Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Die Ausstellung ägyptischer Geschichte

　　Ein Teil der Sammlungen des ägyptischen archäologischen Museums wird an Japan ausgeliehen. In meiner Stadt, Matsuyama, wird sie öffentlich ausgestellt. Ich interessiere mich für Geschichte und ich bin ins Museum gegangen.
　　Zunächst habe ich geglaubt, diese Sammlungen seien nicht so gut, weil sie in diese kleine Stadt gebracht worden sind. Aber, in kurzer Zeit nach dem Eintritt habe ich verstanden, daß ich mich geirrt habe.
　　Geleitet von der Audioführung ich mich langsam die Ausstellungen angesehen. Es gab einen Sarg, in dem eine Mumie gesetzt worden war, und eine goldene Maske, eine von drei schönen goldenen Masken. Das war nicht die des berühmten Tutanchamun, aber ich konnte eine große Geschichte spüren.

Relaxing Day 3

　　After having a simple supper, I attended another concert, which was given by a professional clarinetist. When I heard about his career during the opening remarks, I wondered why such a great clarinetist was living in Ehime, not Tokyo or Osaka. He learned the clarinet for 8 years in France after his graduation from a noted academy of music in Tokyo. His friends played a violin, a piano, a fagotto, and a sax, and his private students also performed several numbers. I enjoyed them at a distance of 2 or 3 meters from players.
　　Besides, the concert fee was cheap. You might not believe it, but it's true. The concert was performed in the corner of a hotel lobby, which was a kind of coffee shop space and usually utilized as a meeting place. I supposed that the concert might be a promotion to get people familiar with clarinets. No matter what purpose they had, I really enjoyed their performance.
　　I had a happy and relaxing time today and recharged my battery to the full for next week's work.

(Vocabulary)
bassoon バスーン（ファゴット）
fagotto ファゴット

Relaxing Day 2

　　As I wrote in the last entry, I was going to spend a relaxing day on Feb. 28th. After visiting the museum, I went off to a concert. I'll write about this concert in this article.
　　This concert was privately held by my shakuhachi, the bamboo flute instructor, in the annex of the museum. His profession is a radiation technologist in the Ehime university hospital and he's only an amateur shakuhachi player. Anyone was able to attend the concert for free. He is just enjoying playing shakuhachi with his friends. The number of the audience was more than 100 and his supporters, who play other instruments with him, were about 20. I was moved to see him develop his hobby to this level.
　　He survived a major surgery last October, and easily became short of breath. I was sorry to see such a scene, but he said he was keeping fit and continues to give his concert regularly from now at the closing stages. His remarks intensely encouraged me to live my vibrant life.

Relaxing Day

　　Some people find it tough to simply let go and relax, but I sometimes do it for a change. It's good to unwind once in a while.
　　Today I visited the Ehime Prefectural Museum, which was staging an exhibition of Egyptian historical and cultural heritage. The items on display were all brought from Egypt and, to my surprise, one of three noted golden masks in the Egyptian Museum was also displayed. As the visitors weren't allowed to take pictures, I'll show you a picture quoted from the net. The right one in the picture was actually placed in a small museum of Japan's local city of Matsuyama. The historical importance of this mask along with other items like a coffin in which an Egyptian mummy was contained, sculptures of various periods, etc overwhelmed me. Listening to guidance from the digital device, I recalled the ancient days of the Nile basin.
　　Take a look at the second picture below. I took it in the hallway. Four to five-year-old kids drew them. Their intense impression toward Egypt looked like the golden mask and the pyramids. I remembered my daughters' pictures in the days of kindergarten.

(Vocabulary)
basin 流域
the Amazon basin  アマゾン川流域

Real History

　　China and Korea have long been harshly accusing Japan of issues over the comfort women and the Nanking massacre without any solid evidence. On the other hand, it's the nature of Japanese people to keep quiet to avoid conflicts and to put up with something until the last minute. Add to that most Japanese people have been brainwashed by misleading education plotted by the Allies. At last, however, the Japanese Government, which had never lifted a finger over this issue for a long time, insisted that the appeals from both countries should be just fabrications.
　　Let me date back to the 15th century. The arrival of Vasco da Gama in Asia brought merciless distress to Asian countries and then the darkest periods of Asia started. Asian people had been under the tight control of European superpowers for 400 years until 1905, when Japan sealed a sweeping victory over Russia. Japan had been involved in various military conflicts despite its efforts to avoid them.
　　Eventually Japan surrendered and Japanese people were placed under the distorted education system made up by the Allies. In my case, I was taught that Japan used to be an evil nation before World War II. However, when the Allies were accusing Japanese leaders in the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals on Japan's colonial occupation, they were re-invading Asian countries. Do you know about the Indochina Wars? It should be called arrogant delusion. Lots of people came to know the real history and this movement is gathering pace.
　　The following picture shows the speech by the Japanese high officials in the U.N. committee.

Instant Ramen

　　I've been on duty since yesterday throughout the night. I was called a few times from the ward and feel a lack of sleep now. Anyway, the picture shows my breakfast today, an instant ramen featuring kelp harvested on Rishiri Island, which I visited last September on the way to Karafuto by cruise ship, the Nippon Maru. I was welcomed by local people and it's why I chose it among many kinds of instant ramens on the market's shelves.
　　Instant noodles were invented by a Taiwanese Japanese. His creativity has remarkably changed the world, I think. The handiness of instant noodles is essential to the lives of people today. In case of emergencies, its usefulness stands out. As for me, I always keep several kinds of instant noodles in my locker.

Das Ende Erziehung

　　Ich habe drei Töchter. Die jungste will die Universität im nächsten Monat absolvieren. Und ab April will sie als Ärztin zu arbeiten beginnen. Ich empfinde vermischte Gefühle mit Freude und Verlassenheit.
　　Vom 6-8. Februar hat das Staatsexamen für Ärzte stattgefunden. Für einen Monat bis zur Bekanntmachung der Ergebnisse fällt der Unterricht aus. Es sind Ferien für die Studenten, die ihre Examen abgelegt haben.
　　Sie will nach Südamerika in die Ferien mit zwei Freudinnen reisen. Also habe ich sie zum Flughafen begleitet. Ich habe ihnen eine gute Reise gewünscht.

Plane-philia; Besessener Flugzeugliebhaber

　　I went to the local airport on account of some business. Today was the National Foundation Day of Japan and the airport was swarming with people. Some people were waiting for several celebrated conservative controversialists, who deliver addresses in the National Foundation Day Memorial Assemblies. I wanted to see them directly, not through the TVs or pictures, but I went up on the roof to see planes because the sky was clear without any clouds.
　　The airport of my hometown is not so big and people can see planes in the vicinity. An Boeing 787 of ANA was sitting in front of me. I noticed that I had not gotten on a flight for some time. The last overseas trip was a cruise.
　　I make it a point to list favorite places which I find as I see newspapers, magazines, or other media. Among this listing, I pick a place up for the next destination considering seriously the season, security and the cost of the trip. Northern Vietnam had been at higher rank of the list for the last several years, but the anti-China riots which broke out a few years ago held me back. I was wondering if I would go there, i.e. Ha Long Bay and some battle sites of Indochina Wars, next summer or not. However, a place jumped onto the top of the list. It is Kota Kinabalu! A Malaysian school girl was staying at my home for a week last December, and she told me about the Malaysian resort of Kota Kinabalu. She'd like to guide my family around the resort. I saw the pictures of the resort on the net, and became eager to visit there. One thing, however, I have to get on board the Malaysian Airlines,,,. I'll discuss carefully whether to go or not.

(Vocabulary)
on account of some business ちょっとした所用のため
on account of sth ＜…＞の理由で, ＜…＞のために
He doesn't play golf now on account of his health. 彼は健康上の理由で今はゴルフをしていない．
celebrated controversialist 著名な論客

 

Besessener Flugzeugliebhaber


Am 11. 2. Donnerstag bin ich nach Matsuyama Flughafen gefahren, weil das Wetter schön war. Ich sehe gern Flugzeuge starten und landen. Wegen des Feiertages gab es viele Leute im Flughafen. Ich bin die Treppe zum Dachgarten hinaufgestiegen und sah verschiedene Sorten Flugzeuge. Mein Lieblingsflugzeug, Boeing 787, war auch da. Ich bin lange nicht geflogen. Ich möchte, eine Reise unternehmen. Meine letzte Auslandsreise war eine Kreuzfahrt.

Ich habe eine Liste der Reiseziele aufgestellt und wähle eines davon mit Rücksicht auf Jahreszeit, Sicherheit, und Kosten.

Neuerdings hat ein Reiseziel auf den ersten Platz vorgerückt. Es ist Kota Kinabalu. Die malaysische Oberschülerin, die im Dezember bei mir zu Gast war, möchte uns Kota Kinabalu zeigen. Was mache ich?

Today's Breakfast

　　The picture shows a breakfast served in a 24/7 fast food restaurant this morning. It looks simple, but keeps the right nutritional balance at the minimal cost, though you might not value such fast food Japanese dishes. Not to mention it, but it's very unusual to have breakfast in such a restaurant. My wife actually, was out at my usual breakfast time.
　　My wife drove my youngest daughter to her university early in the morning. She was going to adjacent Takamatsu City by bus with all her classmates to take the national examination for medical practitioners. While eating breakfast, I recalled the days when I had undergone the exam about 30 years ago.

Breakfast

　　Some of my acquaintances don't have breakfast. Some of them tell me that they do not have enough time to eat breakfast. As I see it, if that's the only reason for not having breakfast, they have only to get up a bit earlier. I wonder if they can work with their full strength without breakfast.
　　I sometimes can't eat lunch thanks to my work, but human beings need to have something before starting their work, don't they? As I take on long operations, my concentration wouldn't continue throughout if I don't have breakfast.
　　It might be unsolicited advice, but I often tell my subordinates to have breakfast. If it is not raining, I go for a short jog and take a shower in the morning before breakfast. That helps get the old juices flowing, and makes me feel ready to take on anything the day may throw at me. The following picture was from the net. It shows a typical Japanese breakfast.