Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

YouTube

　　I don't rely on mainstream media at all. When I receive snippets of information from them, I make it a rule to ponder what's behind the news. The anonymous writers of these news items can conceal the crucial points and secretly weave nuances into their articles. In this sense, I prefer YouTube videos whose authors are open. I know the fact that YouTube censor uploaded videos and restrict free speech to some extent, but specialists in a variety of fields give lectures. I subscribe to some YouTube channels whose authors are trustworthy.
　　One of those authors published a book lately. I have been subscribing to his channel these past two years since around the U.S. 2020 presidential election. I evaluate that his arguments are based on hard evidence and are reliable. I doubted if there had been disturbingly huge injustice in the election. His book tells us about the confusion or chaos in the U.S.
　　I get information mainly through the internet. I can directly access the news source. Strangely, Japanese media don't report about the social problems concerning President Biden. They reported about the Silicon Valley Bank these past two or three days, but didn't refer to the scandal of the Biden family, Jan. 6th incident, the influx of unlawful immigrants, the aftermath of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and so on.
　　Their actions are really incomprehensible! I think most media would be under the control of something. I'd like to get information correctly, not biased, and make decisions properly.

Balloon Fuss And Nord Stream 2 Damage

　　With all the talk of the balloons in the U.S. these days, I'm afraid that we have to pay attention to things behind the scenes, when all media pick the same topic. They behave that way at times to divert attention from something. So, I was wondering if there was something which they wanted to conceal.
　　I learned today about a report by a reliable journalist by the name of Seymour Hersh. He concluded that the culprit of the attack against Nord Stream 2 was the U.S.. If this is the case, the attack is absolutely hostile. Does the U.S. want people in the EU to be frozen to death? Congress might impeach Biden, taking it into consideration that they had impeached Mr.Trump without any solid evidence.

(Vocabulary)
fuss (ささいなことに対する) 大騒ぎ, 空騒ぎ
With all the talk of ～が盛んに語られていますが、、、
at times 往々にして

 

Earthquake in Turkey

　　The news about an apocalyptic terrible earthquake in Turkey came to me. The catastrophic earthquake isn't other people's affairs to us Japanese. I am reminded of the Han-Shin Awaji Earthquake disaster in 1995. I was dispatched to the worst affected area from my hospital just after the quake. As most roads and ports were destroyed, my rescue team was sent by a fishing boat. Japan is subject to some of the worst extreme weather and seismic activities in the world, but it has sort of strong bonds between unfamiliar individuals. My colleagues covered my absence at that time. The medical personnel both those who were sent to the affected area and those who stayed behind were likewise struggling to save people in chaos.
　　The dispatch of surgical staff reduced its scale in about two weeks and then the internist-centered rescue teams were intensified. Following them, psychiatrists, counselors, and school teachers were sent. The army delivered drinkable water and also provided public baths. It is crucially important to prevent the spread of infectious illnesses like dysentery, cholera, and so on. Can these rescue activities be performed in Turkey? As far as I can see in news items or uploaded pictures on the net, the rescue and backup for victims seems to be very slow.
　　Buildings were apparently easily destroyed in the earthquake. They seem to have been made with flimsy materials. Judging from news items in Japan, food supply is barely done. As my assistance for the moment, I donated some money to an NPO which plans to send blankets and generators to Turkey.
　　One more thing. I've expected the mediation between Russia and Ukraine by the Turkish President Erdogan. I'm afraid that he would get his hands full with hard graft recovering from the country's catastrophic disaster.

(Vocabulary)
apocalyptic この世の終わりのような、不吉な、悲惨な；(新約聖書で予言されたような) 終末論的な
flimsy
〈布・服などが〉 薄っぺらな
〈機器・建物などが〉 (構造的に) もろい
〈根拠などが〉 薄弱な, 説得力のない, 〈口実などが〉 見え透いた
mediation 調停, 仲裁
hard graft 大変な苦労

 

Mainstream Media and the Internet

　　The circulation of all newspapers is wildly decreasing in Japan, no matter what stances they hold. Above all, the principal liberal papers like the Asahi and the Mainichi are losing their subscribers drastically. This tendency is understandable as society got to doubt what is written in those papers. The number of television viewers, especially among young people, is purportedly decreasing. With the advertising revenue falling, the mainstream media seems to be doomed to perish.
　　On the other hand, their alternative measures to get information became SNS or the internet, whose censorship is now in dispute, though. During the 2020 U.S. presidential race, the Twitter account of Mr. Trump was suspended abruptly. This act made me feel uneasy to know that a single company could affect the result of the presidential election. Recently, however, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, took over ownership of Twitter and disclosed its confidential files about its censorship. I read some of them and knew that my speculation wasn't wrong.
　　I often watch YouTube programs. YouTubers in the field of politics are struggling to avoid words which potentially could be censored. Japanese is a highly flexible language and YouTubers are using a variety of rewording which is understandable to everyone, but some YouTubers are shifting their platform to non-censorship ones.
　　Anyway, the times in which media can easily brainwash people have apparently been terminated.

 

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）

TYPHOON IS COMING

　　A typhoon is coming. The authorities alerted citizens to brace against it. It seems to be the biggest class typhoon ever. It was 60 years ago that the number of typhoon victims soared up to 5000! The magnitude of this coming typhoon is comparable to it. I hope that it will veer off from my hometown, but it's coming in the direction of my hometown. I stored food and water for two days. I charged my smartphone, mobile battery and my EV. In such cases, a portable power station of high capacity would be helpful, but I don't have it yet. I wish that the damage would be minimum.

(Vocabulary)
portable power station ポータブル電源

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

Preliminary Consultation for Vaccination

　　The Government urges citizens to get vaccinated as soon as possible, but lots of people are reluctant to get vaccinated. I was asked to attend a mass vaccination event today taking on the preliminary consultation. My task is to judge if recipients have something allergic or harmful to the vaccine and make the final decision for his/her vaccination. According to today's news, the government are considering the 4th vaccination. I wonder how many times we have to receive the injection and when I will be able to make a trip freely.

 

The 3rd Vaccination

　　Tomorrow is the day when I have to receive the 3rd shot of vaccination against COVID-19. The previous two shots' side effects weren't so severe and I felt only a little muscle pains and general fatigue. However, those of the 3rd shot seem to be harder than before. The vaccines which I took were COMIRNATY(by pfizer) as the 1st and 2nd vaccines, but I chose Spikevax (by Moderna) this time. This combination is said to enhance the antibody titer, but I just want to know how severe the side effects of Spikevax are. I took two day-offs in advance in case of the appearance of severe side effects.

 

Snowstorm and Earthquake

　　When net-surfing, I found a heart-warming article and I'd like to write about it. Six customers and about two dozen employees of the global furniture store giant, IKEA, got stranded due to a snowstorm in Copenhagen,Denmark. The shop owner allowed them to use their products exhibited in the showroom and the showroom was used as a shelter for a night. The shelter seemed to have been so comfortable according to the article. This incident apparently raised the awareness of the company and contributed to the company image. In case of emergency, Safety First!
　　In 2011, when a vast blackout hit Tokyo, most transportation stopped. People who were working in the city center were stranded just like in the said Ikea showroom. I recalled the devastating damage from the earthquake and tsunami in the wake of it.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/ikea-sleepover-denmark-snow-storm-strands-staff-customers-overnight-1.5692384

 

Brunch

　　A lot of companies and private businesses have been heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the pandemic happened, people started staying home and the economy became slack. The local medias tell us about various attempts of private businesses to survive this crisis.
　　In such a local news program, a bakery shop appeared. The shop seemingly started to offer authentic dishes as brunch. My wife was attracted by its beef stew and other Italian food, which I don't remember, and we visited the bakery.
　　I ordered a beef stew with all-you-can-eat bread. The taste was great. The bakery was a 30-minutes drive from my home, but I will become a frequent customer of this bakery.

(Vocabulary)
authentic 本格的な, 正統な, 本物の
authentic Indian food 本格的なインド料理
frequent customer 常連

NATIONAL FLAG

　　No matter what country people belong to, they are educated to pay respect to their own national flags, but that's not the case in Japan. After the Great East Asian War, the U.S. distorted the education of Japan and in addition to that, it sent lots of communists into the field of education along with the expelling of ordinary educators from all kinds of school ranging from elementary schools to universities. By such ugly educators, most Japanese began to hold the thoughts of leftists.
　　My house was built 19 years ago. I forgot to equip it with a flag-hoisting stand at that time and I set a makeshift stand for flags later. It doesn't appear good, but I've been putting the national flag up on Japan's Foundation Day.

AT HIROSHIMA PORT

　　I visited Hiroshima city on business after long years of interval. Seeing how the port was, I was surprised. There was almost no one in its main hall, though it was Sunday. I understood it was from the pandemic, but even so, the situation was awfully terrible.
　　The passengers in the ship were sparse. I simply hoped that the pandemic will end as soon as possible.

Earthquake Alert

　　Last night, precisely today, a big earthquake broke out and its epicenter was roughly 200 km from my hometown. It was about 1:08 am and I was sleeping then.
　　A loud alarming sound from my smartphone suddenly started just after I felt asleep. I noticed it, but I was so sleepy and stayed still in bed. 20 seconds later, my bed began rocking and I think it lasted 20 seconds or so. I understood that a huge earthquake happened at a not-so-distant place. As there was nothing happening in my room like something dropping, the bookshelf falling, and so on, I fell asleep deeply. I knew about the magnitude of the earthquake in the morning from a news program. It said the quake was considerably big, but luckily human injuries were few.
　　To my further surprise, the earthquake advisory worked perfectly. I had about 20 seconds to brace for the upcoming earthquake and this short time would be useful to reduce the disaster, though I didn't prepare anything. The warning system built in the smartphone forcibly booted my smartphone on the condition of its sleep mode and alarmed me. It's a great and essential system in the frequently earthquake-happening countries like Japan.

 

Chanthu Passed

　　The 14th typhoon of this year, called Chanthu internationally, passed over my prefecture last night. I was afraid that it would bring a heavy disaster to my hometown, but it didn't. I heard that some houses had their roofs peeled off, but no one was killed by the typhoon. Anyway, I was relieved.
　　Then, it's very hot today. The sky is completely clear. My smartphone indicates the temperature in my car to be 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). My car's internal temperature is set to be controlled under 100 Fahrenheit by using the air-conditioner, but if not,,, I don't want to think about it.
　　My hometown has got enough water to survive until the next rainy season, so I don't want another typhoon to come, but about 20 typhoons come or pass close to Japan every year. I still have to reckon with them for some time from now on.

 

Virtual Trip

　　All the people living in Japan are requested not to move for non-urgent and unnecessary issues due to the pandemic. I have wanderlust, so this request from the municipality is a hardship. I've been enjoying online trips these days to ease my impatience. This trip is free of charge and doesn't require any reservation of hotels, transportation, and so on. It's really stress-free. However, I'm so sorry not to enjoy the local cuisine or specialties. To tell the truth, I'm planning to set out for a short trip in November. I suppose and hope that the pandemic will be under control at that time. The destination is where there are few cases of the coronavirus infection.
　　When on earth can we go back to the original life?

Prime Minister Race

　　The election campaign for the next prime minister has just started. The possible candidates are three of them. One of them is a female and she might become the first women to get the premiership. I have been supporting her since long ago and I really hope that she will become the next prime minister.
　　Her policy is conservative and I think she can be compared to President Trump in the U.S. She is very popular, but the media in general hate her and try to hamper her success in the election. I recalled the presidential election of the U.S. that took place since last autumn to this February.

 

The 5th Wave

　　The population of my prefecture is 1.3 million and the number of infected people topped 5000 the other day. The number was under 3000 until the 4th wave, so 2000 people got newly infected during the 5th wave of the pandemic. How long will this condition last? I wonder if the 6th wave will come up next winter or not.
　　The restaurants and bars in downtown have to stop serving alcoholic drinks by 20:00 hours. Many municipal facilities are closed and to my perplexity, the nearest branch of the public library is also closed. I keep two books from the library and they are already overdue, but I'm not urged to return them. It's ok, but I can't borrow books newly.
　　It's getting cooler day by day and various events are on schedule in autumn. I've enjoyed some of them every year, but all of them would be suspended or cancelled. I would just have to wait for the end of the pandemic.

(Vocabulary)
perplexity (特に書き言葉) [U] 困惑, 当惑;《[C]通例複数形で》難題, 難局

911

　　This topic isn't for a Porsche car and is about the terrible or indescribable terror attack which occurred in N.Y. on Sept. 11th in 2001. The anniversary ceremony will be held tomorrow in Japan's time. I watched the scene on T.V., and the preparation of the ceremony was going on. The monument caught my eye and victims' names were carved on its face. I recognized again how many people were involved in the terrorism. They must have wanted to live more. I'm so sorry.
　　I wonder who or what produces terrorism. Poverty? Exclusivity? Fundamentalism? or some other reason? I don't know the true reason, but these factors are found extremely rarely in Japan.
　　Lots of people return to their original home on around Aug. 15th to celebrate the "bon festival", which is from Buddhist culture, and visit shrines at the very start of every year, which is from Shinto culture. In addition, they celebrate Christmas also. What do you think of this religiously irresponsible behavior of Japanese people? People who have roots in other countries can celebrate their special occasions in their favorite way in Japan. Japan is one of the countries in which terror attacks hardly happen.
　　I hate fundamentalism. It's simply egoism. Watching how the prep for the commemorating ceremony is going, I conceived as above.