Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Liberal Trend of Germany

　　I'm focusing on Germany's recent liberal trend. I don't mind the future of Germany which is pro-China, but my second daughter had lived there for a year and I've visited it a few times. Moreover, I can understand German a little. That's why I'm interested in Germany.
　　My recent worries about Germany are its liberal trend. When a nuclear plant was hit in Japan in 2011, German mainstream media reported huge incorrect news like crazy. Nuclear plants are harmful, we should throw them away. .... The news companies didn't vet the trustworthiness of their
correspondents. One example, people who are sensitive to pollen wear face masks as early as the end of February to early May to avoid hay fever. You can see people everywhere in Japan with a face mask in this season of the year. The reporters described this scene saying that lots of people across Japan were in panic and wore face masks to avoid radioactive contamination. Actually, however, there was no panic in Japan. The panic in Japan was just their imaginary products.
　　Eventually the Merkel administration decided to stop all their nuclear power plants until 2022. They would rely on Russia to get their energy resources. I was surprised to hear that and thought they must have been out of their minds. However, they fulfilled their purpose and the number of running nuclear plants is only three now, and they are also set to be decommissioned until December. (I checked the present condition. The decommission plan was postponed to next spring due to the present energy crisis, but their intention for decommission seems to be firm.)

Originally, even if they stop their nuclear plants, they can get electricity from France or Switzerland. Taking into consideration that that electricity is produced by the use of nuclear power, their policy of abandoning nuclear power generation is simply a mean sophism.

(Vocabulary)
be out of their minds 気が狂って
sophism [C] こじつけ, 詭弁(きべん) = sophistry ; [U] 詭弁(きべん)を弄(ろう)すること= sophistry

What I think about Ukraine

　　I have no other words to say sorry concerning the people in Ukraine and soldiers from Ukraine and Russia. I wonder why wars have been repeated in this area. Hearing the news about the sinking of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's flagship of Moscow, I recalled the mutiny of the battleship Potyomkin, which used to be the newest and strongest one in the Fleet and I rented a book related to the mutiny from the community library to learn the social conditions of those days. There's a research field called geopolitics. Is it inevitable to repeat conflicts even though the time changes?
　　As far as I know, the Japanese media recognize Ukraine as good and Russia as evil, but I don't think so. The following evidence will show you remarkable facts; there was surely a slaughter of Russian or pro-Russian people in eastern Ukraine, and there are also neo-Nazi groups.
　　It was Russia that started to invade Ukraine, and so Russia is responsible for the miserable outcome. However, the opinions of Russia should not be hidden. They should also be precisely reported to everyone for their better judgement. Just making sure, I don't mean to champion Russia. I'm writing about just facts.
　　This article seems to be going to become incoherent and I'll put an end to this argument.

reference

　　The UNHCR lists the cases of the infringement on human rights in Ukraine and those cases contain lots of victims of the Russian related people in the Donbas district in eastern Ukraine.

[The victim 2016/2/15-5/15]
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/UA/Ukraine_14th_HRMMU_Report.pdf

[UN Report 2020/2/16-6/30]
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/UA/30thReportUkraine_EN.pdf

[UN Report insists that the number of victims soars up to 13200 in the Donbas district.]
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/UA/29thReportUkraine_EN.pdf

　　With these reports the UN says that more than 5600 Russian related inhabitants were killed by the end of last year. Those cases include the Ukrainian attack on the homes of the pro-Russian people. They included also
murders and torture, that is an apparent genocide.

The world-wide and biggest international human rights NGO, Amnesty International, criticizes the Ukrainian Government that these cruel acts are blamed on the Ukrainian government.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/eur500402014en.pdf

The OSCE also reports about the air-attack on the Donbas district by the Ukrainian Air Force.
http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/119479

The OSCE elaborately reports about torture by the neo-Nazi groups of the Azov Regiment in Ukraine.
https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/e/7/233896.pdf

You can easily find this kind of evidence on the net.

(Vocabulary)
mutiny (兵士・海員の) 反乱
geopolitics 地政学的な条件;地政学
research field 研究分野
incoherent〈政策・考えなどが〉一貫性のない, 支離滅裂な; ろれつの回らない, しどろもどろの,〈話・返事などが〉わけのわからない, つじつまの合わない[＋incoherent with]
reference 参考［引用］文献
infringe 〈法律など〉に違反する. 〈権利･自由など〉を侵害する.
OSCE 欧州安全保障協力機構（Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe）

Cosmos Viewing Event

　　The coronavirus pandemic is about to cease now and various kinds of events aiming to gather people began here and there in my neighborhood. I visited one of them; Miyanomae Park, along the bank of Niyodo River, was full of cosmos blooms and crowded with lots of visitors. The event was held under the moderate control of authorities, but I was able to enjoy a relaxing time. Along the river bed, joyous voices of lots of kids, who were playing in the water, capturing aquatic lives, or enjoying the barbecue with their family, were echoing.
　　Japan is this peaceful, but there are some areas in conflict on the globe. I recalled the condition of Ukraine and I couldn't help praying for an early end.

(Vocabulary)
gather 〈人が〉 集まる [自]; 〈人〉 を集める [他]
river bed 川床、河川敷（a dry river bed）
aquatic (動植物が) 水生の, 水中にすむ; 水上の, 水中の

Sauries

　　Sauries are common in Japan as a seasonal fish of autumn. I'm afraid its catch has been decreasing in recent years, but the price has kept relatively low. Sauries have been eaten since long ago and have been the food for commoners.
　　I'll tell you about a funny story descended from the Edo period. Sauries were thought to be food for ordinary people. One day, a shogun, a feudal lord, secretly went out for an inspection of the city. He was always concerned about how people's daily lives were. During the inspection, he found a cloud of smoke from a house with an appetizing smell and then he saw a saury for the first time. The shogun wanted to try one.
　　His subordinates were upset to hear that he wanted to eat one, because sauries were believed to be fish for lowly people. The taste, however, seemed to be supreme for him and he was so delighted. The place where he enjoyed it was "Meguro". After this happened, the shogun began to often say, "Meguro is the best place to eat sauries," though Meguro didn't have the sea in its area.
　　Even now, Meguro district in Tokyo hosts a "Sauries Festival" and offers lots of grilled sauries to citizens for free. This event apparently serves for accelerating the tourism business. The misunderstanding by the lord led to a big event now. What does he think about the "sauries festival"?
　　By the way, I grilled some sauries in my garden this evening. The weather was great for outside eating.

(Vocabulary)
saury 〘魚〙サンマ(科の魚)
catch [C] (魚の) 捕獲量, 漁獲物
lowly 身分［地位］の低い, 下層階級の

A SOCIAL GATHERING

　　I've long wanted to meet a journalist and attended a gathering in Tokyo in which his supporters got together and encouraged him. His name is Noriyuki Yamaguchi. I highly evaluate his intellectual ability.
　　After he had reported about the Korean brothels during the Vietnam War in 2015, the left-wing organizations started to slander him. He was a little poor at preventing his opponents from entrapping him, and he had been under heavy fire from Japan's society. However, lots of sincere people shored him up and he got back on his feet and now he is working as a journalist. I was able to chat with him over a drink. His story was very inspiring and I'd like to continue to support him from now on.
　　After this gathering, I saw a long friend after about 20 years. This day was a really good day.

(Vocabulary)
brothel 売春宿
slander [C,U] 中傷, 悪口; [他] 〈人〉を中傷する, の悪口を言う
entrap (フォーマル) …を陥れる, わなにかける;〈犯人〉 を（不法な）おとり捜査で捕まえる