Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Lions Club District Convention

　　I've belonged to the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club for two years now and in that time I have become accustomed bit by bit to various activities of the club. Today the District Convention was celebrated, inviting Korean guests in my hometown, Matsuyama City.

　　Every club is controlled systematically by the International Organization and with more than 100 clubs in a certain area, called a District, it shapes into a big group. My club is registered to District 336-A. All of the members of the District 336-A, about 2000 people, were supposed to get together in Matsuyama City on Apr. 15th. Additionally, the representatives of the District 354-D, which consists of the clubs in Seoul City, attended the convention, because District 336-A has a friendship treaty with District 354-D. Anyway, I joined the convention for the first time. The first picture was shot at the rehearsal and the second shows the Korean guests.

Cherry Blossom Viewing Party

　　I belong to a big lions club, Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club, which consists of a hundred-plus members. Naturally it's the biggest one of 150 clubs in Shikoku, which is categorized as 336-A district by the International Lions Club. My club is one of the most active clubs in Japan. I sometimes feel busy in fulfilling duties, but it might be due to its scale for me to keep my membership, because there are various people with their own specialties and it's great fun to chat with them. I'm going to write about the cherry blossom viewing party which was held on Apr. 10th.

　　What do average Japanese people think of cherry blossoms? It would be far different from that of foreigners, I think, and I wrote about it before. The president of my club proposed a plan of a cherry blossom viewing party at his inauguration address last year, but the lifespan of the blossoms is very short and the time of the year and the duration of the full bloom was really unpredictable. However, we came up with the solution.

　　A hotel manager arranged a big room in case of rain. A CEO whose company specializes in indoor and outdoor advertisements, signboards, displays in a variety of events, and so on, prepared the pictures of cherry blossoms and several real trees. Our daytime regular bi-weekly meeting was shifted to the evening. I'll show you the pictures of the meeting, self-introduction of new members and kimono-wearing members.

Spring Festival

　　My hometown, Matsuyama City, has 400 years of history as the castle town. An event associated with its history was held today in the heart of the city. It featured a costume parade of every period. One of the pictures shows samurai warriors in the early Edo period.

　　I belong to the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club and the club was planning to serve a tea ceremony, called Nodate, to the public. Nodate literally means outdoor tea ceremony. I joined the activity and enjoyed the feeling of the start of spring.

　　Today was really warm, breeze-blowing and a desirable day for the festival. The last two pictures were shot in the Castle Park. The cherry trees all over the park burst into bloom. Cherry blossom is one of the national flowers of Japan. Most Japanese people love it. The cherry blossom in the picture is the kind called "Somei-yoshino", the same the kind aligned along the Potomac river. Somei-yoshino cherry trees only bloom for a particularly short period of time, and their petals seem to start dropping almost as soon as they've opened. The aristocrats of ancient days saw their own mortal lives reflected in the cherry blossoms that bloom and fall all too quickly. This dovetails perfectly with the traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibility that finds beauty not only in blooming flowers but also in the way they flutter to the ground. Some might recall the way the Japanese people fought in the last war. I believe that it has something to do with the above sensibility.
（これは我ながらうまく書けたなあと、自画自賛、、(^_^)

(Vocabulary)
costume parade  仮装行列

 

 

 

Insadong 인사동

　　We went to Insadong district by two taxis. I made my GPS receiver (link) start working to record our trace for my friends, because they were new to Insadong and I thought they wouldn't remember where they were, but I made a mistake. I didn't turn the receiver off when we were indoors, and there's wrong data on the map, but you'll catch a rough image of our route. As I made up this map, I found that Odusan Unification Observatory was within our reach. Sightseeing in Insadong was really wonderful, but it's regrettable that we couldn't view the land of North Korea.

　　By the way, the lady who joined at the hotel was Ms. Kaneko, who is a professional pianist. She allowed me to show you her pictures and the url of her blog (link1, link2).

　　Nowadays, a flat tire has become rare, but we had it on the way to the city center. How many adventures would occur on this trip? The driver called a replacement and we had to wait for some time to change cars. However, this trip to Korea was fun and we thought of it as a present from Air Canada.

　　We had a tea break at a Korean rice cake shop and dropped in at a classical Korean restaurant. In the first picture, Ms. Kaneko was chatting with a man who was really good at Japanese. He had apparently been brought up among Japanese people.

(Vocabulary)
adventure   わくわくする体験

Hotel and Airport Personnel

　　I looked at things from the hotel and airport personnel's point of view. Our plane arrived at Incheon Airport only two hours after the change in destination. The staff members of Air Canada in Seoul would arrange hotels for more than 300 unexpected visitors in a hurry. The situation would be the same in the airport. Personnel on midnight duty would call for assistance to staff members of security, immigration, or other ground staff. People whom we had met at midnight must have been called when in their bed. Such an idea made me thankful for accepting the landing of the plane. According to our hotel's front staff, the direct flight from Toronto seemed to have arrived at Incheon Airport before our arrival, avoiding the furious weather at Narita International Airport. I understood the chaos in the airport.

　　There was something that I suspected at the front desk of the hotel. The clerk insisted that he would keep our passports. I didn't know why, but I had no choice at that time. I deposited my passport at the front desk. I'd not been challenged to do so in other hotels. When I visited Seoul last time, I kept my passport all the time. Naturally, it was not his own idea, but the general rule of the hotel. Did they worry that we would escape or go missing? However we didn't visit there by our own desire. We were afraid that they might be used illegally.

Incheon Airtel

　　I found several buses waiting for us in front of the gate. I didn't know which bus we should take and we just stood still around the gate. At that time, someone came over and asked me, just "Air Canada?" and I replied "Yes". Then, he urged us to get in his minivan and we got in it, without being provided with any guidance from Air Canada. Thinking later, it might be dangerous to get in a car, without even knowing its destination in an unfamiliar country. Anyway, we were taken to Incheon Airtel, a hotel in Incheon City. The pictures show the name and location of the hotel. The hotel side was also a little confused. They didn't even know how many passengers were to stay at the hotel when we checked in.

　　About my room, there were several unfavorable and unbelievable things, but the network circumstances were perfect. I could freely connect my PDA to the internet. In the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, the internet connection was charged. Recalling the Hyatt Regency, only at this point, this hotel was better than the Hyatt Regency.

　　However, the chargers of my PC and PDA were in my luggage which was locked
in the cargo space of the plane. Not only the chargers, but extra clothes, underwear, my electric shaver and a bottle of Canadian whiskey were also in my luggage. What should I do? I didn't feel sleepy at all due to jet lag.

In Downtown

　　I found a unique shape of collection machine for parking fares in downtown. Naturally, there are its counterparts everywhere in Japan, but its distinctive shape and the letter, "PHONE", caught my eyes. The sticker said "PAY BY PHONE". You can apparently pay the fare by calling the particular number that is displayed. It's a nice idea. It must save the effort of the fare collectors. Now, lots of people carry their own cell phones and I think that this system would be acceptable in Japan too. I was looking at this machine for at least 5 minutes and looking for the person who was about to pay by phone. Some people might suspect me of trying to steal coins from the machine. Anyway, I continued to take snapshots of something new to me. The owner of the restaurant in the second picture might be Japanese, but how about the shop in the third one?

　　The last dinner in Canada was at the nearest Chinese restaurant according to the advice of the concierge of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The other pictures are the menu and the dishes. They were really nice and the attendants were polite. The price was a total of 220 dollars including tips, except for Shaoxing rice wine and a few bottles of beer.

(Vocabulary)
Chinese rice wine; Shaoxing rice wine  紹興酒

Walking in Downtown

　　It is unexpectedly hard to express the accurate pronunciation of Japanese words with alphabets. I'll give you an example.

　　"Ms. Abe, for the sake of brevity, when on a date with Abraham Date - drinking sake in a café? or singing karaoke at home dressed in aizome - you can call him 'Abe'".

　　Do you get the idea? It's the problem of 'Abe vs. Abé?', 'sake vs saké?', 'date vs daté?', 'home vs aizomé?', and so on. These 'e' at the end of many Japanese names and words are rarely written in alphabets with an accent. As a result, people with family names such as Abe, Date and Fukudome tend to be referred to as if their names rhyme with 'babe, late and Rome'. My youngest daughter doesn't like to be called the wrong way and modified her name's spelling on her passport. That's acceptable.

　　Look at the first picture taken on Robson or Alberni St. The sign says "Oysi". This Japanese word means "delicious". Looking at this sign, I thought in this way: this spelling must have been written by a native English speaker who had listened to the sound of the original Japanese word. If he or she was Japanese, he or she would write "Oishii". The spelling of 'Oysi" is really reasonable. Such a tiny detail is fun to me here.

(Vocabulary)
against all expectations; unexpectedly　意外に
give an example  例を挙げる
rhyme [自] 韻を踏む, 同韻である
rhyme with sth   ＜語＞と韻を踏む

Edgar Muenala

　　After lunch in the Market, while we walked around the busy street on the Island, I found a man playing a variety of flutes on the street, whom I'll show you below. His sound made me freeze, because his music was fantastic and new to me. I play Shakuhachi, the Japanese traditional bamboo flute. Additionally I qualify for teaching Shakuhachi with pay. I asked him about it, and he replied that he had tried it, but it was too hard to play. Anyway I bought one of his CDs. Coming back to Japan, I found his website. I'm going to download his tunes from the site.

http://www.edgarmuenala.com/

5th Ski Day, Lunch

　　We brought our lunch up to the mountain today too. That's because most of the menu items in the lodge were too oily for us. To my surprise, my friends grew accustomed to having lunch in the lodges and they used the hot water provided for tea bag users to prepare cup noodles. The instant noodles packed in a cup or pot are called "cup noodles" in Japan, but I don't know what they are called in Canada. Is "cup noodles" the acknowledged name? Anyway, the combination of rice balls, hot noodles and a bottle of domestic beer was perfect.

　　The weather was not so good in the afternoon. We got back soon after lunch and whiled away the early evening. As for me, I rushed to the jacuzzi, which was one of the best amusements.

　　The second picture was of the driver's seat on the shuttle bus. I visited here after a 4 year interval and found that shuttle buses had become very stylish and clean. Judging from the logo, "Fuel Cell", printed on the bus, the buses must be driven by electricity. It will contribute to green action. As for the drivers, I often saw Indian people working. It was the same for taxis. I didn't know why, but the security of Canada is great and they can communicate with English. I wondered whether these ideas might be the reason.

(Vocabulary)
while away sth  ＜時＞をのんびり過ごす
fuel cell:   a piece of equipment that combines two different ELEMENTS, such as OXYGEN and HYDROGEN, to produce electricity in order to supply power to a vehicle or machine

3rd Ski Day

　　I took a rest for a day to remove the muscle pain. In the morning, I firstly managed to start washing clothes using the electric washing machine and dryer provided with the room. It was rather bigger than the average Japanese machine. Our chef also had some difficulties in using the enormous electric oven the previous night, because he usually uses a gas oven of Japanese average size. However, such difficulties are also lots of fun.

　　At noon, I went out for lunch and a walk. Walking around was really refreshing and must be good for my legs. Not only the crowded village paths, but the forest trails with few walkers were great. Everything unusual to me was really delightful.

　　I enjoyed a hot tub and the swimming pool from about 3 o'clock. As I wrote before, the hot tub and pool were located just in front of the backdoor. I was waiting for my friends there.

　　I forgot to upload the picture of my new boots in the last entry. They fit my feet better than I expected. It was toward the end of the ski season and the shop didn't have a wide selection of boots, but I could buy some desirable ones. I was relieved.

Sunday

　　After dinner, we dropped in at a supermarket, the IGA, to get daily food and other necessities. Everything in the fridges looked nice and I was obsessed with an appetite to try everything. We got at first something for tomorrow's breakfast. I eat Caesar salad every time in Whistler. The main ingredient of it, romaine lettuce, is rarely seen in my hometown, and so it's much more valuable for us. Of course, I found the lettuce arranged in the vegetable area.

　　I was going to buy several bottles of alcoholic beverages on the way back to our condominium, but it was Sunday. Both liquor shops in the village were closed. Did they go to church? Anyway, I was so disappointed. I should have bought something at the duty free shop at Narita International Airport.

　　While walking, I found a considerably large space, which was formerly a forest, almost untouched. The first picture is of it. Yes, this was the place for the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It must have been pomp-filled at the ceremony. Two couples were taking pictures.

　　At the bottom of Whistler, a snowboarders' event was being performed. People were cheering to watch the acrobatic snowboarding. Snowboarders were jumping through a flaming hoop. On the opposite side, I found a nice place for drinking whisky around a fire. Inside the house called the "Irish Pub", a group of artists were playing guitars. Finally, our alcohol for tonight was a 200ml pack of Japanese sake for cooking.

(Vocabulary)
romaine （lettuce）  《植物》ロメイン・レタス
Caesar salad  シーザーサラダ
so much the more  それだけ一層
pomp-filled  華やかさに満ちた
pomp  (フォーマル) (式典などの) 壮麗さ, 華麗さ
pump  ポンプ
cheer 〈聴衆・観客などが〉 歓呼する, 喝采する, 歓声を上げる
jump through flaming hoop  （曲芸などで）火の輪くぐりをする

Olympic Memorial

flaming hoop

Irish Pub

Japanese cooking sake

Closure

　　My wife's original house is in another Prefecture and is located in a little sparsely-settled town. One of today's news items features the closure of an elementary school, which sits near my wife's birthplace. According to the news item, the elementary school was founded in 1873. In due course, as the number of pupils increased, additional schoolhouses were built. One of those schoolhouses, which was constructed in 1909, has been used as the elementary school until today which put an end to the role of the school. On March 20th in 2012, both of the graduation and closing ceremonies were held. This schoolhouse is the oldest wooden schoolhouse in Japan. The area is known as one of the places which have heavy snow every year. This schoolhouse has survived a century span of tough climate. I'll upload two pictures of the schoolhouse. Enjoy them.

最古の木造小学校で卒業式・閉校式
２０１２年３月２０日

   現役の木造校舎として国内最古とされる吹屋小学校（県指定重要文化財）。　明治６年（１８７３）に開校し、同３２年（１８９９）に吹屋尋常高等小学校と改称して、現在の場所に移転、同３３年(１９００)には木造平屋建の東校舎・西校舎が落成。同４２年（１９０９）に建てられた木造２階建の校舎本館は、現在まで小学校として使われていた。平成２４年３月２０日、卒業式と閉校式が行われた。

Worship and Japan

　　"Bushido, the Soul of Japan," written by Inazo Nitobe is a great book and is always referred to when you mention the mentality or the morality of Japanese people. Do you know what stirred him to write this book? He was reportedly asked by his acquaintance how Japanese people learned morals when they didn't have any religion. Japanese people are often said to be irreligious in many ways, and some Japanese declare that they are non-believers, but is that true?

　　Most Japanese commoners say "Itadakimasu" just before starting to eat or drink something and say "Gochisousama" just after finishing it. These words represent deep thanks for their food and originate from the idea of Buddhism. Japanese people, in general, are widely regarded as people who obsessively love cleanliness. This national character can be derived from the traditional Shinto religion. Considering this way, Japanese people are never indifferent to religions such as Buddhism. The concept of religions varies between nations. If you want to discuss the religious devotion of Japanese people, you have to take into account the everyday life of Japanese people.

　　I watch not a few news items associated with religions almost everyday, and all of them are bad news. Why do even religious people have to kill others under the name of their God. I wonder how long religious wars have been repeated. Japanese vagueness about religions sometimes might be a good lesson.

(Vocabulary)
devotion [U] 信心, 帰依
religious devotion  厚い信仰心

(Vocabulary from comments)
atheist  無神論者
come into being/be brought into being  生じる, 成立する, 誕生する
The law first came into being in 1912. その法律は1912年に初めて成立した．
stymie (インフォーマル) …をじゃまする
dumbfound 〈人〉をあぜんとさせる
impression 《[U], a/the ~》誤った印象, 思い込み, 誤解
be under the impression (that)   (誤って) …と思い込んでいる, 勘違いしている
I was under the impression that you were the manager.  てっきりあなたが経営者だと思い込んでいました．
detriment  [U] 損害, 損傷, 損失
preach  [自] 説教する
preach to sb  ＜人＞に説教する
disciplined  訓練された, しつけのよい, 規律正しい

(Japanese Translation)
　新渡戸稲造が書いた武士道は日本人の精神性を語る上でかならず言及される素晴らしい書である。彼がこの本を書いた動機は、知人に日本人は宗教を持たない、どうやって道徳教育をするのかと問われ、日本には武士道があるのだと思い立ったことによる。

　日本人は外国人から宗教心が薄いといわれることがあり、自ら特定の宗教を持たないと言う日本人も多い。しかし、食事の前と後の「いただきます」や「ごちそうさま」は仏教由来の食べ物への感謝の気持ちを表す言葉であるし、清潔好きな国民性も神道の清めにルーツを求めることができる。その意味では、日本人は日々、仏教や神道を実践しているとも言える。宗教の概念は文化によって大きく異なり、日本人の信仰心を語る場合はその点を踏まえておく必要があるだろう。

　宗教により、よいことも起こるが、日常の報道では悪いニュースが目立つ。ユダヤ、キリスト、イスラム教の聖地が寄りによって一カ所にあるなんて、不幸なことだと思う。宗教による戦争がこれまで何度繰り返されてきたことか？宗教に対する考え方の緩さとでも言おうか、日本を見習うとよいのではないか？

（いつもは先に英文を書いてから和訳を考えている。そうすると、和訳は英語に引っ張られて変な日本語になってしまうが、今回は日本語を書いてから翻訳している。少しはまともな和訳になったか？目標としている「読んでもらえるのは２５０単語まで。なので２５０単語で全てを伝える。」は相変わらず難しい。）

 

Beans In My Garden

　　I cleared up my garden today. My house stands near the central park of the city, and dead leaves from the trees in the park always blow into my garden. In this season, I often realize that the choice of the positioning of my house was wrong. However, it's too late now for regret. I continued sweeping up dead leaves.

　　While sweeping, I found lots of beans scattered in the garden. Instantly I knew that those beans were scattered in the bean-throwing ceremony which must have been held a few days ago, when I was staying at my hospital overnight. Why beans, though? I doubted again. I have never noticed any beans in the garden before though my family performs the bean-throwing ceremony every February. This ceremony is called "Setsubun" and is one of the Japanese traditional events. It has been observed to pray for the family's happiness and to ward off evil spirits.

　　I became sad to have noticed something. It's Mocha, my dog. I understood
who had cleaned up the garden after the annual ceremony. He had been eating
beans, misunderstanding that the beans were fed to him.

　　The ornaments associated with the New Year were alike. The picture shows the branches with dried bread-like pieces of wheat gluten. Mocha liked to break the pieces and eat them. Now, he is absent and these, his related objects, never disappear and make me sad.

(Vocabulary)
sweep up dead leaves  枯れ葉を掃く
dried bread-like pieces of wheat gluten  麩

 

Japan Year 2672

　　Today is Feb. 11th, the National Foundation Day of Japan. 2012 minus 2672 equals -660. That is to say, Japan was founded in 660 B.C. and the story was written in Japanese mythology. We Japanese could be proud of our own history, but lots of Japanese people don't know that due to the abhorrent Douglas MacArthur. However, my family, who had successfully evaded his plot, hoisted the national flag.

(Vocabulary)
abhorrent   嫌悪感を起こさせる
hoist 〈重いもの〉を持ち上げる, つり上げる, 〈旗・帆〉を掲げる

Japanese Way of Thinking

　　The craftsman's name, which I picked up in the previous entry, is Mr. Masahisa Tsujitani. I'll continue the story about him in this entry.
　　To tell the truth, he was invited from a foreign manufacturer of the shots, offering 20,000 dollars per week under the condition of passing the technical license of making shots.
　　"I rejected it. My shots wouldn't be crafted without the cooperation of casting professionals and the techniques of Japan-original must be protected", he said. It's a strong will that pursues a goal, never gives up and overcomes difficulties with originality and ingenuity. Great!
　　A profound sense of humility to state that his achievement is not accomplished by himself even in front of big temptations. Japanese people will regard his way of thinking as beautiful. On the foundation day of Japan, I hope that such a way of thinking will survive forever.

(Vocabulary)
originality and ingenuity  創意工夫

Shot

　　Today's title is about shots of the shot put. Don't you have anything which you know nothing about but you want to know something about it. Shots are one of those objects for me. Golf ball manufacturers are supposedly competing for the longest reach for their golf balls. Then, how about shots? Are you indifferent? Shot putters would desperately want to get the shot which flies farther.

　　According to a sports-related magazine, in both of the Atlanta (1996) and the Sydney (2000) Olympic games, a craftsman's-made shots swept all the prizes; gold, silver and bronze. In such cases when Japan is exclusively too excellent, the rules are often modified. In the shot put world too, the regulations for the shots were changed. However, the craftsman never became downcast and in the next Olympic Games in Athens (2004) his shots swept all the prizes again.

　　What would become of his shots in the next Beijing Olympic Games (2008)? You might be convinced of his shots' landslide win, but the craftsman didn't offer his shots to the Beijing Olympic Games, even though he elaborately crafted them. He witnessed the Japan-bashing in the AFC Asian Cup in China and the Chinese people's stone-throwing at the Japanese Embassy and he felt that China wasn't qualified to be holding the Olympic Games. That's why he denied offering his shots.

　　He is going to offer his shots to the London Olympic Games this year. I hope you'll recall the craftsmanship embedded in the shots.

(Vocabulary)
shot putter  砲丸投げの選手
downcast  ふさぎ込んだ, 意気消沈した
bashing  (人・団体などに対する) 激しい批判, バッシング

Stupid Sea Shepherd (SSS)

　　A long time has elapsed since the escalation of the anti-whaling movement.

　　Cetaceans are said to be smart, being typified by dolphins. Is that the reason why the SSS is against whaling? Someone says that whales weren't included on Noah's ark. They say that God doesn't regard whales as food for human beings. Were whales just too big to be accommodated?

　　I knew of this story as follows; a small amount of oil obtained from the brain of whales is highly prized as the most useful oil on the globe. It has been utilized in the gyroscope bearing to maintain the position of missiles.

　　The U.S. used to be a whaling nation. It is said that the U.S. changed its attitude toward whaling to prevent other countries from getting that valuable oil. The U.S. has reportedly stored enough oil for 100 years. The progress of GPS might have diminished the importance of the oil, but such excellent oil can be used in many ways. Anti-whaling activists wouldn't know that anti-whaling, supposedly insisting on the importance of life, is associated with the production of weapons.

　　Even if SSS's purpose is genuinely to preserve nature, how do they cope with the outbreak of anisakis in the whaling-prohibited ocean. The number of anisakis used to be controlled by whaling. The amount of fish catches around the Antarctic Ocean will decline due to the change of the food chain. Can we not say that the activity of the SSS is the apotheosis of arrogance, forgetting that human beings are also members of nature.

　　Human beings need other creatures' lives to live. I can't understand their appeal that you can eat livestock like cows, but never eat whales. Because whales are smart? How about the tradition of eating dogs in China and Korea? SSS is full of deception.

　　To claim lives instantly without giving pain, and receive them with thanks, honoring them; it's the Japanese way and far different from simple slaughter.

　　This is the scene of seal slaughter in Canada. People control the number of seals for their livelihood. I don't want to criticise them. What does the SSS think of it?
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/canadian-seal-slaughter.aspx

　　Next, I'll present you a picture and movie from Denmark. They are slaughtering numerous dolphins in a small bay in Denmark. Dolphins are gradually dying. Isn't it cruel? Dolphins are surely suffering pain. What comments does the SSS issue? I hope that people try to remove pain from dolphins.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-371086?ref=feeds/latest

　　As for my personal opinion, the SSS seems to be obsessed by the notion of racial discrimination, just like the former U.S. president, FDR. I can't help feeling like that.

(Vocabulary)
elapse (フォーマル) 〈時が〉 経過する
cetacean クジラ目(もく)
include…を含める, 加える, 盛り込む
include sth in/on sth  ＜…＞に＜…＞を加える
We've included some music in the evening's program. 夕方のプログラムに音楽を盛り込みました．
Noah's ark  ノアの方舟
prized 大切な, 貴重な
highly prized  珍重される
fish catches  漁獲量
catch  [C] (魚の) 捕獲量, 漁獲物
the Antarctic Ocean  南氷洋
food chain  食物連鎖
apotheosis [名] [U](フォーマル)  極致; 頂点
deception  だますこと, 詐欺行為
claim a life/victim 〈事故・病気・戦争などが〉 人命を奪う［犠牲者を出す］
slaughter  [名] [U] (家畜の) 食肉処理, 畜殺;(けなして) (人間の) 大量虐殺
livelihood  生計
We depend on tourism for our livelihood.  我々は観光業で生計を立てている．

 

Key for Longevity

　　Nowadays, more people are aware of the importance of regular exercises. People who go jogging are frequently found around my neighbourhood. Sometimes, I wonder whether I can start, but I don't want to wear outfits which show my body shape and lines too clearly.
　　By the way, several marathons are held across Japan today. Those events had been held for only athletes for a long time, but now they are open to the public. The event named the Ehime Marathon will be held in my prefecture too on Feb. 5th. This marathon is so popular and highly competitive that more than double the number of people were trying for 7000 positions. My acquaintances, who belong to my Lions Club, will take part in the marathon and I'll go and support them.
　　By the way, I wondered who was the oldest who completed the full marathon and looked for one on the net. According to an article, 100-year-old Briton, Fauja Singh, became the world's oldest marathon runner, completing the race in Toronto in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds in October 2011. Ginger curry, tea and "being happy" appear to be the key to finishing the race.

He says;

"The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free. Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running."

I agree!