. Additionally, the evacuation took a far longer time than we expected. We have to engage in exercise and discuss measures to shorten the evacuation time.

(Vocabulary)
bedridden  unable to leave your bed, especially because you are old or ill
contracture  拘縮
obstacle (成功・進展などの) 障害, 妨げ [＋obstacle to]
engage in sth  [句動詞] (フォーマル) ＜活動など＞に従事する, 参加する

(Vocabulary from comments)
realistically  現実的に, 現実を直視して;《文修飾》現実問題として
bother　《常に単数形で》厄介者, 面倒なこと, 悩みの種
plausible　〈説明などが〉もっともらしい, 信憑(しんぴょう)性のある;《通例[名]の前で》妥当な, 有望な
a plausible alternative   妥当な代案 [同意] credible
familiarize sb with sth ＜人＞を＜…＞に慣れさせる
run　《[C]通例単数形で》(失敗・成功などの) 連続, 続き [＋run of]
a run of six consecutive defeats  6連敗
a good/a winning/an unbeaten run  好調続き［連勝，負け知らず］
a run of good/bad luck   幸運［不運］の連続