Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Coastline On A Winter Day

　　I commute by car every morning. It takes about an hour and I feel drowsy sometimes. When I got sleepy this morning, I pulled up my car and took some snapshots there to shake off my drowsiness. When I had a shooting lecture last month, I learned to think outside the box. I took several pictures that I hadn't ever taken; leafless trees on the roadside, leaves with no features. I think that the picture of an old tree expresses the melancholy of winter and the wintery sunshine at the same time. What do you think? As you see in the last two pictures, I understood how to blur its background, though in these pictures I failed to choose the objects. I should have picked more beautiful leaves. Anyway, shooting is fun!

 (Vocabulary)
think outside the box 　新しい独創的な考え方をする

International Students In Matsuyama

　　As a part of volunteer activities of Matsuyama Century Lions Club, we held a friendship gathering inviting about 40 overseas students who live in the city of Matsuyama. Their nationalities were, though I don't exactly remember, about ten kinds, and varied from a country in Africa to Barbados. I was grateful for their choice, I mean, they picked my hometown among lots of cities in Japan.
　　In an orchard whose owner is a member of the club, the participants enjoyed harvesting sweet potatoes, persimmons, oranges, etc, and baking pizza, okonomiyaki savory pancakes, etc. The hardest part of cooking okonomiyaki savoury pancakes is flipping them over with spatulas. Some weren't good at it, but it was fun to see them mis-flipping. I didn't get permissions to upload their pictures, but it would be no problem to show you pictures below. People wearing a yellow jacket are the members of the club. I was happy to have the chance to talk with international students about their countries and their daily life in Matsuyama.
　　There is no Muslim around me and I don't fully see their way of life. My knowledge about them is only obtained from books or literature. I heard that "Mirin", one of the essential seasonings in Japanese traditional dishes, doesn't go well with their religious life. I was surprised to hear that. I can't put up with the fact that religion interferes with personal food preferences. I wondered that they didn't feel ill at ease. I understood that it's the way of their lives. It was the day when I learned much.

１２月９日　留学生との交流会

松山センチュリーライオンズクラブの奉仕活動の一環で愛媛県松山市に住んでいる外国からの留学生の交流イベントを開催した。正確な数を覚えてはいないのだが、７～８カ国から４０名くらいの留学生が集まった。小さな田舎町によくこれだけの人が来てくれたなあと感謝。

会員の所有する果樹園で皆で芋、みかん、柿などの収穫体験、ピザを焼いたり、お好み焼きなどを作ったり、丸一日楽しんだ。参加者に許可は得ていないのだが、多分大丈夫だと思うので何枚か写真をＵＰする。黄色のジャケットを着ている人がライオンズクラブの仲間です。各国からの留学生と話すといろいろな話を聞けて楽しい。それぞれのお国の様子や松山で学んでいることを聞けた。

自分の周りにムスリムがいないから彼らの習慣についてあまり知らない。日本料理に欠かせない「みりん」がムスリムには都合が悪いと聞いた。調味料の成分にまで宗教的なものを持ち込まねばならないなんて、僕には耐えられない。彼らの習慣と言ってしまえばそれまでだが、窮屈には感じないのだろうか？　いろいろなことを勉強した一日だった。

Memorial Day

　　December 8th came around. This is the day when Japan launched what you call a surprise attack against the U.S. Navy in Pearl Harbor in 1941. It's actually, however, the day when Japan was trapped to be forced to start the war by the U.S. If you want to know about the details, I recommend you read "Freedom Betrayed": Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath. Anyway, the war between Japan and the U.S. had already started in Mainland China at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The then U.S. President, FDR, had sent up-to-date fighter planes and excellent American pilots to assist the Chinese People's Party though it was obviously a breach of international laws. The troops which he had sent were called the "Flying Tigers".
　　Leaving the evil of FDR aside, the air attack is prominent in Pearl Harbor, but there were several young soldiers who performed suicide attacks in the ocean against vessels trying to get away from the harbor. They were praised after death and their monument was built at their training site, Mitsukue in Ehime, which is an hour away from my office. Today, their memorial service was held in front of their monument. I attended it in the freezing wind. The meeting was really solemn.

１２月８日　慰霊の日

今年も１２月８日がやって来た。これは日本が真珠湾へ奇襲攻撃を掛けたとされる日である。実際はルーズベルトの仕掛けた罠にはまってしまった日である。日本とアメリカの間の戦争は既に始まっていた。アメリカは自国の飛行機とパイロットをシナへ送り、日本と戦争をしていたのである。その部隊の名前はフライングタイガーと呼ばれる。

その話は置く。話を真珠湾攻撃へ戻す。真珠湾攻撃の際に航空攻撃ばかりが目立つが実は、真珠湾から逃げ出してきた艦船を攻撃するために湾口で待っていた部隊がある。彼らは自らの命と引き替えに攻撃を仕掛け、そして散った。彼らはその後軍神として祀られた。彼らが攻撃の練習をした場所で今日、彼らの慰霊祭があり出席した。寒風吹きすさぶ中、神職の祝詞（のりと）が唱えられ、出席者が玉串を供えた。

Hijikawa Arashi Again

　　I went up to the observatory again to shoot the phenomenon. Other amateur photographers were waiting for the coming scene more than an hour before I reached the observatory. I admired their tolerance against coldness. However, the temperature didn't fall below zero. No "Arashi", no picture. I was sorry not to take a single picture there, so I took a picture of the monitor post for radioactivity. My town is located within 20 km from the Ikata Nuclear Plant.

Hijikawa Arashi

　　A natural phenomenon called "Hijikawa Arashi" is one of the winter features in the town of my office. It appears only on specific occasions. That is, when in a clear sky and the temperature falls below zero. It's produced by the distinctive terrain.
　　The weather forecast told that the weather would be suitable for the generation of "Hijikawa Arashi" last night, and I got up earlier this morning and climbed up to the "Arashi" observatory. If the weather met the condition, I would have seen the phenomenon, but temperature was a little over zero, though I felt freezing. I decided to try again.