Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Frost

　　I came to a hospital in the mountainous region in Shikoku to assist a major surgery. After that, I stayed overnight at the hospital to observe the postoperative course and I went out of the building to feel fresh air in the mountains in the early morning. Then I found my car frosted over. I was truly in the midst of Shikoku mountains as you would expect. I had something on my mind when I bought my car driven by electricity. It has no combustion engine and might be weak at warming itself. I was surprised to see my car and I went back in the building and turned the defroster on 30 minutes before departure via internet. The frost had already disappeared when I got to my car. What had been on my mind before purchasing was a mere groundless fear. At the same time, it's all too handy to be connected to my car all the time. I can adjust the room temperature before I get in the car. Cooling in summer and warming in winter!

(Vocabulary)
combustion 燃えること, 燃焼

四国山地の中央にある町へ手術の応援に来た。術後経過を見るために宿泊し、翌朝外に出ると霜が降りていた。さすがに山の中である。この車を買うときに心配したことの一つにエンジンが無いため車を温める機能が弱いのではないかと言うこと。朝、外に出てみて車を見てびっくりしたが、室内に戻り、出発前３０分くらいにデフロスタのスイッチをオン。出かけるときには霜は消えていた。杞憂だった。車とネットを通じて常に繋がっているのは実に便利な機能だと思う。

Westerdam & Diamond Princess

　　The novel pneumonia, which derived from Wuhan, China, plunges the globe into a pit of misery. The new type of coronavirus is taken as the cause of this pneumonia. In relation to this virus, two cruise ships, the Westerdam and the Diamond Princess, collect strong public attention. Both ships were suspected that there might be some infected persons with this virus on board, but the aftermath of both ships were completely different.
　　In the case of the Westerdam, it was refused to land at several ports and drifted around the South and East China Sea, or North Pacific Ocean for more than one week to seek a port which welcomes it. Unable to stand by any longer, Cambodia reached its helping hand to the ship and all the passengers were able to step out on the soil. Then they left Cambodia for their home countries. However, an infected person was detected later, but no nations would ever be able to accuse developing Cambodia of passing them without any quarantine. Each country which received passengers from the Westerdam would have to check their medical check and quarantine.
　　On the other hand, in the case of the Diamond Princess, Japan, by itself, took on the quarantine of about 3700 passengers and crew members and medical treatments of infected people. Japan, as one of the developed countries, naturally lead the way in the process of the control of the infection, but I wondered why the U.S., which owns this cruise ship, and the U.K., where the Diamond Princess is registered, retreated into silence. A few countries like the U.S. and Canada decided to take their countries' passengers home. The U.S. responded to the American passengers who were tired of living in confinement. Canada was willing to mitigate the burden of Japan.
　　I heard that there's no international rule against such conditions. I think the international society requires some resolution against the next outbreak of some pathogenic organisms.

(Vocabulary)
retreat 引き下がる, 立ち去る, 逃げる
retreat to/into/from etc. sth ＜場所＞へ［の中から，から］逃げる

 

Infected Diamond Princess

　　Chinese originated pneumonia causes havoc in the northern hemisphere. The Japanese Government always ends up reacting after the event because they are concerned for China and trying not to dishonour the Chinese Government. However, the one thing that they have to do is protect the lives of their people, Japanese. I hope that the Government will take strong actions against the virus.
　　The Yokohama-based cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, came back to its home port, Yokohama city, on Feb 3rd, but almost all the passengers and crew members were stranded in the ship. It carried a Chinese from Yokohama to Hong Kong two weeks ago, who later developed the novel pneumonia in Hong Kong. Therefore, the Government suspected that there might be some people affected with pneumonia. Actually the new type of coronavirus was detected in the specimens from passengers. Both passengers and crew members are confined to their rooms until the end of the latent period of 14 days.I'm so sorry to hear that. Honestly, I had been on board this ship from Dec. 15th to 23rd last year. I can't afford to be indifferent to this incident.
　　The four pandemics occurred only in 20th century. All of their epicenters were the southern part of present China; Spanish, Asian, and Hong Kong flu, then SARS. From my viewpoint, the social conditions in China are too dirty for me to live, though I'm not going to live in China at all. I hope the virus will be confined soon.

(Vocabulary)
havoc 　大混乱, 大損害
end up reacting after the event　後手後手になる
latent 　隠れている, 潜在的な