Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Secret Pickled Vegetables

　　Pickled vegetables, a type of preservation food, are seen in various countries these days and they are very traditional and essential especially in Japan. The northern part of Japan is covered with heavy snow and is short of fresh vegetables in the winter. That's why food preservation has been a high-priority issue since ancient times. The regular breakfast in Buddhist temples is traditionally rice porridge, pickled Japanese radish, and miso soup. However, there's an unavoidable problem with pickled food. You might notice, it's salt. The intake of too much salt does harm to health. People in Japan are said to have a tendency to ingest more salt than other countries.
　　In case of ordinary inpatients, the salt in their diet is strictly controlled to under 10 grams per day. If there are severe cardiopulmonary problems, the permissible amount could be under 3 grams per day or 0. The meal which is served to me on night duty is the same meal as ordinary inpatients', so the taste is awfully plain. I will have to stay in hospital tonight and so I bought pickled cucumbers and eggplants in the supermarket near my hospital. I secretly brought them back so that nutritionists don't discover my behaviour. The following picture shows a bag of pickled eggplants.
　　I have to throw the bag away tomorrow as cool as a cucumber.

(Vocabulary)
rice porridge 　お粥
ingest 〈食物・薬など〉を摂取する
(as) cool as a cucumber 　とても冷静に, 落ち着き払って, 涼しい顔をして

Imabari City Marathon

　　Today, the Imabari City Marathon was held and I joined its 10km category. It was the second time for me to run 10km, following the Asagiriko 10km Road Race last May in which I recorded 83 minutes, so this time my target time was set to 70 minutes. As a result, I had my personal best, 67 minutes.
　　For about 30 years after graduation from university, I'd never run more than 100 meter at one time. I don't know why, however, I came up with an idea that I might be able to run a marathon. I started rapid walking in February and reached this level today. Now, I have taken to jogging every two to three days. The change of lifestyle surprised my family, but the person most surprised is me!
　　By the way, take a look at the cap in the picture. Several days before the road race, this cap was presented by my acquaintance, who had actually got on board the USS Chafee (DDG-90) in Hawaii. He was moved by some entries of this blog and e-mailed me, and our relationship started at that time.
　　My next plan is the Bocchan Marathon on Dec. 7th., in which I would run a half marathon, about twice the length of this time. I set my target to 2 hours and 30 minutes.

(Vocabulary)
take to
take to sb/sth ＜…＞を好きになる
We took to each other right away.  私たちはすぐにお互いを好きになった．
take to sth (定期的に) ＜…＞をするようになる, が習慣になる
take to doing sth ＜…＞するようになる, ＜…＞する習慣［癖］がつく
She has taken to getting up early to go jogging. 彼女は早起きしてジョギングに行く習慣がついた．
take to drink  酒浸りになる
take to sth like a duck to water  ＜…＞をすんなりと覚える, にすぐになじむ
take to the streets/highways  (抗議などのために) 街頭［大通り］に繰り出す
Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the election results. 何千もの人が選挙結果に抗議して街頭に繰り出した．

　

25th Anniversary of Sister City Treaty

　　My hometown, Matsuyama City entered into a sister city treaty with the southern German city of Freiburg 25 years ago, so this year is a quarter century anniversary. Several officials, including the mayor and city council members of Matsuyama City, and a few dozen citizens are planning to make official visits to Freiburg to attend the event comemorating the 25th anniversary.
　　Today, citizens of Matsuyama City who had an interest in Germany got together and enjoyed German wines and gorgeous dishes to get to know each other better. Some of them would visit Freiburg in November. Additionally three students from Freiburg were invited to the party. They could speak in Japanese and seemed to enjoy chatting with people who love Germany. So many topics were mentioned. One of them really wanted to climb Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan and recently listed as a World Natural Heritage Site. I'm not sure now, but if several people wanted, I'd arrange the climbing plan next summer. Climbing is one of my hobbies. Freiburg seemingly has a cold climate at this time of the year. I could imagine how cold it is from the latitude of Freiburg, which is no less than 4 degrees in latitude further north than Japan's northern city of Sapporo. For your information Matsuyama City is located in the southern part of Japan and is relatively warm except in January and February. I'm afraid my possessions will become more and more, because of lots of winter clothes.

(Vocabulary)
no less than 〔数詞などを伴って〕～ほども多くの
He speaks no less than five languages.  彼は５種類もの言語を話す。