Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Silent Invasion

　　My friend gave me a book written in English, which is shown below. The title of this book is "Silent Invasion". Its Japanese edition has already been published and I was going to read it, but using this present as an opportunity, I decided to read this book. I'm reading "Into The Wild" now, and will read it after that book.
　　The first words which came into my eye immediately when I looked at the contents were "Dyeing Australia Red". If you know about this book for the first time, you would be able to imagine the content. Arrogance, totalitarianism, militarism, and infringement of human rights of China have long been criticized and now even pro-China countries like Germany and Australia came to change their attitude altogether.
　　I thumbed through its preface and the author wrote about the Australian torch relay associated with 2008 Beijing Olympics. There seemed to happen a disturbance or a riot caused by Chinese students. Apparently it's the same situation as Nagano city in central Japan. Mainstream medias in Japan concealed the incident and most Japanese don't know about it even now.
　　Around when I started writing this blog, I often picked up topics about politics and foreign affairs. It was to let ordinary people not only in Japan but across the globe know the facts. Now, however, they can reach the primary information by the development of the internet technology. The mainstream medias became unable to lie to people. It's wonderful.

(Vocabulary)
本の目次のページにはふつう単に contents と書く. なお, content と単数形にすれば本の「内容」になる
disturbance 騒ぎ, 暴動 , 騒動, 騒乱; （平静･正常な進行を）乱すこと

Amazon Kindle

　　Reading is one of my favorite occupations. I've found that very often my eyes pass over the words without taking in the meaning, but even though, as many books as I read, I get as much knowledge as I can. Reading books is a big delight to me. However I sometimes feel the deterioration of my memory. When I have to specify the information source - for example when I'd like to explain something to others - it's not seldom that I can't recall where in which book the source was written. I frequently get irritated by that. Then I found out about Amazon's "KINDLE". I read several affirmative and negative opinions of the present Kindle users online and those comments sounded very handy to me, and I bought one at last year's Cyber Monday Sale on Amazon.
　　I have bought several Kindle version books online since then. A few minutes after I had ordered books from Amazon, I could read those books even after midnight. This system is really handy though it's a little sad that my bookshelves won't get occupied by good books. On the other hand, however, I won't be bothered to prepare the store space for flooding books.
　　To my utmost delight, I can carry lots of books all the time in my body bag and I can read books in my short free time. It's a little unhandy to take notes on pages of Kindle version books more than on paper-base books, but not impossible. Above all, you can use online search services like Google Search or online dictionaries anytime if your Kindle is connected to the internet. I don't need to even carry dictionaries!
　　The only question is how many books my Kindle can keep, but I'll worry about it when my Kindle reaches its maximum capacity.

(Vocabulary)
occupation [C] a way of spending your time; [=]pastime:
One of my childhood occupations was collecting stamps.
Then そんなとき

読書は趣味の一つ。時々、無意識になって十分な理解をせぬまま、眼だけが文字を追っているようなときがあるが、それでも読めば読んだだけ知識が増えるし、楽しい。ただ、記憶する能力が落ちてきたようで、後で書かれていた情報を確かめるときにどの本のどこに書かれていたのかわからずに困ることがよくある。そんなとき、アマゾンのキンドルを知った。使っている人からの言葉で便利そうに思い、またサイバーマンデーのセールで半額くらいになっていたので購入。昨年末の話だ。

その後、何冊も購入した。本棚に本が並ばないのがさみしいが、多くなると保管場所に困ることにもなる。嬉しいのは、持ち歩いているバッグの中に何冊もの本が入っていること。ちょっとした時間に本が読める。紙ベースと比べてメモを記入することに制限があるが、書き込みできないわけではないし、なにより検索が使えることが素晴らしい。またネットに繋がっていれば不明な単語、用語がすぐに調べられることも素晴らしい。消費電力がごく少なく、また目に優しい照明となっている。

問題はどれくらいの本を保存できるかと言うこと。まあそれは一杯になってしまったときに考えることにしよう。

Sake Lovers' Meeting

　　My Lions Club has been holding meetings concerning alcoholic beverages four times a year. Every meeting has its theme. In addition to the major classification of alcoholic drinks, like sake, wine, beer, whisky, and so on, the drinks are chosen by its birthplace, its ingredient, or by the season in which the meeting is held. Naturally, delicious seasonal dishes accompany the beverage.
　　The theme this time was "whisky". There are two kinds of descriptions of whisky, i.e., "whisky" and "whiskey". In Japan "whisky" is more frequently used. Japanese whisky is descended from Scotch, and the Scotch-like description without "e" is used.
　　Five major areas for the production of whiskys are Ireland, Scotland, America, Canada, and Japan. A Japanese had brought the technique of producing whisky from Scotland in the latter half of 19th century and his story was broadcast recently. He is the founder of Nikka and father of Japanese whisky. Now Japan is experiencing a boom in whisky.
　　The lecturer was the branch manager of Suntory Co.Ltd, the other company of the two major whisky companies in Japan. His story was full of wit and was enjoyable. I learned lots of things about not only Japanese whisky but also other ones.
　　You see a little bottle of Maker's Mark on the table, it was a souvenir. The lecturer told us what the logo and its seal meant. They were added to my whole stock of knowledge.

(Vocabulary)
Sake Lovers' Meeting 　ほろ酔い会（松山中央ライオンズクラブで開催される年に４回の酒飲みたちのイベント。毎回種々のアルコール飲料が用意され、専門家たちの蘊蓄に耳を傾け、アルコールを楽しむ会）
connoisseur　専門家、(美術品などの) 鑑定家, (その道の) 通, 玄人,食べ物・酒・音楽など特定の分野についてよく知っている人
a wine connoisseur　ワイン通

180 South

　　I watched a movie featuring environmental issues. "180 South" is the title of the movie. The founders of Patagonia and the North Face got together and set out for a long journey to the south in 1968. During the journey, they got inspired and later succeeded in their business. The movie depicted a young man who traced their journey recently and the awesome and beautiful scenery of the Patagonia district of Argentina was spectacular. In the movie, the director made the young man start to mention environmental protection. I felt something uneasy at that time. The movie took on an aspect of leftism.
　　The leftists always call for irrefutable slogans such as "for children", "for environment protection", "No more war" and "No more Hiroshima". These slogans are actually right, I think. However, are their acts acceptable? Their self-righteous opinions were repeatedly portrayed in the movie. I became sick in the latter half of the movie.
　　What they are calling for is right, but what they are doing is not always right. It is my conclusion about the leftists. Something was strange in the movie. Coming back home, I checked some website concerning the Patagonia Brand and found a surprising fact; Patagonia is one of the sponsors of the notorious Sea Shepherd. It looks like they don't know that humans cannot help killing other kinds of creatures to live. There's a verb "itadaku" in Japanese, which means "receive something with gratitude and in a pious manner". We use this verb in the processing of meat not simply saying "kill" or "receive the lives of other creatures". Japanese has the backbone of the Shinto religion. There's nothing to be accused of by the cruel people of the Sea Shepherd.
　　Coming back on track, the scenery in this movie was nice, but the ideology behind the movie was not acceptable for me. I shall never buy the product of Patagonia and North Face from now.

I wrote about Shinto before here:
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2005/12/shinto-religion.html

(Vocabulary)
irrefutable  反駁(はんばく)できない, 論破できない
self-righteous 独善的な
portray 〈本・映画などが〉…を描く, 表現する [同意] depict
portray sb/sth as sth ＜…＞を＜…＞として描く［であると表現する］
The president likes to portray himself as a friend of the poor. その大統領は自分自身を貧者の友であると表現したがる．
in a pious manner 敬けんな態度で

(Vocabulary from kind comments)
hamstring  (人)を制約する, …を妨げる
flat out (米) (強調して) 本当に, まったく
baleen くじらのひげ
ramification 《[C]通例複数形で》(フォーマル)  (決定・行動などの) 影響, 結果
legal/political/social ramifications  法律［政治，社会］への影響
life form 生物, 生命体
propagate [他](フォーマル) 〈考え・信念など〉 を広める, 普及させる
a) [他](専門) 〈植物・種子など〉 を育てる, 繁殖させる
b) [自] 育つ, 繁殖する
sustenance (フォーマル) (生命維持に必要な) 食物, 栄養（物）[同意] nourishment
go astray
〈物が〉 紛失する, なくなる
〈計画などが〉 うまくいかない
 正道を踏みはずす, 悪の道に染まる
lead sb astray
＜人＞を邪道に導く
＜人＞を惑わす, だます
prey on sb/sth
prey on sth ＜…＞を捕食する
prey on sb ＜弱者など＞をえじきにする
prey on sb's mind 〈事件・状況・考えなどが〉 ＜人＞の心をさいなむ
get off one's soapbox 演説をやめる、自説［自分の意見］を引っ込める
【反】get (up) on one's soapbox
hit/strike home 〈発言・状況などが〉 胸に突き刺さる, 身にしみる

Silver Spoon (銀の匙 中勘助）

　　Last year, I happened to see my former teacher who had taught me Japanese in my junior high school days. He had won the respect of pupils with his intelligence. To my sadness, however, he had slight impaired cognition. It was natural that he didn't remember me, one of many pupils. I told him various recollections expecting that something excavated even a part of his memory from the depth of his brain.
　　I was born and brought up in a rural place of Ehime prefecture. In such places, the compulsory education was so-so, and it was not enough for me. I felt some emptiness. At that time I thought I'd like to become someone who leads the nation and moved to the prefectural capital city alone to get a higher level of education. Then, I met the above teacher. He used a novel, "Silver Spoon" as a textbook of Japanese. I remember that I had been overwhelmed by the toughness of the novel. I couldn't believe that the novel was the textbook. So, I told him about "Silver Spoon", and it seemed to trigger the blowing of 40 years' period. He started to talk and talk.
　　The other day I found the book in the list of the municipal library. I borrowed the book and read it. It was nice, and I enjoyed it though I didn't think so 40 years ago. I thought it was due to being short of age that I couldn't understand the novel 40 years ago.

(Vocabulary)
win/earn/gain the respect of sb 　＜人＞から尊敬される, に感心される

Brûlée vive (Souad)

　　I read an unbelievably shocking story in the book of the title, which was originally written in French and translated into Japanese in 2004. It appeared to be translated into several languages and I'd like you, my subscribers, to read it. The name of the author was Souad, a very simple name. It's written under an assumed name, because she could be killed by her relatives if they knew her address and present name.
　　I'm going to write about the content from now. The content was so cruel that I almost closed the book before reading it through. The saving grace was that the story ended happily at the end.
　　Souad was born about 40 years ago in the West Bank of the River Jordan. In Islamic countries, women are cruelly ill-treated. This book is an accusation of the abuse of women in her original country. Have you ever heard of the murder called "honorable murder", which means illegal executions conducted by victim's relatives like her father or brothers. Souad got pregnant unwillingly before marriage, and it was a big shame for her family. That was why they decided to kill Souad and her brother-in-law actually set fire to her hair with some oil. She was critically injured and had been on the brink of death for a few weeks, but a French woman, who was a staff member of an NPO, found her and managed to take Souad out of Jordan to Switzerland to undergo suitable medical treatment. She had already turned 17 at that time, but wasn't given any education. She had to undergo more than 20 operations of skin transplants in the strange country. She appeared to have so much hardship to accustom herself to the ordinary European life style. After more than 20 years of hardships, she was asked to write her biography for women still living under cruel conditions in Islamic countries. The person who asked her to tell the whole world of the abuse of women in Islamic countries was the woman who had actually rescued her from the foul hospital, where Souad was being accommodated. It's an honorable task to reach out selflessly at a time of another's greatest need under the threat of being targetted by her relatives, who have been wanting honor that would be given after her successful murder.
　　I admire her courage from the bottom of my heart, and will talk about this fact everywhere in Japan. I'd be happy if my action is helpful for her and her supporting NPO even if only slightly.

(Vocabulary)
assumed name  偽名
the West Bank of the River Jordan ヨルダン川西岸地区（シスヨルダン）
set fire to 火を付ける
accustom yourself to (doing) sth  ＜…＞（すること）に適応する
treatment [U]
conditions 《複数扱い》 (暮らし・仕事などの) 環境
Conditions in the prison were appalling. 刑務所内の環境はおぞましかった．
tell sb of sth  (フォーマル/文) ＜人＞に＜…＞について話す［言う］
foul　汚く、悪臭のある、不衛生な、、、（といったイメージ)
reach out to sb  ＜人＞と心を通わせる, に援助の手を差し伸べる; ＜人＞に助けを求める
selfless 無私［無欲］の, 私心のない
sb's murder (the murder of sb とも)  ＜人＞が殺害されること; '＜人＞が'殺すことではない
selfless devotion to others 私心のない献身
even if only slightly / if only a little  少しでも

Millennium

　　The topic of this entry isn't what you call millennium, but the name of a novel that was written by Stieg Larsson. He seemed to have passed away before knowing of his success with his novel becoming the best seller in the world. This is a trilogy, but the last volume alluded to a follow-up story. I'm very sorry not to be able to read the next one. This novel was the most interesting one in my life. I spread out the map of Sweden where the novel was staged and read it through. I devoted myself to this novel for a few days, and could do only the minimum stuff.

• (Vocabulary)
• allude to sb/sth (フォーマル) ＜…＞をほのめかす, にそれとなく言及する
• He alluded to the war in his speech. 彼は演説の中で戦争にそれとなく言及した．
• allude to ~ as a preliminary ～に伏線を張る

Isabella L. Bird

     I've been reading several books of travel in recent times, which were recorded by foreign travellers in 1800-1900. Those books describe ordinary people's lives. Their lives are really interesting. What were their food, clothes, transportation and houses like? The history which I'd learnt is written from the viewpoint of rulers. Lots of famous people and incidents are the main characters in the history which I know. However, these notes of travel are written by many travellers and tell me how the ordinary Japanese people spent their lives. Naturally the writers have their own characters, likes and dislikes. They might have changed various things, but if you read several books, you'll know the facts.

     "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" by Isabella L. Bird was really good. She recorded both good and bad, or convenient and inconvenient things of Japan. I got lots of new information from it.

 

The Book of Virtues

     Japan was beaten by the U.S. in World War Two. Then, the U.S. feared that Japan would get strong again, and took various measures to keep Japan feeble. One of their measures was to imprint the masochistic view of history on the Japanese mind. It was a kind of brainwashing. However, luckily, lots of Japanese are recovering from this awful way of thinking. Another way was to make a bonfire of huge amounts of books that were inconvenient to them. The Allies did the same thing as the Nazi that they intensely accused of the same thing. Moreover, they distorted the history of Japan, and deprived the Japanese people of "Kyouiku Chokugo", the Imperial message on Education. The Allies insisted that this message would foment militarism and banned the learning it. Most Japanese have been told that the Imperial message on Education was evil. Actually, I had believed it.

     The other day, I attended the lecture of Mr. Tamogami, the former chief of staff. In the lecture, he said that the Imperial message on Education was translated into many languages except Korean and Chinese, and now it is used for the education of virtue in many countries including the U.S. It was amazing. I got it today, and read only a little bit. I'll report on the book later in this blog. The picture is of the book.

(Vocabulary)
feeble  (高齢・病気などで) 体の弱った, ひ弱な
a feeble old man  体の弱った老人
imprint sth on sb's mind/memory/brain   ＜…＞を＜人＞の心［記憶，脳裏］に刻み込む
masochistic view of history  自虐史観
make a bonfire of  ～を焼き捨てる
bonfire  (祝賀の) 大かがり火, (ごみを焼く) たき火
Allies  (特に第二次世界大戦での) 連合国
the Imperial message on Education  教育勅語
勅語とは天皇のことば。みことのり。明治憲法下で、天皇が大権に基づき、国務大臣の副署を要さず、親しく臣民に対して発表した意思表示。
militarism　軍国主義
foment (けなして・フォーマル)  〈戦争・暴動など〉 をあおる, 扇動する = stir up
chief of staff  幕僚長

 

Trial of New Rain Jacket

    I had used a heavy duty rain jacket made for mountaineering for the last twenty years. It was extremely light. It was natural. It was specially designed for climbing up to the globally highest level of mountains. The air permeability had already been damaged by my sweat and blots and it couldn't be used in a high mountains anymore, but it was still of use in my daily life. I set it on the pocket of my scooter in case of the sudden rain. I liked it, but it was destroyed by a dog as I wrote here before. (link)
    I told the owner of the dog at that time that it was okay because the jacket was old enough to be thrown away. It used to cost alot, but now it was not expensive though I'd like to say, "I really liked it!" I knew such a complaint was nonsense.
    After that, I bought a new one a few weeks ago. I thought I wouldn't have a chance to climb up difficult mountains. I chose the second best class rain jacket. The next week, an insurance agent came to me and told me that the owner of the dog really hoped to compensate me for it. Eventually I got half of the money spent on the initial cost of a twenty year old jacket. The old torn jacket turned into some money. It might be kind of lucky.
    It was raining outside at noon and I decided to test it today. The picture is the jacket and a roadside park on the coast line near my hometown, where I'm taking a rest. The result was very nice and more than I expected. The development of this field is also wonderful.

(Vocabulary)
air permeability  通気性
blot 汚れ
compensate sb for sth 賠償する, 補償する, 償う

The Replacements

     I watched a movie that gave me a pleasant cooling sensation. It was just like I drank an icy cold water in the scorching desert. The casting was wonderful. The actor who was supporting was Gene Hackman, who is one of my favorite actors. I wrote some lines down because those were pregnant with hidden meanings. I'm using these phrases in this blog to fully understand and memorize it.

(Vocabulary)
pleasant cooling sensation // sensation of coolness  清涼感
scorching  焼けつくような, ひどく暑い
the scorching desert heat 焼けつくような砂漠の暑さ
pregnant with sth (formal)
containing a lot of a quality:
Every phrase in this poem is pregnant with meanings.

 

Overboard

     The title, "Overboard" is quite new to me and I looked it up in my dictionary. What it means is that something goes down into water. It is the title of a movie, starring Goldie Hawn. The Japanese title of the movie is "潮風のいたずら", which means "a mischief of the sea breeze". "Overboard" and "a mischief of the sea breeze" are the titles of the same movie. I couldn't connect both concepts or bridge the gap. Anyway, I tried to watch the movie.
     The conclusion; it was great and I really enjoyed it. I like this kind of movie. It soothes me, relaxes me and makes me feel happy. Murder and horror movies aren't my cup of tea. The main character, Goldie Hawn, is one of my favorite actresses. Her smiling and helpless look has captivated me for a long time.

(Vocabulary)
overboard  船から水中へ
Man overboard!   人が落ちたぞ！
look sth up  (本・コンピュータなどで) ＜…＞を調べる
sea breeze  潮風
mischief  (子供の) いたずら, 悪さ
murderous 《通例[名]の前で》 (襲撃などが) 残虐な 残忍な, 凶悪な
have a helpless look 困ったような顔つきをしている （人）の心を捉える
captivate 《[他]通例受け身形で》〈人〉 の心を奪う, を魅惑する

(KW:潮風のいたずら　ゴールディ・ホーン)

The Shawshank Redemption

     The topic is the title of a movie. I was interested in the word "redemption". It was the second time that I had come across this word. You can see a paper bag in the picture. It was delivered at the 109th annual congress of the Japanese Surgical Society. The word "redemption" was printed on the bag. I looked it up in the dictionary and felt something weird. I didn't know whether it was used properly, though it was printed on the official bags as a catchphrase of the assembly and I thought that it must have been correct. However, after watching the movie, I'm wondering if this word isn't correct.

(Vocabulary)
redemption
罪のあがない
(現金・商品などへの) 引き換え, 兌換(だかん)
体面の回復
(株・債権などの) 償還
beyond/past redemption
回復［救い］の見込みのない

(KW: ショーシャンクの空に)

The Rookie and 3 Godfathers

     I watched two DVDs last weekend. One of them was, "The Rookie", which is based on a true story. It is the story of a man who gave up his dream once due to an injury to his shoulder, but restarted and achieved it. I like this kind of movie. It encourages me. I watched its climax scene in tears. I will enjoy this movie again later.
     The other movie was, "3 Godfathers", starring John Wayne and presented by John Ford. The casting couldn't be better, but my impression was not good. Particularly, the story of the last ten minutes was weird. I couldn't follow it. However, I was deeply impressed that this movie was made in 1948. Do you know what had happened in the Far East around 1948? The separation of North and South Korea got definite and the Jeju massacre happened in the Korean southern island of Jeju under the occupation of the U.S. The conflict between Chinese communist party and Chinese Nationalist Party was beginning to get fierce. At this time, such a movie was being produced in the U.S. What a difference of the level of the cultures between them! It must have been reckless for Japan to wage the war against the U.S., but I also admire the then leaders of Japan, who were really devoted to their mother country so as to make Japan survive in the world.

(Vocabulary)
in tears  涙を浮かべて

(KW:オールド・ルーキー　三人の名付親)

Nobel award in Literature

     I read through the Japanese translation of "Die Blechtrommel" and "Beim Haeuten Der Zwiebel", which were authored by Günter Grass, who is a Nobel laureate in literature. I know that he has been under fire due to his career. He revealed recently that he used to be a member of Schutzstaffel (Nazi's SS) in his autobiography of "Beim Haeuten Der Zwiebel". I didn't enjoy either.
     I wonder how the Nobel laureate in literature is decided. It feels like the decision is lacking in objectivity. In the  case of the Peace Prize, people can judge the achievement of the laureate and express their opinions like it's ok or not. It's rare that somebody plots to put a con on people and win the Nobel Peace Prize, committing big money to something just like former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung (金大中).
     I think that people can't know the reason why he or she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Every language has its own beautiful expressions and verses. The referees would never be able to handle many languages at the same time. Consequently, the standard of judgement would be the story or the context of the work.
     I wondered why he received the Prize. The story of "Die Blechtrommel" was weird and unbelievable. According to his profession, some people accused him and insisted that he should pass up the Nobel Prize. I believe that the Nobel Prize in Literature makes no sense.

(Vocabulary)
Die Blechtrommel  ブリキの太鼓
Beim Haeuten Der Zwiebel  玉ねぎの皮をむきながら
receive/win the Nobel in Literature  ノーベル文学賞を受賞する
Nobel laureate in literature  ノーベル文学賞受賞者
Nobel Peace Prize / Nobel Prize for Peace　ノーベル平和賞
Nobel laureate for peace prize　ノーベル平和賞の受賞者
Schutzstaffel　ナチス親衛隊
autobiography  自叙伝
objectivity  客観性
put a con on （人を）欺く
commit [他] 〈資金・兵力など〉 を投入する
commit something to something
＜…＞を＜…＞に投入する
profession  (信念・意見などの) 表明, 告白
pass sth up  ＜昇進・招待など＞を断る, 辞退する
pass up a chance/an opportunity  チャンスを見送る
pass up an offer   申し出を断る

(KW: ギュンター・グラス) 

Roman Holiday

     While I was looking for some words in the dictionary the other day, writing the entry, "Gomorrah", I found "Roman Holiday" by chance. As most subscribers of this blog know, it is the title of the noted movie, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, but I didn't miss another meaning written on the page. You don't believe it, but "Roman holiday" also stands for a savage show.
     In the era when Rome was the center of the world, the biggest fun of the Roman people seems to have been to see the fight between slave soldiers and lions at the stadium on holidays. This fight must have been fun for Roman people, but what do you think it was for the soldiers? They had to put their life in danger or probably were often critically injured. They must have wanted to avoid it. I imagine that the show that was conducted every holiday was a big nuisance for the soldiers. Consequently, "Roman holiday" got to have the meaning of nuisance, I suspect.
     Come to think of the movie, the title is translated word for word into Japanese. I wonder if this translation is right or not. Should it have been translated into "Scandalous Princess" or "A Nuisance in Rome" or something in Japanese. At the same time, I thought that native speakers with an academic background would know the nuance and could enjoy the movie more.

(Vocabulary)
put one's life in danger  命懸けだ
nuisance  迷惑な行為, 厄介な人［もの，こと］
translate word for word  逐語訳をする
scandalous  けしからぬ, とんでもない

GOMORRAH：Viaggio nell'impero economico e nel sogno di dominio della camorra by Roberto Saviano

     I read the Japanese translation of an Italian book of this title, which handled the dark side of Italian society. I'm not going to explain Gomorrah here in detail because I think you know all about it. Gomorrah, along with Sodom, are known as the cities of "Sin" in the Old Testament. In this book Gomorrah implies the Italian city of Naples.
     I got really scared of the Italian mafia after reading this book. Firstly I wondered if the content was actually real because their conduct was unbelievably savage and cruel, but I remembered that a few incidents in the book had been reported by some media before. The content of this book must be correct.
     Naples is said to be beautiful and one of the places I want to visit. Do you know the proverb, "see Naples and die"? Besides, this city is the base for sightseeing Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii. I've thought that I'd like to visit there some day for a long time, but now I don't want to go there at all.
     Rome or Italy used to be the center of the world. There are lots of brilliant ruins across the country. They also used to be the epicenter of the arts and other technologies. Why did this traditional country become unsafe.
     The author seems to have been attacked by the Mafia and seriously injured. I don't know his present condition, but I wish for his complete recovery.

(Vocabulary)
Sodom and Gomorrah ソドムとゴモラ (聖書で，罪悪のため神に滅ぼされた2つの町)
the Old Testament  旧約聖書
See Naples and (then) die.《諺》  ナポリを見てから死ね。
a base for famous ski resorts  拠点
Mount Vesuvius  ヴェスヴィオ火山
Pompeii　ポンペイ
Mafia  マフィア

(KW: 死都ゴモラ　ナポリ)

Spring Has Come

     Across the road from my house is set as the waste collection spot. When I say so, you might feel the space is somewhere dirty, or that I hate this situation. In fact, however, the waste site is always kept clean by neighbors, and besides now, the cherry trees are starting to come into bloom. I go to work every morning seeing these trees in this season. Season changing reminds me of the flow of time and encourages me to do work or something enjoyable more often, because I feel it tells me the rest of life is getting short. Life is wonderful, I really think so.
     The second picture is the swollen buds of the inushide (Carpinus tschonoskii) in my garden. Spring looks like it's coming to my house, too. As it gets warmer, this small garden would be a good space for parties.

(Vocabulary)
come into bloom   開花する
swelling of buds // swollen buds   つぼみの膨らみ

The Rock

     I watched a movie on DVD, "The Rock", starring Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.

     The story is like this:
     A few dozens of angry marine soldiers who are led by a hero in The Vietnam War seize Alcatraz Island and 81 tourists. The soldiers are discontented with the U.S. top officials. The FBI dispatches a battery of SEAL and an inmate, Sean Connery, who used to be kept in the prison on the island, also an FBI agent, Nicolas Cage, who is just a chemist and works in the FBI laboratory. Sean was meant to be a mere guide of the underground secret tunnels and Nicolas was going to neutralize the enemy's chemical weapons. These two weren't supposed to use the weapons. However, all SEAL members are killed by an enemy trap which meant that Sean and Nicolas had to fight with the professional soldiers.

     As the story goes on, Nicolas gradually realizes that Sean is handy with every kind of weapon. At that time, I was thinking, "Oh, he used to be the British Agent 007". Needless to say, I'm joking. But, exactly at that point in the movie, Sean said, "I was trained by the best. British Intelligence." I couldn't help laughing. Is this movie a comedy or a serious one?
     Anyway, I like Sean's pronunciation. His tone of voice is clear and electrifying. I think it's a useful listening exercise for me. I enjoyed this movie to my heart's content.

(Vocabulary)
be discontent with sth  ～に不満を持つ
as we all know / needless to add / needless to say  言うまでもなく
electrifying  しびれるような

 (KW: ショーン･コネリー　ニコラス･ケイジ　ロック　アルカトラズ刑務所)

Risutora

     The title, "Risutora" means "corporate downsizing" in Japanese and it is from the Japanese pronunciation of "restructuring." Massive job cuts are under way in Japan as well as in the U.S. and the financial crisis is awfully serious. The other day I watched a movie, "Mad City", starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta, focusing on unreasonable firing. In the movie, Sam, whom John is playing, is axed and goes to the library which he used to work in for more than 5 years to have a talk with his former boss. He didn't accept his layoff and wanted the backing off of his pink slip. That's it. That should be it.
     However, Sam unexpectedly ended up shooting his colleague on accident and holding children hostage in the library. This originally little incident gets bigger and gets to be watched from all over the U.S. This movie climax with the news that his colleague, whom Sam shot, made a sudden change and died in the hospital.
     I know for a fact that this story is fiction, but it might happen in present Japan. I felt how heavy and serious the responsibility of the government is.
     I wish that one of the world leaders, Mr Barack Hussein Obama will do a good job. However, his inauguration address sounded to be lacking in concrete plans and it was just idealistic. I'm wondering if he can do it, a man who conceded his own second name, "Hussein", during the presidential race. 

(Vocabulary)
corporate downsizing / restructuring    リストラ
mass firing / massive job cuts / wholesale   大量解雇
banking crisis / financial crisis / financial meltdown  金融危機
climax with　　～とクライマックスを迎える

タイトルは　corporate downsizing の意味でrestructuring を日本語読みにした言葉から来ている。日本でも労働者の大量解雇が続いており、金融危機は深刻である。先日、ホフマン、トラボルタ主演の映画　Mad Cityを見た。時給８ドルの警備員が雇い主の都合で解雇され、抗議をしている最中に偶然が重なり大変な事態になっていく。フィクションではあるが、今すぐに日本で起こっても不思議のない話であった。為政者の責任の重大さに思いを馳せた。自分の名前を伏せて大統領になったオバマさん、大丈夫だろうか？就任演説に具体性がなかったことが気になる。