Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Mt. Fuji

　　Reaching Hakone with my sports car and viewing Mt. Fuji, I wasn't able to resist the temptation to drive my car up to Mt. Fuji. You can climb up to the altitude of 2305 meters of Mt. Fuji by car, where a vast parking area is provided.
　　The road to the 2305 meters' altitude is called "Fuji Subaruline", the entrance of which is shown in the following picture. You can see a part of Mt. Fuji over its toll gate. I used a public toilet there, because I didn't want to use toilets up the mountain, when a sightseeing bus passed by me. An attendant spat out, "Almost all the passengers of buses are Chinese." I discovered his intense aversion. He told me additionally that the weather was not so good, and  visitors weren't allowed to climb up above the altitude of 2020 meters. However, I went up to the 2020 meters' Osawa Parking and Viewing Point.
　　The temperature was 7.5 degrees centigrade at the parking of the altitude of 2020 meters. I forgot to write about the attitude of Chinese tourists in the grounds of Hakone Shrine in the last entry, though. I was really angry at their arrogance toward the Japanese cultural assets. They were alike at Mt. Fuji. I just wanted them not to throw trash away around there. Seeing them, I engraved an old proverb in my mind - When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I'm planning to visit the Islamic country of Malaysia at the end of August and I've never been to a Muslim Nation. I'm going to learn how to respect to Malaysian culture.
　　Some Chinese took their own snapshots with one hand resting on my car's fender. If they shot themselves with my car a little apart, I wouldn't mind that, but I asked them not to touch my car. However, I got uneasy then, thinking that they might do something bad to my car after I left my car, and I stayed around my car and didn't stand on the observatory terrace. A dense fog obstructed the view then and it was a consolation. If the weather had been clear and I wasn't able to see the scenery, I would bear a severe grudge against them.

（北海道・東北旅行記　４月１日）

　箱根まで来て、富士山を眺めて、乗ってきているのがこの車なら富士山へ登らずにおれようか。ということで、昴ライン入り口までやって来た。
　スバルライン入り口横で公衆トイレを使った。山の上でトイレを使わなくて済むように。そのとき、目の前を一台のバスが通り過ぎた。料金所のスタッフによるとバスで来る人はみな中国人だという。今日は天候が悪く５合目ではなく途中の大沢駐車場までしか行けない。今日は景色は見えないだろうということだったがここまで来たので登ってみた。
　大沢駐車場。気温は７．５℃。先の記事で書き忘れたのだが、神聖な箱根神社での支那人達の傍若無人な態度に酷く腹がたった。富士山でも同様で、日本にお金を落とすとは言うものの、支那人達に日本に来てもらいたくない。心底そう思った。この夏にマレーシア旅行を計画している。多民族国家、イスラム教の国。礼を失しないよう十分に心を配って観光しなければと肝に銘じた。
　この駐車場でも僕の車のフェンダーに手を突いて記念写真を撮る支那人がいた。少し離れて撮るならまあいいかとも思うが、一言注意させてもらった。しかし、その後、車に何かされるかもと心配になり、車から離れられないはめに、、、(^_^;)　まあ、景色は写真の通りで何も見えないから実害は無かったのだが、、。

Zuiganji Temple

　　We stopped by the national treasure of Zuiganji Temple. I heard that the temple was under renovations from November in 2008 to March in 2018, so I assumed that tourists wouldn't be allowed to see inside the grounds, but we knew from a local person that visitors were permitted to walk in the grounds except the main building and we headed for the main entrance of the temple.
　　The approaching street runs straight from the coast toward the main entrance and I recognized the painful damage on the temple from a distance of 100 meters. The first picture was shot by me at that time, and the 2nd is quoted from the temple's official website, which shows the original image of the entrance. The 3rd was taken while walking in the grounds. Those woods were damaged by the seawater caused by the 2011 Tsunami. They say the stretch of coastline was not so heavily damaged by the tsunami thanks to small rocks and islands in the bay. That might be true, in terms of human lives, but I was lost for words to look at the devastated woods, no, this can't be called woods. How long does it take to recover the original woods? Several decades of years? Several hundreds of years?
　　As I didn't know much about the temple, I hired a tour guide. That middle-aged lady was really kind and elaborately explained its history. The geological formations around there are not so hard and lots of trainee priests dug caves and lived in them for a certain time. The story about the priests from the guide was really intersting.
　　The wandering in the grounds of the temple took more time than we expected. We skipped climbing up to the hill and headed for Tokyo, where we had an appointment with our daughter to have dinner.

（北海道・東北旅行記／３月３１日）

　予定には入れていなかったが国宝に指定されている瑞巌寺へ寄ってみた。今は工事中で入れないと思っていたのだが、本堂の手前までは行けるという。本堂は２００８年１１月から２０１８年３月までの予定で工事中。総門と呼ばれる境内への入り口の前に立って驚いた。写真を供覧する。瑞巌寺のウェブサイトから借用した写真を次に示す。後ろの林が無くなっている。これは２０１１年３月の津波による。
　
　この地域は沖に広がる小さな島のお陰で津波被害が少なかったと聞いたが、それでもこの森は海水を被り枯れてしまった。元のように戻るには何十年も、ひょっとしたら何百年もかかるのかもしれない。
　
　瑞巌寺についてあまり知識が無かったので観光ガイドを依頼して、見て回ることを許された場所だけ歩いた。詳しいことは公式ウェブサイトをみていただければと思うが、その歴史の重さを実感した。修行僧達が暮らした岩穴の写真をｕｐする。このあたりの岩は柔らかく彫りやすいそうで、僧たちはこの穴に暮らして自らを鍛えたという。

Hakodatehokuto Station

　　I dropped in at Hakodatehokuto Station, which became a popular topic of conversation in March. The Shinkansen bullet train reached Hokkaido the day before yesterday via the undersea tunnel between Aomori and Hokkaido. It takes you from Tokyo to Hakodate in 5 hours. I wanted to see the Hokkaido Shinkansen closely, which was bolstered against terrible coldness, but there was no place for parking near the station.
　　This newly-built station was located in a deserted area away from the city center of Hakodate City. Additionally, there were no commercial facilities yet around the station. Just some car rental companies arranged their cars for tourists on the unpaved lot. After driving slowly around the station, I headed for the downtown of Hakodate City.

　この３月の日本のニュースで間違いなくトップ３に入るのが東京から北海道まで新幹線が繋がったこと。その新しい駅に寄った。在来線の函館駅から少し離れたへんぴな場所にあり、周りには建物はあんまりない。空き地が広がっている。観光客がやってくることを見越して駐車場とレンタカー置き場になっているが、近い将来いろいろなビルが立っていくのだろう。

Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum 2

　　I went up to the back hill, leaving the museum. I looked northward down on the pier from the top of the hill. You will know the positional relationship between the pier and me in the first picture. The 2nd and 3rd pictures show the rebuilt pier.
　　You can see a monument on the hill in the 4th picture, saying "Oh, my mother country!". I saw several other monuments there and all of them implied the nostalgia and the cruelty of the war. Along the path to the top nearly 100 trees were planted by people who had something to do with the war. The pile in the next picture says, "The 470th group of the embedded nurses from Japan Red Cross."
　　Incidentally, I dropped in at the pier. According to the sign by the pier, as the pier was rebuilt, small stones collected from a variety of places where Japanese people who had not been able to come back used to live or victims of sexual assaults who killed themselves in despair were placed in the base of the monument by the pier.
　　It is water under the bridge. Exactly, but I believe we human beings never forget the war, especially World War Two, when human beings got huge power and became  arrogant enough to kill more than 100,000 in only one night, or at least 140,000 with a single bomb in Hiroshima.

Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum 1

　　Japanese people who had lived on the Eurasian Continent before the defeat of the last war came back to Japan after the war. One of the ports to welcome them was Maizuru Port. Naturally, it was before my birth, but I've read the medical literature about the quarantine and hospitals at the port. Lots of people were exhausted by hunger. Lots of women were victims of sexual violence by Koreans and Russians. Not a few of those women are said to have killed themselves in the sea after seeing their country, Japan.
　　Now, a historical museum, called Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum, stands on the hill looking down on the pier on which numerous people had stepped 70 years ago. The original pier was destroyed by a typhoon and the present one is restored for remembrance under the strong intention, "No More War". The collections of this museum were recently placed on the list of UNESCO Memory of the World and the paper which certifies the listing was displayed.
　　The daily life of the detainees who were illegally captured by Russia and had to live in the bitterly cold area of the Eurasian Continent for several years after the war was explained by the panels, pictures and dioramas.

Historic Buildings

　　I visited the Maizuru World Brick Museum, which collects a variety of bricks globally and shows pictures of lots of brick buildings. I didn't expect, but I was able to see, lots of records about the war between Japan and Russia in 1904. I'd like to have stayed there more time, but I didn't have enough time to see all of them. The buildings made of bricks are preserved across the country and some of them are still in use. The nostalgic atmosphere of brick buildings has caught on in a big way in Japan. I'm writing about brick houses later again in the article on Hakodate City.
　　Maizuru City has remarkably evolved out of a small fishery town as one of the principal military ports of Japan. In the era when all the colored people other than Thais and Japanese were ruled by superpowers, Japan was intimidated by the possible invasion of Russia. Maizuru port took on the task for the defense against Russia. The red brick houses were built for the storage of munitions and some of those brick houses still stand at the port.

Maizuru City

　　Does Maizuru Port ring a bell with you? If it reminds you about JMSDF, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, you would be under 70. The older people must be recalling the repatriation after the Greater East Asian War. I did sightseeing about the former side of the port at first. While I was standing at the pier, a sightseeing boat soon came close.
　　The tour guide on the boat was a former JMSDF official and must have been up to speed. As far as he kept confidentiality of information, he gave tourists a good lecture. The boat went round the port counter-clockwise. I saw the officer candidate school of the JMSDF and its associated facilities, several oil tanks, from which the supply vessel, Mashu, which I saw later, receives oil and delivers it to other military vessels. There was the JMSDF Air Station facing the bay. The choppers on the military vessels seemed to be maintained here and when the vessels started, they flew onto their decks. There were also several big docks. A few destroyers were there for upgrade work. The surface of the sea was calm and the atmosphere was serene, but there was a feeling of tension.
　　The destroyer, Atago, which I got on board in Matsuyama Port, was tied up. It looked like it was taking a rest just after coming back from off the coast of North Korea. Pictures show several vessels. The supply vessel, Mashu, whose number is 425 and the destroyer, Hyuga, whose number is 181, were larger than I expected. It might be because I was looking upwards from the small boat on the sea, but they looked reliable.

(Vocabulary)
repatriation 　(難民・捕虜などの) 本国送還
strict confidentiality 　厳格な守秘義務
officer candidate school 　幹部候補生学校
Hayabusa-class guided-missile patrol boats　はやぶさ型ミサイル艇
Atago-class destroyer　あたご型護衛艦

Rheinland

　　I wrote about the border between Germany and Belgium in March 13th's entry. This area is called the Rheinland. Does the Rheinland ring a bell with you? The Rheinland, which is German, is the western region of Germany and is located on the border with Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The area is a major hub of the economy and industries now.
　　Seeing the area from another point of view, the Rheinland was one of the important stages of history. Since the defeat in world war I, Germany had been burdened with astronomical reparations by the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler, who gained power in the chaos in the wake of the war, was trying to rebuild his country to become one of the superpowers again. The German Army made an entry into the Rheinland, which was the demilitarized zone then, in March in 1936, violating the Treaty of Versailles. At that time, other European nations went easy on this incident. In retrospect, this tolerance ended in leading to world war II.
　　The present invasion of China into islands in the South China Sea seems to be just like Hitler's occupation of the Rheinland. Hitler mentioned in later years that he had felt uneasy while he was staying in the Rheinland, because the army didn't have enough military strength then. China is now watching the reaction of other nations, while jabbing at other countries. I think it's high time to attack China, before Xi Jinping becomes Hitler. I'm expecting things from the new U.S. president who will replace Mr. Obama who was not able to do anything for global security.

(Vocabulary)
a major hub (文化・活動などの）一大中心地
reparation （敗戦国が払う）賠償金.
the Treaty of Versailles　ヴェルサイユ条約

Cenotaph

　　"Cenotaph" means the monuments for the departed thanks to the war, according to my dictionary, so it might be wrong to use it as the topic of this article. Anyway, however, I'd like to write about servicemen who were killed by the crash of the military aircraft 60 years ago near my workplace.
　　I heard an OPD patient looking for a person who can speak English. I asked him why. He was one of the people who worked for the rescue of the crews at that time and built the monument for the victims. I wrote about it here(link) in 2009. He told me that the relatives of the crew, which are written on the third line on the monument, will visit the monument to console the souls of the victims. They will visit Iwakuni City in April, where the Marine Corps Air Station is located, and wanted to drop in at the monument.
　　Listening to his story closely, the municipal staff members will help him. They would find someone who is able to translate words. I will write the names of all the victims in my blog entry, because their families or friends will easily find the monument.

(Vocabulary)
cenotaph  (戦没者の) 記念碑

Howard L. "Sam" Cornish
Steven Arthur Bobbins
Donald E. Richardson
Wayne Grogun
Ebbie Wells
Lee Ladd
George J. Brambinck
John Edward Meriwether
William Morrison Grayson
Joseph Arnold Hall Jr.
Davis Mawney
Rosene Bence
L. Lowell
George A. Murray Jr.

FYI
http://www.vpnavy.com/vp892_mishap.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/04/short-touring.html

National Boundary Between Belgium and Germany

　　I sometimes have to stay awake at midnight in my office. It's a fulfilling task to save the lives no matter what the circumstances are, but just waiting for the mortal moment of incurable patients is nothing but a pain and it makes me sleepy. Reading books isn't helpful in such cases.
　　Netsurfing is useful to me for warding the sleepiness off at midnight. I suppose that it's because netsurfing has something active in its nature whereas reading is a simply passive act.
　　I had such a time last night and found an amazing fact. Guess what!? I was viewing Germany on the Google Map. The boundary line between Belgium and Germany was double! There were two boundary lines and the train tracks were built between the two. The area in which train tracks run was the territory of Belgium, and the both sides of the tracks were German territory. Why on earth was such a situation born? Probably, it has some serious or historical issues. I'd really like to know the cause of the double boundary lines.
　　I'm learning German now and am attending a German class twice a month. I'm going to ask the teacher about this fact in the next class, but I have to explain it in German. It's another problem.

3.11 Disaster

　　A memorable day for Japanese came around again. March 11th in 2011 would be handed down as the day of one of the most disastrous earthquakes, followed by the huge tsunami, which claimed more than 15000 lives including related deaths and more than 4000 people are still not accounted for. We have to bolster disaster-prevention countermeasures. It would be the desire of the people who weren't able to survive the disaster. Literature and archaeological studies revealed that Japan has suffered enormous natural disasters repeatedly since ancient times. It's naturally lamentable, but can we not say that the very effort to survive or minimize the damage by the disasters with the collected folk wisdom is the test of the level of the nation's civilization.

(Vocabulary)
unforgettable  (すばらしさ・美しさなどの面で) 忘れられない
memorable 記憶に残る, 忘れられない
the collected wisdom of many generations いく世代にもわたって蓄えられた知恵
folk wisdom  (受け継がれる) 庶民の知恵

The Ninth Year

　　The race for the U.S. presidency is heated now and I'm paying attention to what the runners are saying. No matter who will get into office, the result will have a powerful influence on the way the world goes. It seems that Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton will be the candidates for the Republican and Democratic Parties respectively. Both candidates are showing their anti-China attitude. They'll put China through a torrid time.
　　The next year is 2017, which is the 9th year after the Beijing Olympics. When an autocratic or totalitarian state puts on the Olympic Games in modern history, it collapsed in the 9th year after the Olympics. Generally speaking, the Olympic Games is held at the peak of the nation's strength and it will go down after the Olympics.

Berlin Olympics 1936; Hitler regime fell down in 1945.
Sarajevo Olympics (Yugoslavia) 1984; Yugoslavia disappeared in 1993
Moscow Olympics 1980; USSR broke up in 1989

Beijing Olympics 2008; China will be disassembled in 2017 or not?

Real History

　　China and Korea have long been harshly accusing Japan of issues over the comfort women and the Nanking massacre without any solid evidence. On the other hand, it's the nature of Japanese people to keep quiet to avoid conflicts and to put up with something until the last minute. Add to that most Japanese people have been brainwashed by misleading education plotted by the Allies. At last, however, the Japanese Government, which had never lifted a finger over this issue for a long time, insisted that the appeals from both countries should be just fabrications.
　　Let me date back to the 15th century. The arrival of Vasco da Gama in Asia brought merciless distress to Asian countries and then the darkest periods of Asia started. Asian people had been under the tight control of European superpowers for 400 years until 1905, when Japan sealed a sweeping victory over Russia. Japan had been involved in various military conflicts despite its efforts to avoid them.
　　Eventually Japan surrendered and Japanese people were placed under the distorted education system made up by the Allies. In my case, I was taught that Japan used to be an evil nation before World War II. However, when the Allies were accusing Japanese leaders in the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals on Japan's colonial occupation, they were re-invading Asian countries. Do you know about the Indochina Wars? It should be called arrogant delusion. Lots of people came to know the real history and this movement is gathering pace.
　　The following picture shows the speech by the Japanese high officials in the U.N. committee.

Miserable Accident

　　A serious bus accident occurred on January 15th in the mountainous region of Japan, which claimed 15 lives. Most of the victims were young. This accident would be recorded as one of the most miserable accidents in Japan. The full-scale investigation into the accident is still underway.
　　In addition to the poor driving technique and the possible breakdown of the braking system, it is said that the background of the accident might be caused by the wrong policy of the Government, the loosening of regulations. The relaxation of various regulations made it easy for ordinary people to build new companies. Consequently, too many bus companies were established and this boosted the cutthroat competition among smaller companies. Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on the investigation.

(Vocabulary)
easing / loosening / relaxation of regulations 　規制緩和
cutthroat competition / dog-eat-dog / excessive competition　過当競争

Unprecedented Snowfall

　　The weather agency issued the long-range weather forecasting of this winter last autumn, and it said that we would have a mild winter in the coming winter. As they said, it has actually been warmer than the usual year.
　　However, Japan was hit by a fierce cold wave today. Okinawa, which is located in the subtropical zone, had its first-ever snowfall since it started to record meteorological data 115 years ago. It didn't snow in my hometown, as it faces the Seto inland sea and has a rather warm climate, but some districts in the suburbs had snow, partially heavy.
　　I make it a point to change the tires of my car into winter tires every year as I want to go anywhere whenever I want. Most people around me, however, take no precautions against snowfall. The following pictures show the scene of my commute. I usually drive my car at the speed of 80 km/h here, but today, the traffic was jammed. It took an hour for the distance that I drive in 5 minutes on usual days.
　　As for my car, it left nothing to be desired thanks to the new winter tires. As I wrote in the previous entry, I gave up visiting Canada in the spring vacation and so I'm wondering about Hokkaido as the destination of the vacation even if it had heavy snowfall.

Kobe Luminarie

　　I went to Kobe City by car on Sunday, taking a half day off on the next day. My wife and I have long wanted to see Kobe City's seasonal event of Kobe Luminarie. At the same time, I had to talk with my friends, who were in Kobe, over the next ski tour to Canada. FYI, "luminarie" is originally Italian word.
　　Firstly I'll write about the origin of the Luminarie. Do you remember the immense disaster of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which broke out in the area which centered on Kobe City, in 1995. It started in December in 1995 for the repose of victim's souls and a commemoration of the departed. It was also tasked to recall sightseers to the devastated former tourist destination of Kobe City. Look at the first picture. It says in Japanese, "The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial" and "1995. 1. 17 MEMORIAL" though the reflection of the lights interferes with reading it. While some people think that the memory of the unprecedented disaster should not be forgotten, others think they don't want to recall the agonizing happenings. That is to say, some people feel pained to remember the day of the earthquake seeing the beautiful scene of the Luminarie. I sympathetically understand both opinions.
　　After visiting Minatogawa Shrine, which I wrote about in the last entry, we got together with our friends at Kobe station. They live in Kobe and guided us to the best position to enjoy the Kobe Luminarie. Then, we moved to a historic Korean restaurant. Their selection of the restaurant was great and we enjoyed chatting. As for the ski tour to Whistler next spring, we decided to give up. Our schedules are fully different and first of all our family members don't want us to go overseas due to the prevalence of terror attacks. Canada isn't the target of ISIS at present, but they didn't look happy about our plan.
　　While terror attacks are sure to disappear someday, Whistler is always waiting for us. I made up my mind to believe so.

(Vocabulary)
Luminarie (イタリア語 luminarie) 《luminariaの複数形》 イルミネーション。電飾。
repose (文) 休息

Minatogawa Shrine

　　William Elliot Griffis (1843-1928), who was invited to teach science and stayed in Japan from 1870 for 4 years, wrote "The Mikado's Empire". He tells in the work that his Japanese students and his friends replied "Masashige Kusunoki" to his question; who do you think the most honorable figure is in Japan's history? However at present, how many Japanese people know about even only his name? After World War II, Japanese people were brainwashed by the United Nations. Education was also controlled by the winner. The myths, lots of historical facts, and everything that was inconvenient to the Allies were concealed.
　　I went to Kobe City with my wife to join a party, about which I'll write about in the following entry, and dropped in at Minatogawa Shrine. Enshrined here is the guardian deity of Japan, Masashige Kusunoki himself. He had lived his life for the Imperial Court and killed himself at the place where the shrine is now built. I wish you'd get his information in detail from the internet or something.
　　Because the present Japanese people have been taught distorted history, I wouldn't be surprised if I barely saw people in the grounds, but there were lots of people who prayed for something or happiness for newborn babies, or celebrated the growth of their children or grandchildren. It's a well-known event called shichi-go-san, literally seven, five, and three. I made many wishes and offered thanks concerning everything around me. Then, I visited his tomb and joined my hands in prayer.
　　I think Japan will change drastically, as the internet is getting widely used and people can easily get information directly from the net.
　　I'll upload my photo with a picture of a monkey dressed like a noble person. It's because next year is the Monkey's Year in the Oriental Zodiac.

Breakaway From the Postwar Regime

　　The topic of this entry is my translation of the phrase which Japan's Prime Minister, Abe, often refers to. You might wonder, what is the postwar regime?
　　Believe it or not, the general way of thinking of Japanese people is still distorted by the 7 years of the U.S. occupation of Japan after World War II. Chinese, Korean, and other nations' agents are lurking deeply in the various media and the educational field. Most Japanese people who take information from the TV, newspapers or something like that are like a really low-hanging fruit to the agents. However, along with the expansion of the internet, lots of people became able to get information directly from the sources, no matter what the existing media insist on. This merit is utterly great.
　　The private lecture was delivered today, whose lecturer was former lawmaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Shingo Nishimura. The topics were a variety of current affairs. The lecture was scheduled by people who managed to wean themselves from brainwashing by the U.S., including me. The following picture shows the happy faces of people in his welcoming party after the lecture. I made up my mind to support him if he should run in the upcoming Upper House election.

(Vocabulary)
breakaway  (習慣・伝統的などからの) 脱却, 決別 [＋breakaway from]

Nuclear Disaster Drill

　　Do you know a technical term, "UPZ; Urgent Protective action planning Zone", whose concept was established by IAEA and it indicates the area within approximately a 30km radius from an atomic power plant. The government is strongly required to bolster countermeasures against nuclear disasters in UPZ.
　　My office is located within this UPZ of Ikata Atomic Power Plant and I had to attend the practice session concerning the emergency treatment for nuclear polluted people last year (link). Today, the nuclear disaster drill was carried out in a fairly wide area. As soon as news about the nuclear plant accident came to my office, all the staff members shut all the windows and ventilation fans. That's all we did, but people who lived close to the plant underwent pollution checks and were actually evacuated to even Kyushu by ferries or Navy vessels.
　　Lots of people were killed or went missing by the tsunami in the Great East Japan Earthquake, but nobody was killed by the radiation itself. The seven services of the bullet train, which were on their highest speed, stopped safely when the earthquake broke out. Japanese people have learnt much every time they suffered huge disasters after recorded history. I believe Japan's atomic power plants will be far safer by this unprecedented disaster.
　　The picture of the plant was taken by myself when I visited Okinawa in March this year.

(Vocabulary)
the Great East Japan Earthquake 東日本大震災



http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2014/01/nuclear-hazard.html

Review of the Karafuto Tour

　　Karafuto is now called Sakhalin worldwide, but it's undoubtedly Japan's territory. Japan received the southern part of Karafuto (Sakhalin in Russian) starting at a longitude of 50 degrees north and the associated islands from Russia in the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 in the wake of the Japanese-Russo War (1904-1905). However, Russian troops invaded it in the summer of 1945, after World War II and they are even now keeping it occupied. I didn't want to show my passport to the Russian immigration officers, but I made a trip to Karafuto on Sep. 6th, the day when Karafuto became Japan's territory 110 years ago, which is the next day of the treaty.
　　There were extremely few signs for tourists nor English-speaking local people. Waitresses in the restaurant were arrogant and there was no explanation for dishes. Gagarin park, one of the main tourist attractions, used to be the Japanese garden until 1945, but there were no comments about the historical facts. The museum on Karafuto's history and culture had no English description on their displays. Various things were simply placed in the showcase. The holy Karafuto shrine was destroyed and renovated to the War-related museum. Unbelievable!
　　Karafuto is located in an isolated area seeing it from Moscow and looked deserted. I had a plan of riding my motorcycle on the soil of Karafuto, but I barely saw a motorcycle even in the capital city of Toyohara. I didn't see any repair shops and assumed that there was no motorcycle culture to enjoy motorcycle-riding itself. Motorcycles must be a means of transportation.
　　I couldn't help imagining what would have become of Karafuto if it wasn't occupied by Russia. I would never visit Karafuto at least while Russian people are dominant on the island.


（Auf Deutsch）
　　Die Südhälfte von Karafuto wurde an Japan unter dem Vertrag von Portsmouth im Jahr 1905 abgetreten. Aber Russland hat Karafuto im Jahr 1945 nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg überfallen und es ist immer noch besetzt. Es war mir sehr unangenehm, den russischen Beamten den Reisepass zeigen zu müssen, aber ich bin nach Karafuto am 6. 9. 2015 gereist. Der Vertrag von Portsmouth, nämlich Frieden mit Russland, wurde am 5. 9. 1905 geschlossen. Das heißt, die Geschichte von Karafuto als japanisches Territorium hat an diesem Tag vor 110 Jahren angebrochen.
　　Ich will meinen Eindruck und meine Meinung über die Besichtigung von Karafuto mitteilen. Es gibt nicht genügend Schilder für die Touristen. Nur wenige können Englisch sprechen. In einem Restaurant waren die Kellnerinen überheblich. Es gibt keine Erklärung zu den Speisen. Der Gagarinpark war früher ein japanischer Garten, aber es gibt kein Schild, das zu zeigen. In dem Heimatmuseum wurden verschiedene Gegenstände ausgestellt, aber ohne japanische oder englische Erklärung. Der ehemalig Karafuto Schrein ist zum Kriegmuseum geändert worden.
　　Karafuto liegt im Grenzland von Russland und ist mir kulturell rückständig erschienen. Ich hatte einen Plan, dort Motorrad zu fahren. Aber ich habe nur einmal, ein Motorrad gesehen. Ich habe kein Motorrad Geschäft in der Straße gesehen, und ich dachte, daß es keine Kultur gibt, Motorradfahren zu genießen.
　　Ich mußte mir vorstellen, wie Karafuto geworden wäre, wenn es japanisch geblieben wäre. Wahrscheinlich will ich russisches Karafuto nicht noch mal besuchen.

(Wortschatz)
Vertrag von Portsmouth　ポーツマス条約
die Hälfte  半分
j3 et4/et4 an j4 ab/treten  譲り渡す
ein/fallen  思いつく；侵攻する
der Eindruck 印象
die Meinung 意見
überheblich 傲慢な

樺太雑感

　樺太の南半分はポーツマス条約（１９０５）により、日本領となった。しかし、１９４５年夏、ソ連が侵攻し、現在も占領を続けている。パスポートを呈示して樺太に渡るのは抵抗があったが、ポーツマス条約の翌日、つまり１９０５年９月６日からちょうど１１０年目に当たる今年の９月６日に樺太へ旅行した。

　案内標識が極端に少なく、英語を喋る人が少ない。レストランでのウェイトレスの態度は傲慢で、料理のメニューもない。ガガーリン公園はかつての日本の庭園だが、それに言及した看板もなければ、英語表記さえない。観光地にはほど遠い環境だ。樺太歴史博物館にも日本語はもちろん英語表記さえない。単にいろいろなものが並べられているに過ぎない。神聖な樺太神社は戦争博物館と化していた。

　ロシアの辺境の地にあり、寂しい土地のように思えた。オートバイを持ち込んで樺太を走る計画を持っていたが、オートバイを見たのは一台だけ。修理工場のようなものも見かけず、オートバイを趣味とする文化はここにはないように見えた。

　もし日本のままだったらどうだったろうかと考えずにはいられなかった。ロシアに占領されている樺太を訪れることはもうないだろう。