Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Renovation of My House

　　20 years have passed since my house was built. Nothing serious has happened with regard to its fundamental structure after its completion, but my wife and I decided to renovate it to endure a longer time as my daughter and her husband told me that they'd like to live in it in the future. The renovation came with 30 years' guarantee against harsh conditions like typhoons, earthquakes, extraordinary hotness and coldness, and so on though we will need to take precautions against termites every 10 years.
　　And one thing that I have to say, I got a loan that would afflict me for the next 10 years. It seems that I can't stop working for the time being.

(Vocabulary)
termite シロアリ
for the time being 当分の間

Wine Party

　　My friends got together at my house. After the wine tasting, we had a blast. We exchanged personal updates with each other. One of us will turn 60 soon. The age of 60 is considered as a milepost of life in Japan. We toasted for his birthday two weeks in advance.

Continued from the previous entry:

　　I recalled the times of timber shortage after World War II. The indiscriminate carpet bombing of the U.S. deprived commoners of their houses, which ended up being a shortage of timber for the construction of houses. People who had a trying time at that time thankfully planted lots of Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress for their descendants.
　　However, since a few decades ago, cheap timber from Canada or the U.S.A. has been overshadowing the Japanese forestry industry and consequently the considerably vast forest in Japan is left maintenance-free. As a matter of fact, the pollen from those trees is now a social issue. Too much cedar and cypress forest became a root of modern illness.
　　Lots of people in Japan wear a mask to prevent pollen from invading from February to May. When an accident occurred in Fukushima Daiichi Atomic Power Plant in March 2011, I laughed at German journalists, who were reporting that most Japanese wore a mask to avoid nuclear effects. Some people might do as they said, but most people did it due to pollen allergy. The reporting was totally inaccurate, but this sort of thing often happens. I learnt the risk of swallowing stories without questioning.

(Vocabulary)
forestry 林学, 営林, 林業
As a matter of fact 実を言うと
swallow ; to accept without questioning 鵜呑みにする

Yellow Sand

　　A yellow sand advisory was issued today. I got gloomy to hear that. I saw the disastrous scene of streets in Beijing and a highway of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In Beijing, the sky was cloudy with yellowish particles. I'm afraid that lots of people would have respiratory problems. On the Mongolian highway, some people were removing sand on the road using a shovel. The visibility on the highway seemed to be only 20 meters. I don't mind where they want to go, but I'd like them to stop troubling other countries. I understand that they don't have the tradition to plant trees for the coming generations. It's a really pitiful thing.

(Vocabulary)
advisory （主に米）〚[名]の後で〛（危険に関する）勧告, 警告, （気象の）注意報; 状況報告.
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (China) 内モンゴル自治区
visibility 視界

Slipped Disk

　　I got my waist injured when I sneezed. I really became conscious of my age. Luckily the symptom is getting better on medication. It's my first experience and I now know the agony of patients. In that sense, this was a good lesson. During the pandemic, I was too lazy to do some exercise. I thought it was crazy to jog with a mask on, but it might be my excuse to escape from exercise. I realized that physical strength is a must to enjoy a happy life.

 

What I Think About Middle East

　　I don't like the name of "Middle East" and "Far East" alike. This naming would be evidently from the U.K.'s standpoint, which had the mighty power in the 19th century. Anyway, Japan depends on the Middle East for its great part of crude oil imports, but the majority of Japanese wouldn't know about the Middle East so much. I assume that it's due to the inferiority of the media.
　　Some specialists disseminate information on the platform of YouTube, but their information seems to be censored. I read a book about the Middle East today, which was very enlightening. This book blew the mist in my brain away.

Broken iPad

　　My iPad broke as the following picture shows. I assumed that its battery had swollen. I was afraid that it might explode. Luckily I had insurance against its damage and another reproduced iPad would be delivered in a few days.
　　I wanted to dismantle the iPad just from my curiosity, but it was required to send my iPad to the company in return. My iPad might be regenerated and used as a substitute for other users.

Robotic Server

　　Ozu city is located in the south of my hometown, whose population is only 40,000. I was working in the city until 6 years ago and I was invited to join a party there.
　　The party was held in a small izakaya, Japanese style bar, in downtown. Sitting at the table, a waitress handed us a slip with a QR code printed on it. Scanning the QR code, the menu appeared on the screen and we had only to tap on the pictures of dishes to order. The bill was automatically calculated and we were able to check it anytime. I understood that this method would save the modification and printing costs of the menu.
　　And one more thing, some of our orders were served by a robot. If I were in Tokyo or big cities, this could be, but I was in a small rural city. I wondered if it was due to the lack of workers.

New Fiscal Year

　　A new fiscal year started. It starts from April and ends in March in Japan. In this season, the cherry blossoms front moves up across Japan from south to north. All the country is enveloped by brilliant scenes. Above all, as the pandemic eases this year, people look happy and loads of young men start their career. About 9000 people seem to be newly licensed to work as physicians. I nostalgically remember the time when I got into the medical field.
　　While I have been working in the medical field for about 40 years, I saw a huge number of patients. Some of them didn't accept the reality of aging. They clung to past glory and buried their head in the sand. I think it's like competing with the setting sun. I'd like to sink with the sun and enjoy the sunset.
　　Just to be sure, I'm not going to die soon. (grin)

(Vocabulary)
cling しがみつく, 握り［抱き］締める
cling to sb/sth ＜…＞にしがみつく

 

Filtering Man

　　The negative aspect of the internet has been noted since the crackdown by the Philippines police into the Japanese fraudster group who had lurked in a volk's house in the Philippines. According to the report, the masterminds collected their accomplices on the net and sweet-talked them into their group.
　　The municipal authorities like the city office, the local police, and the education board are grappling with harmful websites. They enlighten parents to introduce filtering software into their children's smartphones to rein in phone crimes. On the other hand, short comical skits are performed to very young kids not to follow unfamiliar people in their everyday lives. A hero, whose name is "filtering man", appears in these skits - wait for it - He is my son-in-law. He was originally a public service worker, and was featured in today's newspaper. I'll upload the article.

Michikajima Island

　　The name of this island comes from the sense that one can see the island very close. It doesn't have any pier. Despite its closeness from the nearest manned island, few people had visited the island before 1988. These two islands became linked by a bridge which constituted a part of Shimanami Highway which connected Honshu and Shikoku, hopping small islands in 1988. The nearby but distant island of Michikajima has no pier to reach by a big boat and we needed a small boat to land there before 1988.
　　When the highway straddling Seto Inland Sea was planned, a bridge pier was designed on the island. The highway is naturally made for automobiles, but the path for small motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians is also added to the side of the bridge. Additionally, a narrow ramp to the island for those was constructed. At the same time, a campsite was created on the island. I've passed on this highway many times, but I've never visited the island, which has been accessible for only pedestrians and small bikes.
　　I landed on the island by my bicycle today. Going down the ramp, there was a wide campground equipped with clean toilets, shower facilities and a kitchen with several "kamado" traditional Japanese kitchen stoves. Almost all of the flat space on the island was changed into the campground. The highway runs over a few dozen meters, and the noise of cars will be irritating for campers, but the traffic at night isn't so heavy. The campers would be able to spend some very relaxing hours. And another thing, it is the trove of fresh seafood before them. I'd like to stay there for a whole night with my fishing gear.

Postscript:
The place which pokes out to the sea and moors the boats and the column which supports the bridge are described with one same word, pier. This was new and surprising to me.

(Vocabulary)
manned island 有人島
pier 支柱