Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Kure Military Port Festa

　　You might not believe my words, but ordinary Japanese people were educated to hate military forces and military personnel. It seemed like the ghost of Douglas MacArthur, who wanted Japan to be unarmed forever, had possessed Japan. At present, however, people know that China has already stolen several Vietnamese and Philippine islands and is trying to snatch islands from even Japan. South Korea continues to stay illegally on the Japanese island of Takeshima as well as Russia on the northern territory of Japan.
　　Ordinary people in Japan have been indifferent to national security, but thanks to rogue states around Japan, they became open-eyed to national security. I think it's desirable.
　　I am one of those Japanese. Today I visited Kure Military Port Festa. The air-raid shelter of the headquarters, which was built in the port in the last stage of the Great East Asian War, became open to the public for the first time in 72 years and I was interested in that. Seeing the shelter, I couldn't help appreciate those who worked there during the war.
　　Eventually, I joined the Military Port Tour held by the veterans association. A maritime veteran gave the visitors a detailed description about its history, naval vessels and submarines moored there. I felt pride as a veteran in his guidance and thought that Japan's Navy, what you call the Japanese Maritime Self-defense Force, was trustworthy at the same time. The biggest-ever battleship, Yamato, was built there and the dock of Yamato is still preserved and even works even now.

信じてもらえないだろうが、日本人は軍隊や軍人を忌み嫌うように教育されてきた。日本を再軍備させないとした連合軍の亡霊が今でも日本に取り憑いているようだ。しかし、シナが武力でフィリピンやベトナムの島を奪い、次に尖閣諸島を狙っている。南朝鮮は竹島を占拠しており、ロシアは北方領土を侵略中だ。

多くの日本人はこれまでアメリカの庇護の下、安保についてほとんど考えることがなかったように思うが、今は違う。シナの行動を見て、また北朝鮮の日本人拉致や核開発、、、これらのことが原因だと思われるが日本を守るための軍事に興味を持つ日本人が増えてきた。良いことだと思う。

僕もまさにそのような日本人の一人。今日は、呉軍港へ行ってきた。大東亜戦争末期に作られた防空壕が初めて一般公開されることになり見学した。当時の軍人たちが日本の滅亡を必死で防いでくれたことに感謝しないわけにはいかなかった。

その後、軍港ツアーがあったので参加した。退役軍人が案内をしてくれたのだが、彼の言葉の中に日本の軍人としての誇りを感じることが出来、海軍を頼もしく思った。史上最大の戦艦大和はこの軍港で建造され、そのドックが今でも残っていた。

 

A Barbecue Party

　　I belong to the Matsuyama Century Lions Club, which was established on the 100th anniversary year since the first Lions Club was founded in Chicago. We have regular meetings twice a month in a meeting room of a hotel, but today, a special meeting was held inviting our family members at a marina run by a member of the club. I joined it with my second daughter. All the preparation was done within the members and we enjoyed a gorgeous barbecue party after the meeting on the beach side. I didn't get permission to upload pictures and added a mosaic effect to some pictures.

松山センチュリーライオンズクラブに所属している。月に２回の例会を行っているが、今日は家族を招いてのバーベキュー。メンバーの一人が経営するマリーナで行われた。僕は次女を誘い出席。準備は全て会員の手作りでとても楽しい会になった。写真を何枚か載せる。了解を取っていないので一部モザイクを掛けます。

New Camera

　　I wrote about my cruise tour in March in this blog, but I forgot to tell you about a few things in those trip memos. Most people who were taking pictures on the deck had their single lens reflex cameras, and actually my small digital camera was not good enough for the magnificent views. Coming back to Japan, I bought one, consulting my camera-freak friends about suitable ones for beginners like me. It's a Canon Eos X9i in the following picture.
　　My wife makes fun of me with smiles, saying that it's an expensive toy for me, seeing me playing with it. Now that I have one, I'm ready to learn how to handle my single lens reflex camera. I tried various setting of the diaphragm and shutter speed, and I found their effects. I had always used cameras before with automatic settings, leaving detailed setting to the camera. From now on, I'm going to study shooting skills.

(Vocabulary)
diaphragm 横隔膜；(避妊用の) ペッサリー；(専門) (電話機・スピーカーなどの) 振動板；(専門) (カメラの) 絞り

Huge Disaster in Kyushu

　　A huge disaster broke out in Kyushu, which is one of the main islands in Japan. It was due to a heavy torrential rain for the record books. 34 people were killed and 7 missing at present. As you know, Japan is a small country, but different places only 100km away from each other sometimes have different climates. The devastated area is only 200km from my hometown, but my hometown is suffering from a water shortage. Judging from the broadcasted pictures, it will take such a long period for damaged areas to recover. I sent a small amount of donation and am going to divert part of my residential tax to the areas worst affected using the new tax-paying system, about which I wrote here(link).

Destroyer Inazuma

　　The destroyer Inazuma was open to the public today. I visited the container yard of my hometown where it was moored to see its inside. Naturally, though, the area I was able to enter was limited. There were lots of kids on the deck. I don't remember that such events were held when I was a little kid, but the kids born in the 50s, 60s, and 70s like me would have less opportunities than today's kids have.
　　Japan's Self Defense Force(JSDF) formerly seemed to be disliked from people's war-weariness. It's ideal, for sure, for all the weapons to disappear on the globe, but it would be impossible at present. So, the JSDF is the Guardian God of Japan and should be looked up to. They are devoting their life to the protection of our country. The navy servicemen and servicewomen were shining on the elaborately polished military vessel.

護衛艦いなづまの一般公開を見てきた。小さな子供もたくさんいたが、僕が小さい頃、このようなイベントは数多くやっていたのだろうか。自衛隊はどちらかというと好かれていない存在だったような気がする。世界中から武器が一斉に消えてしまうのが理想だがそのようなことはあり得ない以上、自衛隊は日本の守り神であり、頼もしい存在だ。自分の生命を賭けて国を守る軍人という仕事、もっと尊敬されて良い。きれいに磨かれた船の上で軍人たちの笑顔が光っていた。