Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

RUSSIAN MOTORCYCLE

　　When I was taking a rest on the path of my drive, an unfamiliar motorcycle with a sidecar came in the parking space. I originally love motorcycles, though I don't have any now, and I've changed my motorcycles several times from an off-road type to a cruiser, or a touring bike. However, I haven't wanted to get this bike and haven't even see it.
　　It reads "URAL" on its gasoline tank. I wouldn't have thought that there is a Russian-made motorcycle in Japan, the motorcycle kingdom. The world championship has been competed among the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers for years. Tastes differ. I don't mean to offend the owner.
　　I remembered some surprising news. It said that a Russian reconnaissance drone which was shot down in Ukraine was equipped with an engine for radio-controlled model airplanes which was smuggled from Japan. Russia is a developed country in the weapon-producing field, but it cannot manufacture even decent consumer products like cars, fridges, TVs, and so on. Taking a close look at the bike's engine, it seemed to me that the engine was a horizontally opposed engine from BMW.

(Vocabulary)
Tastes differ. 蓼食う虫も好き好き
horizontally opposed engine 水平対向エンジン

AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM

　　Shikoku, the 4th largest island of Japan, on which I live, would be a tiny island, especially from the eyes of U.S. citizens, Canadians, or Australians whose land is vast. However, its cycle of change is unexpectedly rapid. My car is an EV, Tesla Model 3. This car is very driver-friendly and I feel that the burden of driving the car is lessened by 80%. Furthermore, the cost of energy is a third of the same class of cars. My wife and I have begun to go for a spin more often than before.
　　We dropped in at the automobile museum. I didn't know the museum until I happened to pass in front of it. A variety of cars from all over the world were displayed there. A museum worker told us that each car has its owner and the museum was asked to keep the car. Cars whose engines are alive seem to be sometimes driven in the parking lot for the maintenance of its function.
　　The DeLorean time machine, which was used in the movie, "Back To The Future", was arranged in the line of super cars of yesteryear. I forget to ask about the origin of the car. It might be a replica.

(Vocabulary)
yesteryear existing in the past: 往年の
the steam trains of yesteryear

SHIN'YOU (Rocking The Ocean)

　　During World War 2, which is called "The Great Asian War" in Japan, Kamikaze Special Attack Team provoked fear among the U.S. military ships. This fact is well known to the world. The aircrafts bearing a big bomb stormed into military vessels - this is the known typical example of a suicide attack. However, there were other versions of suicide attacks using small submarines and boats. You can see the small submarine here(link). When I toured Hachijojima island in 2014, I happened to find a monument commemorating soldiers who had thrown their own lives to protect Japan near the former special attack base on the island(link).
　　Today, I unintentionally found another monument on the seashore of Kochi prefecture. I joined my hands in prayer.

特攻潜水艇回天　https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2013/06/kaiten-kamikaze-submarine.html
八丈島の震洋基地慰霊碑　https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2014/03/2nd-day-in-hachijojima.html

Dual-mode vehicle

　　　　I came across a dual-mode vehicle. I don't know if this word can be correctly understood by native English speakers, but it's actually used in Japan. You can see it here(link). How about "Two-way vehicle" for it?
　　Anyway, I knew about it through news reports, but it was the first time to see it directly. Take a close look at the following picture. The Chinese letter means "Asa Coast Railways". Railways!! To tell the truth, this bus can run on the rail. You'll notice a section of wheels under the floor of the back of the bus. The word "dual" indicates "bus" and "train" at the same time.

https://asatetu.com/archives/156/

HIWASA CHELONIAN MUSEUM CARETTA

　　A beach which is well-known for the deposit of carettas has been attracting my interest for a long time. I dropped in at the beach and Hiwasa Chelonian Museum Caretta along the beach. The museum also serves as a facility for carettas' preservation and animal specialists are tackling various environmental issues.
　　Coming down to the carettas, I remember HAWAII! All Nippon Airways connects Narita and Honolulu with three A380s. The body of the A380s are painted with adorable carettas and those A380s are dubbed Honu, which means caretta in Hawaiian. Carettas are venerated in Hawaii. Recalling wonderful memories in Hawaii, I took a walk along the beach. I haven't visited Hawaii for almost three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but I'm going to visit it next year and join the Honolulu Marathon.

(Vocabulary)
deposit of carettas　ウミガメが卵を産み付けること
chelonian 亀、亀の
caretta アカウミガメ=loggerhead turtle
deposit (安全な場所に)〈貴重品など〉を預ける;〈鳥･魚･昆虫などが〉〈卵など〉を産み付ける.

LIGHTLY ROASTED BONITO

　　I came to the adjacent Kochi Prefecture on business. The speciality of the prefecture is lightly roasted bonito. As I hit a restaurant next to my hotel and took my seat at the counter, the chef just started to grill bonito for other customers. He used a straw-fired power to aromatize bonito. Seeing the chef's maneuver, I became unable to reject my feeling and ordered one. It was great.

(Vocabulary)
lightly roasted bonito カツオのたたき
aromatize　～に芳香を付ける

DEPRESSION

　　I'm low-spirited today, too depressed to do anything. Do people who are suffering depression feel this way all the time? I understand that my condition comes from the assassination of former prime minister, Shinzo Abe. He had been respected by national leaders of the world during his tenure of office, and despite his incurable disease, he has worked hard for us, Japanese. I wanted him to work as a politician as long as possible. His last moment was too miserable and cruel.
　　He built a solid trust with not only Mr. Trump in the U.S. but Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Narendra Modi in India, and even Vladimir Putin in Russia. I believe that he was born with an endowment for a politician in the family of politicians. Hearing the news of playing golf with Mr. Trump, I remembered the golf meeting between his grandfather-cum-former Prime Minister, Nobusuke Kishi and the then U.S. President Eisenhower. It was the start of the strong relationship between the U.S. and Japan. The following picture is cited from his Twitter account. Seeing this picture, most Japanese people would deem pro-China current Prime Minister Kishida and the U.S. President Biden as pitiful politicians.
　　Aside from people who can't see society properly, like communists, everyone who met Mr. Abe was said to have become attracted to his friendly smile and personality. I wish I could have met and talked with him.
　　I was invited to drink with former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Shingo Nishimura. Every time I saw him, I was encouraged and felt uplifted. I'm looking to get out from depression.

(Vocabulary)
low-spirited 元気のない, 無気力の = depressed
tenure (フォーマル) (重要な役職の) 在職［在任］期間
Recep Tayyip Erdogan エルドアン
Narendra Modi モディ
endowment [C,U] (学校・病院などへの) 寄付（金）, 基金;[C](文) (生来の) 才能, 資質
pitiful 哀れな, かわいそうな, 惨めな;〈出来栄え・成績などが〉 惨めな, 情けない