Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Company Recreation Trip

　　The company recreation trip was scheduled in September, October, and November. My office is a hospital with 75 inpatients and so all the staff members can't leave the hospital together. All the staff were divided into three groups at each section, like the nursing department, doctors, dietary department, and so on. The destinations are Beppu Hot Spa one night and two days, Dogo Hot Spa one night and two days, and Universal Studios Japan two nights and three days. People who don't have enough free time chose Dogo, which is one and a half hours from the hospital. A gorgeous dinner will be offered there. Beppu is alike, but it takes a 4~5 hours' sea trip to reach Beppu.
　　As for me, I picked Universal Studios Japan(USJ) in Osaka with about 20 colleagues. We left the office at 7 o'clock in the evening and got on a night ferry to Osaka, which would arrive at Osaka at 6 o'clock the next morning, and went back with the same overnight ferry. That means two nights on a ferry, and a whole day in USJ. It enabled us to enjoy the park from opening time to closing time. Most colleagues were waiting with patience for several attractions, but I didn't want to waste time and wanted to take a walk in all kinds of park areas. However, I was asked to get on the Spiderman's special car with three other colleagues and tried,,,, but it was scary to me. My face in the following picture is frozen with fear.
　　I had time to enjoy the park until closing time and stepped into the night scene of a 19th century British town. As you can imagine, it was the world of Harry Potter. My brand-new camera worked really well and I'll show you some pictures of the world of Harry Potter.

慰安旅行
　
秋の慰安旅行のシーズンとなった。職場が入院患者のいる病院だから全職員が一緒に行くことはできない。3つのグループに分けることになった。別府温泉１泊２日、道後温泉１泊２日、ユニバーサルスタジオジャパン２泊３日の３コースだ。家庭の事情などあまり時間に余裕のない人は往復１時間半の距離にある道後温泉。最高級旅館に泊まって温泉と料理を楽しむ。約５時間の船旅の先にある別府温泉も全国的に有名な温泉地。そして僕はまだ行ったことのないユニバーサルスタジオジャパン。
　
病院を夜出発して夜行の船で大阪へ。一日遊んでまた夜行で帰る。そして仕事。スケジュール的にはきついがめいっぱい遊べる。若いスタッフはアトラクションに並ぶが僕はそんなことは面倒で、散歩していたかったが、誘われて１時間ほどの待ち時間のスパイダーマンの乗り物に乗った。大きな動きは無いはずなのだが、錯覚を利用した乗り物で正直怖かった。(^_^;)
　
夜行の船の出発時刻までは間があり、２１時頃まで滞在し、僕は一人ハリーポッターの区画へ入ってみた。プロジェクションマッピングという技術でショーが行われていたが楽しんだ。また１９世紀頃のロンドンを模した街もまた面白く撮影を楽しんだ。

Monument to the loyal dead

　　How do you start your day? What I do, for example, is pour myself a cup of coffee and take 10 minutes or so to go over my "to-do" list for the day. It helps me to not waste time and to avoid forgetting what I have to do. Anyway, as I had to arrive at my office an hour earlier than usual today, I went out before daylight.
　　As I had enough time on the way, I dropped in at a monument for the crew members of a submarine in the period of the Great East Asian War. It stands in a graveyard to which a narrow path leads. There are some people walking on the path in the daytime and you can't reach the graveyard by car, but there was no one in this time slot. When a submarine is attacked and sunk, its time and place seems to be unknown and no one can survive. When they can't keep in touch with the submarine for a long time, they will think that the submarine would be sunk somewhere and sometime. I prayed with my hands together in front of the monument.
　　The prayer at the start of the day was both my late grandfathers' daily work. They prayed for the happiness of the families to the ancestors. I found that starting a day with a prayer was really refreshing.

一日の始まりを皆さんはどう迎えますか。例えば、僕の場合は、自分でコーヒーを一杯入れてから１０分ほど掛けて、その日の『やること』リストをじっくり点検する。これにより時間の浪費や忘れ物を防止できる。今朝は訳あってまだ暗いうちに出勤となった。

通勤途中、少し時間があったので大東亜戦争時代の潜水艦乗組員の忠魂碑に立ち寄った。狭い道の先にあるので、人通りのある日中は車で近づくことが出来ないがこの時刻だとさすがに歩行者はいなかった。潜水艦が沈没するとき、その場所も時刻も不明となる。生存者は一人もいない。潜水艦としばらく連絡が取れないからどこかで撃沈されたのだろうと考えるのだそうだ。出勤前のひととき、静かに手を合わせた。

一日の始めに神仏に手を合わせるという行為、亡くなった両祖父がやっていた。ご先祖に一日の安泰を祈っていた。祈りから一日を始めるのは実に清々しいものだと気がついた。