Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Atago, DDG-177

　　One of the six destroyers equipped with the Aegis Combat System, Atago, came into Matsuyama harbor, my hometown. An acquaintance who works in the defense association, which cares for veterans, invited me to the private view of the destroyer prior to the public display. I asked several questions to the crew who guided us in the vessel and his answers were all interesting.
　　I've thought that it's the fundamental structure for every ship that the broadside around the ship is open to outside. I've seen on TV programs that cruise passengers jog or are lying on deckchairs on the broadside. In the case of the recent destroyers, however, the broadside is closed and I've assumed that it's for the prevention of the sea water from coming into the ship. I knew it was wrong today. When the situation reached combat, the outside of the destroyer seems to become like in a microwave oven due to the radar waves. It is harmful for human beings and the crew are supposed to stay in the cabins. The arms set outside are all remote-controlled from the CIC, the Combat Information Center. Searching and detecting the enemies by the naked eye seemingly has already become the past way of fighting.
　　I joined the welcoming party held in the evening. My seat was adjacent to the captain's. The other side was the chief engineer. I was fairly tense, but enjoyed talking with them.

(Vocabulary)
broadside (新聞などの) 痛烈な批判; (軍艦の) 一斉砲撃; 船べり
reach 〈特定の段階・年齢・状態など〉に達する
reach a point/level/stage  程度［水準，段階］に達する
chief engineer 機関長
tense 〈状況・雰囲気などが〉緊迫した, 張りつめた;〈人・表情などが〉緊張した, 張りつめた

Cycle Ride

　　Where are you reading this entry? I think most subscribers are accessing from outside of Japan. So, let me talk about the principal islands of Japan first. Japan is an archipelago consisting of four bigger islands and several thousand other smaller islands. The four bigger islands' names are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu from north to south. These islands are connected by tunnels and/or bridges. Shikoku, where I live, is linked to Honshu by three routes. Each route has several bridges with distinctive scenery.
　　I'm going to write about one of these three routes, Shimanami Kaido Route, which is the highway connecting Imabari City in Shikoku and Onomichi City in Honshu. It has 11 bridges equipped with bicycle paths. Local governments of Shikoku and Honshu are struggling to make the route better known in the world.
　　Today, a cycle ride meeting sponsored by Imabari City was held and I attended it with my friends. We chose an intermediate category of a 40km-long route out of three, i.e., 100km, 40km and 10km. It was not so hard for us and we enjoyed the scenery of the seaside.
　　At the 35km point, on the way back, a good aroma attracted us. It was from a barbeque joint, which was located at the seaside. We couldn't resist taking a rest there. The barbeque was great, but after drinking a canned beer, the remainder of the ride was hard.

Die Integration der Literaturgeschichte und Literaturwissenschaft und der Archäologie

　　Letzten Sonntag habe ich Izumotaischa Schrein besucht. In Japan gibt es ungefähr 80,000 Schreine und Izumotaisha ist einer davon. Er hat eine lange Geschichte über 2000 Jahre.
　　Eine Sage über ihn wird für mehr als 1000 Jahre berichtet. Aber es ist fragwürdig, ob die Sage verlässlich ist. Die Sage ist, dass das größte Gebäude Japans Izumotaisha war, das zweite war Todaiji Tempel in Nara, und das dritte war Kyoto Palast. War es wirklich, dass Izumotaisha größer war als Todaiji Tempel?
　　Übrigens, eine Gruppe von Archäologen hat vor einigen Jahren eine große Stütze von Izumotaisha gefunden, die aus drei Baumstämmen gemacht war. Diese Entdeckung hat die Wahrheit der Sage gezeigt. Als ich die Stütze gesehen habe, kam es mir vor, als ob ich die Menschen aus der Zeit gesehen habe.
　　Der Schrein wird jetzt von vielen Touristen besucht.


die Archäologie  考古学            der Archäologe -n/-n 考古学者
die Literatur　文学、文献        der Palast　宮殿
die Geschichtewissenschaft　史学    der Schrein　神社
die Sage　(伝承による)逸話、伝説        berichten　報告する、伝える
die Glaubhaftigkeit　信憑性        die Glaubwürdigkeit　信憑性
fragwürdig　疑わしい            verlässlich　信頼できる、確かな
das Gebäude　建物    der Tempel　(キリスト教以外の宗教の)神殿、寺院
übrigens　(話題を少し変えて)ところで    einige　いくらかの、二三の
entdecken　発見する            die Entdeckung　発見
die Ruine　遺跡                das Geschirr　食器
der Knochen　骨                das Brett　板
die Stütze　支え、支柱            das Ausmaß　範囲、規模
die Wahrheit　真実、事実

　

Fusion of Literature-based History and Archeology

　　I told you in the last entry that the height of the main hall of Izumo Taisha shrine, a part of the roof of which you can see behind the entrance hall in the first picture, was 24 meters. There had been an interesting tradition about the magnitude of the shrine since over 1000 years ago and I'll write about it in this entry.
　　"雲太和二京三" is it! It means that the biggest structure in Japan is Isumo Taisha shrine, the second is the Colossal Hall of the Great Buddha in Nara City and the third is the Former Imperial Palace in Kyoto. For your information, the Imperial Palace used to be located in Kyoto before the Meiji Restoration and it was moved to Tokyo after the Restoration. "雲太和二京三" had been passed down as an oral tradition.
　　The hall of the Great Buddha is 49.1 meters high, which was built in the 8th century and this phrase had been saying that Izumo Taisha is bigger than the hall of the Great Buddha. Is it possible? There had been no evidence to prove the correctness of the oral tradition until 2000. "雲太和二京三" was thought to be false for a long time. Though the draft of the ancient shrine was found, it was not accepted as a real one.
　　The above is the literature-based historical deliberation on the magnitude of Izumo Taisha.

　　In the meantime, a massive excavation was conducted in the grounds of Izumo Taisha shrine in the year 2000 and 2001. The third picture, which is cited from the official website of Izumo Taisha shrine, shows the basal part of the post found at the excavation site, which was thought to have supported the main hall in ancient times. Finally, three posts were found in the ruins in the grounds. Each post consisted of three big Japanese cedar trees and the diameter of each tree was about 3 meters. They were marvelously preserved by abundant groundwater. They are now preserved in the museum of the shrine and I took a picture of it. A group of architects and historians finally made the big historical issue clear and they put together the model of the ancient Izumo Taisha shrine, which you can see in the 5th picture. Imagine its scale compared with a man on the slope. The archeology attested to the credibility of the oral tradition.
　　In the ancient days, without any heavy machinery, how did our ancestors construct such a magnificent structure? I'm proud of them.

　　Remains dug up from Japan's soil were absolutely made by our Japanese ancestors. A particular people has lived in a specific area since recorded history. I wondered what countries have such a history. The Greeks who hold the lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame have nothing to do with the ancient Greeks who started the original form of the Olympics. I don't know exactly, but Portugal and Denmark might be such countries in Europe.

(Vocabulary)
Literature-based History 文献史学
Archeology 考古学
tradition (宗教的・文化的な) 伝承, 伝承を受け継ぐ人たち
a belief, custom, or way of doing something that has existed for a long time, or these beliefs, customs etc in general
colossal (程度・数量などが) 膨大な, ばく大な, 途方もない, けたはずれの

Izumo Taisha Shrine

　　"Minshuku Tanabe", which I wrote about in the last entry, is located in the Izumo region in Shimane Prefecture. The Izumo region features in Japanese mythology and is home to Izumo Taisha, a shrine with a remarkably long history. The main hall is 24 meters high. It's the largest shrine building in Japan. As for the magnitude of the shrine, important and wonderful evidence was excavated recently. I'll write about the great excavation of the century later or in the following entry.
　　The shrine was one of our main destinations on this trip. The first picture shows us at the entrance of the shrine. The next two pictures were shot on the approach to the main building.
　　Izumo Taisha is dedicated to Okuninushi no Mikoto, the deity believed to have created Japan. Japanese mythology says that he gave the country of his making to the imperial ancestor deity, Amaterasu Omikami. The statue, showing this mythological scene, was set along the approach.
　　Additionally, Okuninushi is known as a god of love. He has been worshipped over the centuries because he's believed to possess special powers to help people pair up romantically. According to legend, all of Japan's gods gather in Izumo every October to hold discussions and make all kinds of arrangements for worldly matters: not just who will marry whom, but also who will get what job and so on.
　　Even today, a ritual is held at the shrine to welcome the gods from all around the country.

Minshuku, Guest House

　　I have utilized various accommodation facilities in foreign countries; hotels, condominiums, B&Bs;, dormitories and so on. Likewise in Japan, there are several styles. The inn which we had chosen today was "Minshuku Tanabe", that is, Mr. Tanabes' house. "Minshuku" is a form of accommodations, which is nearly a folk's house. The lodging expense of this type of accommodation is lower than average hotels.
　　Japanese lodging facilities, including minshuku, are strictly regulated by the government with respect to the security of the customers. The buildings have to pass the inspections concerning fire prevention measures and earthquake countermeasures. Additionally, they have to do evacuation drills regularly. The sanitary management is also inevitable.
　　The inn is located in the deserted mountainous region and the cuisine served to us was produced around the inn. It wasn't flashy, but gorgeous for people in urban areas. Moreover the inn had its exclusive source of hot spring and it was one of the reasons why we chose this inn. We fully enjoyed the hot spring.
　　Though in May, the darkness comes early in the mountainous area. After the long shadows of surrounding mountains above us cast a thick, black darkness on every object near us, the best amusement after dinner was walking outside under the feeble lighting by numerous stars, listening to the sound of water in the small stream, wild animals and leaves' rustling. I couldn't see any animals or insects, but there surely lived lots of creatures.
　　Coming back to the inn and after bathing in the hot spring, another party started.

Site of Legend

　　The fortune-telling pond of Yaegaki Shrine, which I wrote about in the last entry, is located deep amid the trees with quiet dignity. Shrines are dedicated to the deities of Shinto, Japan's ancient religion. We felt purified there and headed for the center of the Chugoku region. Here, call to mind the map of Japan. The largest island of Japan is called Honshu and the western part from Osaka in Honshu is the Chugoku region, which consists of the prefectures of Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane and Tottori. Several noted legends are left around this region and tonight's inn is just in the center of the Chugoku region.
　　By the way, Japan is one of the most industrial countries, but the area we visited was an isolated and rural place. Naturally, no pollution around. The young people in the villages started raising grapes for wines several years ago here, harnessing the rich soil and ideal sunshine for grapes. They finally hit the big time. We dropped in at their winery to see how it was going. Tasting a variety of wines was great fun, though it was very sad for drivers.

(Vocabulary)
call to mind 思い浮かべる
hit the big time 成功する

Yaegaki Shrine

　　We visited Yaegaki Shrine next. It seemed that this shrine had appeared in a TV program and had become well known to people for its distinctive way of fortune-telling. I didn't know about this shrine and I learned its long and distinguished history from a staff member of the shrine, Miko, a female attendant.
　　I bought a sheet of paper at the shrine, on which nothing was written, and went to a pond deep in the forest. It is said that a young girl, who would get hitched to a man later who would kill the legendary monster, Yamata no Orochi, had hidden from Yamata no Orochi in this pond. People float this sheet of paper on the surface of the pond and put a coin on it. The faster it sinks, the faster the words come true written on the paper.
　　One single coin is supposed to be put on the paper. Some put a coin of 100yen or 500yen, because they are heavier than 10yen or 1yen, but I put 10 yen on it as you see in the picture. The words appeared just after it was placed on the pond. My paper says that my daughters will meet nice guys and they are from the direction of the west and the south. I don't adhere to such fortune-telling, but the words given to me made me happy. The last picture shows some of my friends, who were so eager for the fortune-telling. Are women like that in other countries?
　　We headed for the mountainous region where our inn was located. It was ground zero of the Yamata no Orochi legend.

Yaegaki Shrine

Miko

Miko, pictures

Mizuki Shigeru Road and Betabumizaka Slope

　　The manga artist whom I wrote about in the last entry is "Mizuki Shigeru" from Sakaiminato City in Tottori Prefecture. This city had been a sleepy little town for a long time. Without a fishery, it hadn't any powerful industries. At such time, the city hit upon an interesting idea to stimulate its economy for taking tourists in. It was the remodeling of the main street after the famous manga artist. The main street was named as Mizuki Shigeru Road, along which lots of statues of characters of yokai in his works were placed. His museum was also built and it became very popular.
　　Another spot we visited was the slope part of a bridge, which is called Betabumizaka. It became well-known by a car manufacturer's commercial film. The Japanese word of "Betabumi" means pressing the accelerator to the floor. This slope looks very steep, but actually was not so steep. The look of this slope varies from how it is taken. I'll show you two pictures of this slope and the Youtube url for the film below.

(Vocabulary)
sleepy　〈場所などが〉 静かな, 活気のない
a sleepy little town 小さな眠ったような町

Betabumizaka:
http://youtu.be/xySyTUJujhQ

Trip to the World of Japanese Mythology

　　Japan is an unbelievable nation. Imagine that direct descendant of Romulus and Remus, who are said to have been raised by wolves and founded Rome in Roman mythology, and a lineal one of Zeus, who appears in Greek mythology, are the present emperors of Italy and Greece respectively. Isn't it incredible? Japan's Ten-noh is such a being, the genuine descendant of the founder of Japan, Jinmu Ten-noh. The lineage has been linked without any interval. For your information, the foundation of Rome, Greece and Japan was roughly in the same period, 7th century BC. The other day, an attractive trip plan was put together by my friend, traveling to the places that appear in Japanese mythology. We set out for an isolated mountainous area in Shimane Prefecture which has the legend of the monster, "Yamata no Orochi". The detail of the story is written here(link).
　　Naturally, we dropped in at several tourist spots on the way. One of the group members was familiar with Shimane and the adjacent Tottori Prefectures and lead us to nice places. I think you can enjoy my pictures in this and following entries.
　　In recent years there is a funny move of local airports in Japan. Several small airports, which are suffering from the decrease of passengers, have tended to name themselves after their local characteristics for promotional measures. Tottori Prefecture is the birthplace of a noted manga artist, who created dozens of yokai, which are like a goblin, fairy, spirit or something like that, and named its airport as Yonago Kitaro Airport. Kitaro is the main character of yokai's stories and Kitaro is mounting the plane in the pictures.

(Vocabulary)
promotional measures 振興策

My Garden?

　　Today was really nice day with a comfortable ocean breeze. It was neither hot nor cold. Invited by such a serene climate, my wife and I went out for a walk with a packed lunch to a nearby park, which was built harnessing a small hill from its foot to summit. It's so close to my house that I think of the municipal park as my garden in a self-centered manner.
　　The observatory on the hill is shown in the first picture. It looks like an old castle which you often see in Europe because it was built in commemoration of the sister city, Freiburg City in southern Germany. Similarly, there is a beautiful Japanese Garden in the center of Freiburg City, which I walked around with my second daughter last autumn. You can see Matsuyama Castle from the observatory, which is also one of principal tourist attractions.
　　When we were having lunch, a bride and groom came up to have their photos taken. We watched for some time while, presumably professional, photographers took pictures of the newly-wed couple. It reminded us of our wedding 30 years-ago.
　　From the west side of the top of the hill, I saw my high school from where I graduated more than 30 years ago. Time flies, I profoundly realized.

(Vocabulary)
in a self-centered manner 勝手に

Tagebuch für 6. Mai

　　Ein großer Park liegt ganz in der Nähe meines Hauses. Der Park ist mit Spazierweg und vielen Spielgeräten ausgestattet, dadurch wird der etwa 140 meter hoher Hügel gut genutzt. Auf dem Gipfel steht eine Aussichtsplattform, mit einer alten deutschen Atmosphäre. Der Park ist so nahe an meinem Haus, dass ich oft spazieren gehe. Am 6. Mai war es sehr gutes Wetter und ich stieg mit meiner Frau und einem eingepackten Mittagessen auf den Gipfel. Dort sollte das Andenken von 25 Jahre Städtepartnerschaft Freiburg - Matsuyama, Baumpflanzung stehen, aber ich konnte das nicht finden.

(Vokabular)
aus/statten  equip, endow
der Gipfel  peak
ein/packen  包む、詰める　(反)aus/packen
das Andenken   memory

English Class Reunion

　　A considerable number of the Japanese aren't good at English, though they surely learned it for several years in school. The linguistic systems of Japanese and English are totally different from each other. Moreover, people in Japan don't need to use English as long as they stay in Japan. These are, I think, the reasons why they can't speak English well.
　　Some people, however, keep an intense passion for mastering English after graduation. Such people, including me, who had already ended their education and had jobs, got together at an English class which was open to public. The teacher, who came from Michigan, was a native speaker of English and a professor of a nearby college.
　　Now some members have already retired from their work. The English learning group itself broke up a few years ago. A member, who used to be a professor of Ehime University, Rock Science, made a suggestion to have a reunion party at his house, which is located deep in the forest south of Matsuyama City and 9 people attended today's party. We enjoyed talking over great dishes and drinks after an interval of several years.
　　I don't have permission to upload the pictures from women, so I'll show you some pictures of the men only, though I don't have them from men. The next party is scheduled in autumn.

Tagebuch für 5. Mai

　　Im Süden von Matsuyama, wo ich jetzt wohne, liegt der Ort Kumakogen. Er ist von Bergen umgeben und ist etwas kälter als Matsuyama.
　　Übrigens, ein Professor der naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät an der Ehime Universität hat sein Haus aus Holz in dem Wald von diesem Ort vor ungefähr 10 Jahren gebaut. Er ging letztes Jahr in Rente und ist in dieses Haus gezogen.
　　Er kann Internet benutzen aber hat den Fernseher weggeworfen und er arbeitet jetzt weiter an seiner Forschung weiter. Seine Spezialität ist die Gesteinskunde. Er plante eine Party am 5. Mai und Ich war zur Party mit seinen Freunden eingeladen. Es gibt keine andere Wohnung in der Umgebung in einem Umkreis von 500 meter. Es war kein Problem, dass wir laut sprachen. Es war eine sehr hübsche Stelle.

(Vokabular)
weg/werfen, warf...weg, weggeworfen   throw away
der Umkreis -es/-e 周囲、範囲 im Umkreis von 10 Metern

The 23rd Asagiriko Lake Road Race

　　I took part in the 23rd Asagiriko Lake 10km Road Race for the second consecutive year. Last year, I struggled to finish 10km and the time was just over 83 minutes. I remember even now that it was really hard work for me. The route is well known for its steep hills.
　　I start jogging last February to join the Ehime Marathon in February this year. I was not able to complete the marathon, but I was satisfied with my result, 5 hours and 45 minutes for 40km.
　　I was going to break my last year's record this year in the same 10km route rich in hills. The time was 68 minutes so I was able to attain my goal. I called my wife to tell her my result. Coming back home, she prepared gorgeous dishes for me. The picture shows my friends who ran today with me.
　　My next goal is to break the time of 60 minutes in the Imabari City Marathon 10km Category, whose route is almost flat all the way. My record of last year was just over 67 minutes. I will continue jogging twice a week from now on! Additionally, I'll apply for other Marathons. If accepted, I'll write about them here.