Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

New System on Tax

　　Like other developed countries, the population of Japan is unevenly distributed and centralizes into big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Some people living in those cities away from their original places want to pay their tax to their hometown, so a new taxpaying system was designed. As part of the local tax, a new tax scheme had started a few years ago, in which taxpayers can choose to divert part of their residential tax to a specified local government.
　　Consequently, most municipalities prepared lots of kinds of gifts for their taxpayers to get more income. They return their products of about 20~30% value of received tax. That led taxpayers to pay tax to them.
　　Dairy farming municipalities offer their products like meat, and dairy products. Fishery ones offer seafood. Lots of cities manufacturing watches, PCs, and home electrical appliances offer their products as gifts in return. This stimulates their industries and the scramble for taxpayers is getting fierce, though it's good for taxpayers.
　　The following picture shows a robot cleaner Roomba, which I got for free by diverting a part of my residential tax to another city.

(Vocabulary)
scramble 《常に単数形で》 (欲しい物・必要な物などをめぐる) 奪い合い, 争奪戦 [＋scramble for]
the usual scramble for the bathroom in the morning 毎朝繰り返されるトイレの奪い合い

Tasting of Wines

　　The other day a wine importer called and asked me if I would taste their imported wines in my house. I love wines and said "OK" without a second thought. A professional taster from the company, Gerhardt, came to my house and laid several wines out on the table. He started explaining one by one about its product site, kind of grapes it was made from, foods going well with it, and so on. I ordered some bottles from the tasting list. I thought I'd like to invite a couple of friends to my house and enjoy tasting together with some nibbles.

 

ワイン輸入業者からワインの試飲をしてみないかと案内が有り、自宅に来てもらうことにした。約１時間３０分、ワインのレクチャーを受けながら１０種類程度を試飲した。プロの話を聞きながら飲むのはまた格別で、気に入った物を少し注文した。

Anniversary

　　I had started writing my blog in English in 2005. I had no opportunity to write stories in English at that time, though I often read technical papers in my daily work. Then, I was barely able to make myself understood in English in case of overseas trips or something. On the other hand, due to the complete grammatical difference between Japanese and English, Japan had been misunderstood by other nations for a long time. I really wanted to express my private humble opinion toward all of the world. My purpose of being a blogger was to improve my English skills and get the various misunderstandings on Japan straight.
　　I had big difficulties in writing only 10 lines of entry when I started, but I continued and the previous entry, "Dinner and Champagne Tower" became the 2000th anniversary entry! I'm now very proud of my patience. I wouldn't have been able to fully enjoy several overseas trips without English skills.
　　I'm just thinking of the German and Korean blogs. A very short entry per week in each language would sound like a possibility.

２００５年１１月２５日に初めての記事を書いて、先の記事Dinner and Champagne Towerが、２０００本目の記事となりました。良く続いたものだと思います。始めた頃は１０行程度の文章を書くのでも大変でした。当初の記事を読むと文法書に出ているような、高校生が書いたような英文ばかりですが、現在少しは進歩した気がします。ドイツ語と朝鮮語の記事を混ぜようかなと検討中です。今度は中学生の文章になると思いますが、、、（笑）

Good Comes out of Evil

　　Last November I carelessly hit my left foot against the wall of the garage and the fifth proximal phalange in my left foot was broken. I'll show you my X-ray film below. If you observe it closely, you'll find the crack on the fifth proximal phalange. After the accident I decided to give up jogging for three months, but I thought at the same time that no physical exercise wouldn't be good for my health and I took to a muscular workout. I've continued training under the instructions of a professional trainer until now. The weight became heavier and that let me know my improvement. Today, however, an unexpected happening made me recognize the value of the workout and I'm writing about it.
　　In some conditions, which I cannot tell you all the details about due to the confidentiality doctors must observe, I had to do an urgent tracheotomy on a choking patient, who was lying on his low bed whose height was only 40 cm or so. We didn't have time to transfer him to another bed suitable for the operation. I was able to open the trachea in a minute or so, and saved his life. Then, I realized the improvement of my physical strength.
　　I had to keep my body bending forward for more than 10 minutes on his low bed to perform the operation, and successfully completed all the procedure without lumbago or stretching myself. This was unthinkable before. I understood my stable and strengthened trunk. I was determined to continue the workout.
　　Good comes out of evil! If I didn't get this fracture, I wouldn't start this kind of workout. I remembered, "Inscrutable are the ways of Heaven." Yes, Exactly!

(Vocabulary)
proximal phalange 基節骨
Riss （ドイツ語）リス（細い割れ目）
confidentiality 内密であること, 守秘, 機密保持
a breach of confidentiality 守秘（義務）違反, 機密保持違反
inscrutable 〈人が〉無表情の; 不可解な, なぞめいた
Inscrutable are the ways of Heaven. 人間万事塞翁が馬

（抄訳）

昨年１１月、不注意から足を壁にぶつけてしまって左第５趾基節骨を骨折してしまった。それ以後、３ヶ月はジョギングを中止することにしたが、何もしないのは良くないと思い、筋トレを始めた。きちんとトレーナーについてもらい、弱いところを補強するようにしてきた。持ち上げるバーベルの重さが重くなってきていることから進歩は感じていたが、今日、思いがけないことからその効果を実感できた。

ある状況で（守秘義務のため詳しくは書けない）、緊急に気管切開をしなくてはならなくなった。患者はほぼ窒息状態。患者の寝ている介護用の膝下くらいの高さの低いベッドで手術を行った。１分程度で気管を開放、救命しえたのだが、このとき、自分の身体の変化を実感したのだ。

というのは、前屈みで細かな作業をし続けて１０分、背を伸ばすこと無く腰痛も起こらず完了。こんなことは考えられないことだった。明らかに体幹が強くなっている。これからもこのトレーニングを続けなければならないと思った次第。

写真は昨年１１月２１日、痛みが引かないため撮ったレントゲン写真。禍転じて福となすという言葉があるが、この骨折がなければ筋トレをやっていなかったのだから人間万事塞翁が馬である。

 

Big Cherry Tree

　　Today was a long-waited perfect day off without restraint. Even if I got days off, I have to carry my smartphone for communication with the ward of my office, but today was fully free from work. My wife and I went for a drive to see a big cherry tree which belongs to the kind, "Edo-higan". Its age is said to be more than 300 years. The worldwide well-known cherry trees are the variety called "Somei Yoshino". The cherry trees planted along the Potomac are this man-made kind. "Edo-higan" blooms a few weeks earlier than "Somei Yoshino".