Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Japanese Music Concert

　　I started playing shakuhachi, the Japanese traditional bamboo flute, after happening to see a student playing it long ago in my student days. It means my career as a shakuhachi player is nearly 40 years long, but I don't feel I have mastered it yet and I still have a lot to learn.
　　Anyway, I attended an annual Japanese traditional music concert as a player today. Lit by several strong lights, my nerves were on edge, but I could manage to make it through without any errors. However, I have another concert schedule in June in Kyoto City. It's the 120th anniversary concert of a shakuhachi school of Tozan, which is a lineage that was founded during the Meiji period by the first generation Tozan Nakao. I'll upload the picture of the concert hall where I'll be playing below. The hall is Kyoto Concert Hall, which is far bigger than today's hall. I feel tense even now. You can see the picture of a bazaar, which was held yesterday. I took it when I visited the hall for the rehearsal.
　　Finally, I'll write about the number I played today and will play in Kyoto next month. The title is "Kukai", the famous buddhist priest, who shaped the culture of the Shikoku 88 Pilgrimage in Shikoku, my home, just 1200 years ago. As my group will join the concert as the representative of Shikoku, this number was selected. I'll report about the concert here on the blog.

(Vocabulary)
get (sb) somewhere/anywhere/nowhere if you get somewhere, or if an action gets you somewhere, you make progress:  I think we’re getting somewhere at last. We didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I’ve tried arguing, but it got me nowhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guanyin

　　The area in which my office is located is only a tiny village, but it has a long history as a key traffic junction, which connected the land-locked Ozu Basin and the Seto Inland Sea. One of its icons is the sculpture of Guanyin carved in the 10th or 11th century. It has been preserved elaborately, blocking out light. People can see the sculpture only on April 17th, the day of the local festival.
　　During lunch break, I went out for the festival. I was going to take pictures of the sculpture, but it was prohibited. Anyway, what people were waiting for most was the rice cake scattering. It is said that rice cakes have the power to summon happiness, so people will try to get more and more rice cakes. I got only three, but ate them during lunch time. Something good would happen or not?

(Vocabulary)
Guanyin　観音様
key traffic junction 交通の要衝
land-locked 〈港・湾などが〉陸地に囲まれた；〈国・地域などが〉海岸線がない;〈魚が〉淡水にすむ.

Sake Lovers' Meeting

　　My Lions Club has been holding meetings concerning alcoholic beverages four times a year. Every meeting has its theme. In addition to the major classification of alcoholic drinks, like sake, wine, beer, whisky, and so on, the drinks are chosen by its birthplace, its ingredient, or by the season in which the meeting is held. Naturally, delicious seasonal dishes accompany the beverage.
　　The theme this time was "whisky". There are two kinds of descriptions of whisky, i.e., "whisky" and "whiskey". In Japan "whisky" is more frequently used. Japanese whisky is descended from Scotch, and the Scotch-like description without "e" is used.
　　Five major areas for the production of whiskys are Ireland, Scotland, America, Canada, and Japan. A Japanese had brought the technique of producing whisky from Scotland in the latter half of 19th century and his story was broadcast recently. He is the founder of Nikka and father of Japanese whisky. Now Japan is experiencing a boom in whisky.
　　The lecturer was the branch manager of Suntory Co.Ltd, the other company of the two major whisky companies in Japan. His story was full of wit and was enjoyable. I learned lots of things about not only Japanese whisky but also other ones.
　　You see a little bottle of Maker's Mark on the table, it was a souvenir. The lecturer told us what the logo and its seal meant. They were added to my whole stock of knowledge.

(Vocabulary)
Sake Lovers' Meeting 　ほろ酔い会（松山中央ライオンズクラブで開催される年に４回の酒飲みたちのイベント。毎回種々のアルコール飲料が用意され、専門家たちの蘊蓄に耳を傾け、アルコールを楽しむ会）
connoisseur　専門家、(美術品などの) 鑑定家, (その道の) 通, 玄人,食べ物・酒・音楽など特定の分野についてよく知っている人
a wine connoisseur　ワイン通

Imperial Visit to Peleliu Island

　　Do you know Peleliu Island in the Pacific Ocean? It's one of the islands which belong to the Archipelago country of Palau, which is the ultimate destination of scuba divers. The island is well-known also as the place of fierce fighting between the U.S. and Japan during the Greater East Asian War. The Ten-noh, or the Priest King, or the Emperor of Japan along with his wife, made a commemorative visit to the island today.
　　Japanese students have been educated under the War Guilt Information Program, WGIP. That is, they have been taught that Japan used to be a rogue country and gave too much agonizing suffering for words to people whom it had ruled. Even now, lots of people believe it and only a few people know that it was simply one of the plots of McArthur.
　　By the way, do you see how diligently the Palau people did the preparation for welcoming Ten-noh? The domestic TV reporter and other foreign correspondents showed lots of people working for a great reception. I felt a strong affinity toward Japan among them. Japan had ruled the Palau people once. However, they show even now an affinity toward Japan. Their national flag also indicates the intensity of the affinity. What on earth did Japan do for Palau? Japan was a ruler and the Palau people were once subject people.

(Vocabulary)
Peleliu Island  ペリリュー島
too much ~  for words 言葉にならないほど
subject 《[名]の前でのみ》(フォーマル) (他の国・階級などの) 支配［統治］下にある, 被支配の
subject peoples 被支配民族




FYI:
Priest King:
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/08/german-and-engl.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2012/01/our-priest-king-tennohs-words-reprint.html
Mt. Sanganesan Monument Park: http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2011/08/mt-sanganesan-monument-park.html

Chester William Nimitz:
Tourists from every country who visit this island should be told how courageous and patriotic were the Japanese soldiers who all died defending this island.

Tougenkyo Marathon

　　Tougenkyo, which can be literally called Xanadu in English, is another name for Matsuno Town, which is located in the southern part of Ehime Prefecture. The town is well known for its production of peaches. The peach farms are very beautiful in this season, and the area around the farms are filled with a lovely scent. The Tougenkyo Marathon was held using the paths stretching into the orchards. I attended the 10 km category.
　　It takes about two and a half hours to drive from my home to the town. I left home shortly before 6 o'clock. As I came close to the town, the weather became terrible. I wanted to run under a blue sky, but the rain gradually got harsher.
　　Though the rain weakened for a while, after the race started, the rain got heavier. It seemed that if you ran with your mouth open, you did not need water aid stations during the race. I was tired, but I was able to finish within a the similar time to last year. I wore a plastic bag as a makeshift raincoat, which is usually used for garbage, as shown in the following picture.

Cherry Blossom

　　All the Yoshino cherry trees in my hometown have bloomed. Yoshino cherry was produced by grafting in Edo, which is now called Tokyo, in the middle of 19th century. Consequently, all the Yoshino cherry in the world have the same DNA and they'll bloom almost on the same day if the climate is alike. Today was the day for cherry-viewing with a bright sky. My wife and I took our parents for a picnic to the archaeological park, which is ten minutes' walk from my house.
　　However, the weather man says, "Tomorrow will be windy, and the cherry blossom will scatter." Today was the last opportunity to enjoy viewing cherry trees.

(Vocabulary)
graft / graftage / a grafted tree / grafting  接ぎ木
archaeological park 考古学公園

Rogaine

　　I've got a bald patch these days. I looked for hair growing agents in neighboring drugstores, but nothing attracted my eyes. I searched medical databases for some information on external medication. I knew a hair-growth drug in tablet form, but I prefer topical agents to oral medicine.
　　According to several papers on hair-growth, minoxidil is said to have a conclusive effect on hair-growth. Though there's a single product containing minoxidil in Japan, its cost is relatively high and so I ordered cheaper Rogaine from the U.S., before I visited Okinawa last week. When I came back home, the Rogaine had already arrived. After having a picture of my head taken from above as the control, I started using Rogaine today in the evening.
　　I'm going to apply it punctually twice a day for at least four months. I'm sure to take pictures of my head on a regular basis and I'll show you a series of pictures of my head in the summer.

(Vocabulary)
a bald patch  (頭の) はげた部分
patch (周囲と異なって見える) 部分, 箇所, (動物などの) 斑点
The cat's fur was mainly white, with black patches. その猫の毛は白地に黒いぶちがところどころにあった．
external medication / medicine 外用薬
topical
時事の, 話題になっている, 〈歌・冗談などが〉 時事問題を扱った
a topical issue 時事問題
《[名]の前でのみ》(専門) (薬剤が) 局所用の, 局部の
conclusive 〈証拠・根拠などが〉 決定的な, 疑う余地のない[反意] inconclusive
conclusively 疑う余地もなく, 明確に

Okinawa

 　　In March in 1945, the final phase of the Greater East Asian War, Okinawa was involved in the fierce fighting between the Allied forces and Japan. It is said that more than 100,000 citizens were killed by the Allied forces. The year 2015 is the 70th anniversary of the invasion by the Allied forces into Okinawa and I made a commemorative trip to Okinawa for a few days with my wife, whose uncle was dispatched to Taiwan as a military surgeon after serving as an Imperial guard and was killed by a submarine on the way to Taiwan in the Bashi Channel. His place of death was not Okinawa, but we were going to pray for him too.
　　I'll write trip memos down and upload here with some pictures. I hope you'll realize the spirituality of Japanese people.
　　As the frequent subscribers of my blog know, I'll arrange entries in chronological order later soon after I finish the travel writing.

(Vocabulary)
imperial guards 近衛兵
Bashi Channel バシー海峡
travel writing　旅行記

The Last Day

　　The breakfast on the last day was nice and we were able to have as much as we liked. I overate against my better judgement, for we were going to eat Okinawa's local food in the airport as the last meal on this trip, but we didn't need lunch there. Seeing the flight schedule board in the airport, I felt like visiting small islands next time I visit Okinawa.