Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Nipponmaru Cruise Ship

　　My office is located in the small fishing-and-farming village of Nagahama, which is serene and safe from crime. In this town a sensational topic has been in the air these days. That is, Japan's cruise ship, Nipponmaru, is to call at Nagahama port on Mar. 5th., carrying 400 passengers. I've not seen the ship, and I came to the office rather earlier than usual and went to the port.
　　When I arrived at the port, passengers were moving into buses to go sightseeing around here. I tried to shoot the whole of the ship, but I was too close to the ship. One of my colleagues climbed up the hill and took nice pictures. I got some pictures from him and I'll post them.
　　Getting back to my office, I promptly did a search about the Nipponmaru cruise ship on the net. I've not experienced any cruise ship tour. Consequently, in the next moment, I found myself to have applied for a four-day tour to Sakhalin in autumn.
　　My booked room is the lowest-priced one and I was put on a waiting list at the third place for cancellation. If I could get the room, I'll put up pictures of Japan's northern island of Rishiri and Rebun, and the autumnal scenery of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
　　By the way, the upper-classes weren't fully booked, but they were too expensive for me, and I decided to wait for cancellation of the lowest class.

(Vocabulary)
in the air　（話・うわさなどが）話題になって
call at　（船が）～に寄港する
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク

Planting of Cherry Trees

　　Yoshino cherry (Someiyoshino in Japanese) was produced in Edo, now called Tokyo, in Edo era, in the middle of 19th century. The gardeners in Somei village in Edo generated it from the wild cherry in Mt. Yoshino in Nara prefecture. "Someiyoshino" was named by the connection of "Somei" and "Yoshino". That is to say, yoshino cherry is not wild and has not self-proliferating ability and human help is required to reproduce itself.
　　Dogo park is one of the tourist attractions in my hometown. Yoshino cherries in the park are well-known for its beauty. Those cherries were planted just after the Greater East Asian War to solace people, but now 70 years after the war, those cherries started to perish.
　　Today, my Lions Club planted newly four cherry trees in the park with several junior high school students. I don't know when they will bloom, but I hope they will entertain our descendants next several decades. At the same time, this planting will become good memory for the students.

(Vocabulary)
Yoshino cherry ソメイヨシノ
solace /sa:lɪs   [U] (悲しみ・失望の際の) 慰め；慰める
find/seek solace in sth ＜…＞に慰めを見いだす［求める］

Maintenance of My Bicycle

　　Spring is just around the corner in my hometown. I took my bicycle out and did some maintenance work, lubricating gears with oil, examining tires for any damage, checking the battery of the light and cycle computer,,,. Everything was ok and I'm just waiting for spring.

(Vocabulary)
lubricate
1 …に油を差す, (潤滑油などで) …を滑らかにする
2 〈仕事・取引など〉 を円滑に進むようにする

Tsubaki Shrine

　　Could religion exist without any religious scripture? Could religion come to the world without any guru or founder of the sect? Buddhism has the Buddha. Likewise Christianity has Jesus Christ and the Muslim faith has Muhammad. However, Shinto, Japan's original what you call religion doesn't have any guru or any scripture. So I often wonder if Shinto could be called a "religion".
　　Anyway, there are lots of Shinto shrines in my hometown. Probably more than 50, including small ones, though I don't know the exact number. One of the best known in my hometown is Tsubaki shrine. Today the weather was clear and I took my parents to this shrine, for they wanted to get some charms for their two granddaughters, who would take exams for each university.
　　Around the approach to the main hall, several people were preparing for the soon-coming shrine festival. It has been said that spring will come after the Tsubaki shrine festival. I thought that spring is just around the corner in my hometown.

(Vocabulary)
religious scripture 経典
guru, founder of a sect 教祖

Ehime Marathon

　　The Ehime Marathon, one of the three most popular marathon events in Japan, was held in my hometown on Feb. 8th. I applied for it a few month ago, but couldn't gain a spot. The competition rate was more than two. So I cheered runners from the sidewalk this time. At the same time, I took part in the activity of Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club, which I belong to. They offered lots of refrigerant sprays to assist heavily exhausted runners at about the 35km point. The second picture shows our lunch and sprays for icing runners.

(Vocabulary)
gain a spot / have a ticket to 出場権を得る
a refrigerant spray  冷却スプレー

Jogging After Two Months' Interval

　　I went jogging today after a few months' interval. I applied for the Ehime Marathon last autumn, which is one of the best three popular marathon events in Japan and was held on Feb. 8th, but I was rejected. The competition rate was apparently more than 2. I lost motivation and didn't jog for some time, but I have a plan to take part in the 10km road race in the Tougenkyo Marathon on Apr. 5th, so I started jogging today. Furthermore, I have another marathon plan, the Osaka Marathon, this year. I'm not sure I can get a place in the marathon, because it is so popular as you see, but I have to prepare.
　　Today's jogging route was around the park near my house. The sky was clear and I could see a long distance.

My Father and 660cc Small Car

　　I'm writing about my 83 year-old father. He is still fine, but is weak in walking and he can't walk continuously for 100 meters. Whenever he goes out, he drives his 660cc car and his way of driving is sometimes erratic.
　　The increase of aged drivers is recently emerging as a social problem in Japan. Their driving often causes terrible accidents, so the authorities ask them to return their driving license. You are supposed to renew your license every five years, but people who suffer from partial dementia can pass through this barrier.
　　My father has been driving cars for more than 60 years and is confident about driving. However, seeing him drive, I feel it's dangerous. Finally I induced him to stop driving cars and got his car away under his three sons' influence.
　　On the other hand, I didn't want him to stay inside all the time, because it leads him to be inactive. I gave him a mobility scooter to enjoy wandering outside. The following picture shows his small 660cc car.

(Vocabulary)
erratic とっぴな, 不規則な
lacunar dementia まだら痴呆症
mobility scooter （障害者・高齢者用の）電動カート

Udon Noodles

　　I'm not good at cooking. I seldom cook at home, but a cooking class of udon wheat noodles, whose lecturer was my friend, was held today. I attended it with my second daughter. Udon wheat noodles are used in various dishes and people usually get the noodles from shops. Today's class was meant to make the noodles themselves.
　　Udon is one of the traditional foods in Japan. Specifically, Kagawa Prefecture, next to my home Ehime Prefecture, boasts the greatest consumption of udon wheat noodles among all the prefectures in Japan. With its dry climate suitable for growing wheat, it was an ideal location for udon production. It's been going on here for over 300 years.
　　I'll write how they're made. The ingredients are simply wheat flour, salt, and water. The first step is making salt water. The amount of salt is adjusted carefully in accordance with the day's temperature and humidity. The salt water is mixed with the flour to make the dough. The kneading must be done thoroughly by hand to squeeze out any excess air from the dough. The dough is then tramped on. By applying pressure on it like in the picture below, the protein in the dough forms a sticky substance called gluten.
　　Normally, the dough has to rest overnight, but our class was restricted in time and the dough was left for an hour and cut to the suitable size. Even so, the taste was great!

 

 

 

 

Recycling Of Glasses

　　I belong to the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club. The Lions Club year commences on July 1st each year and ends on June 30th of the following year. At the beginning of this Lions' year, a new activity was picked up, which was the collection and recycling of unneeded glasses for the sake of people in the developing world. Every club members was told to collect them around his or her own environment. The following picture shows the poster, which has been raised in my office, asking patients to offer unnecessary glasses regardless of their power. Up to the end of the year 2014, nearly 600 pairs of glasses have been collected.
　　In Japan, naturally, glasses are adjusted to the wearer's eyes. What should they do with these glasses? Probably, I think, they will wear them, putting up with some unadjusted matters.
　　We, the club members, polished glasses and sent them to Australia, where the glasses from all over the world are to be classified and sent to the last destination. If people who receive one of them would be thankful, it's our pleasure.

(Vocabulary)
power of a lens 　レンズの度数

Volunteer Work

　　I started to write this blog in November 2005, so 9 years have passed since then. As I've hardly any opportunity to write English in my everyday life, I've kept it to, dare I say, improve my English skill. Writing in English is way more difficult than reading for me.
　　The merit of using English is to be read by numerous people around the world. Some of them have replied to my blog or directly sent me e-mails. It was great fun to receive messages from people outside of Japan. After all, they made me choose a wide variety of topics. The theme concerning my Lions Club is a topic that acts as a magnet for reactions by members of other overseas Lions Clubs.
　　The pictures show today's volunteer work of the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club, which entailed cleaning the grounds of Jodoji Temple, one of the 88 temples in the course of Shikoku Pilgrimage. The cold winter is off-season for the pilgrimage, but some groups of pilgrims visited the temple just after we had finished cleaning.


(Vocabulary)
I feel the Japanese have a sophisticated, dare I say more civilized, manner of communicating than where I'm from. 日本人は、洗練された、あえて言うと私の故郷よりももっと上品な意思疎通の手段を持っていると感じているの。
dare I say it … あえて言わせてもらうと
entail  (必然的に) …を含む, 伴う, 付随させる
What would the work entail? その工事にはどんなことが付随するか．
entail doing sth  The journey will entail changing train twice. その旅では列車の乗り換えが2回ある．

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer, My Mentor

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer

　　Ein ehemaliger Englischlehrer, dem ich viel verdanke, lebt in Okayama Präfektur. Er hat an der Zuckerkrankheit lange gelitten und ihr Komplikation hat einen schlechten Verlauf genommen. Jetzt ist er ganz blind geworden. Er wird dreimal pro Woche von einer Krankenschwester der Klinik gut gepflegt, aber war dabei, sich zu verschlechtern. Jetzt ist er im Krankenhaus und sucht eine Wohnung, in die er die Hilfe täglich den ganzen Tag bekommen kann.
　　Ich ging mit meiner dritten Tochter am letzten Sonntag ins Krankenhaus um ihn zu besuchen. Wenn ich ihn vor etwa 40 Jahren nicht getroffen hätte, wäre ich ein anderer Mensch geworden. Er hat aus mir gemacht, was ich heute bin. Meine Tochter ist mir gleich. Es ist ganz natürlich, dass man alt wird, aber ich finde es traurig.

　言葉で語り尽くせないほどの恩を受けた恩師が岡山にいる。長年糖尿病を患い、その合併症が進行し、今はもう完全に盲目となってしまった。自宅で公的な介護を受けていたが、もはや自宅での生活は無理な状況となり、一旦入院した。今後は施設を探すことになる。
　先週の日曜日に三女と一緒にお見舞いに行ってきた。この人に会わなければ今の自分はなく、また三女もこの先生に会わなければ今はない。老いるのは当たり前のことだが、寂しくてならない。

My Mentor

　　My family members, friends and I visit Canada very often, mainly for skiing. What prompted our frequent trips to Canada was the presence of an English teacher. He was undoubtedly a mentor of ours. Three daughters had an interest in languages and now each of them is very skilled in their respective languages. I was just thankful to go skiing with him.
　　Almost 30 years have passed since my first visit to Canada. Our mentor is over 80 now. I know that human beings have to accept the inevitability of aging, but it's sad to see him getting old. He has been suffering from diabetes for a long time, and its accompanying symptom of retinopathy is getting worse. He has lost much of his sight and was transferred to a facility for the aged.
　　I visited him with my youngest daughter, who was recently recognized as one of the best English speakers among Japanese medical students by the Government. This achievement is definitely with his assistance. I have no words to express my gratitude.

(Vocabulary)
accessory symptom, accompanying symptom  随伴症状

Hijikawa-Arashi, Local Natural Phenomenon

　　The town in which my office is located lies at the outlet of Hijikawa River, which runs out of the deep forest through the Oozu basin, then along the basin-shaped valley to the Seto Inland Sea. It is unquestionably amongst the big rivers in Japan.
　　In the early morning on freezing winter days Oozu basin is blanketed with dense fog. The fog is produced in the basin and flows inside the valley and over the surface of Hijikawa River to the sea. The road by the river and folk houses is covered with the fog. This phenomenon is called Hijikawa-Arashi, which literally means the storm of Hijikawa River.
　　The Hijikawa-Arashi observation deck stands on top of the hill behind my office and I climbed up today before business hours. The condition was far from that which generates Hijikawa-Arashi, but I wanted to see the deck in advance before the season of the Hijikawa-Arashi.
　　The first picture is the mouth of the river. You can see the Seto Inland Sea over there. The red bridge is a drawbridge and is also the icon of the historic town. The second one was shot moving my camera to the left, the direction of Oozu basin. You will figure out the shape of the valley. The last one shows the fishery and industrial port which is under construction at the moment.

(Vocabulary)
basin 盆地

Einladungen

    Bald ist Winter, aber ich denke an Frühlingsferien. Auch in diesem Jahr habe ich einige Einladungen schon bekommen.
    Ich wollte in Kanada Ski fahren, aber meine Tochter wird an Oxford Uni. für einen Monat in nächsten März studieren, also nach ihrem Studium möchte ich auch Schottland mit ihr besuchen.
    Letzten Abend rufte mein alter Freund mich an und er lud mich ein zum Bergsteigen in den nördlichen Japanischen Alpen.
    Außerdem, die Summe von Flug-meilen reichte aus für vier inländsflugscheine, so ich kann überall in Japan von Haneda Flughafen mit meiner Frau reisen. Die südliche Inseln sind sehr interessant.
    Es freut mich, dass ich nur an meine Urlaubspläne denke.

An Acquaintance From Germany

　　When I traveled to Freiburg in Germany and Italy with my second daughter last year as one of the members of the friendship tour organized by Matsuyama City, I met a young guy who worked in the DB, the German railway company, at the reception party held by the Freiburg-Matsuyama Association. He was going to visit Matsuyama in a year at that time and actually came to my hometown on 0ctober 2nd. It appeared that he had begun learning Japanese with a Japanese just after the party.
　　His travel plan was to stay in Matsuyama City all the time for two weeks and make day trips around there. I offered some sightseeing plans to him, like a karst landscape, Spa resorts, a huge active volcano and small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. He chose the islands without a second thought so I took him on a day trip to go around the inland sea utilizing a ferry service and more than ten bridges. On the last night of his stay in Matsuyama I took him to a small restaurant which serves traditional cuisine of Japan, specifically in Kyoto, but it might have been a wrong choice. He was twenty some years old and must prefer meat to vegetables. Kyoto-style traditional cuisine hardly uses meat except fish. Anyway, he looked to have enjoyed his stay. Nothing beat it.

An Incredibly Big Honor

　　I haven't written about my family here in my blog so often, but I have something to be eager to write now. To tell the truth, I can't help but inform you of one of my daughters, who is now in the fifth year of a national medical school.
　　Some unbelievable news came to me. She was chosen as one of the 16 representatives of Japanese medical students out of all of 9,100 fifth year Japanese medical students by the Japan Medical Education Foundation, the external body of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. After the graduation of the final year student, She will be dispatched to Oxford University Medical School on behalf of Japanese medical students and attend the lectures and practical exercises in Oxford with another student from March 2nd to 27th in 2015. Other chosen students will learn in the Medical Schools of Newcastle University (4 members), St George's University of London (4 members) and Peninsula Medical School, Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry (6 members). They will live in dormitories with British students. What a wonderful experience!
　　I wonder if I could visit the U.K. and have a trip to Scotland with her for some days after she finishes her curriculum in Oxford. The popularity of a drama dealing with Scotch whisky is soaring in Japan now. I thought Scotland was really beautiful seeing the drama. It appears that it's considerably cold in March in Scotland, but ,,,.

Stolz, Meine jüngste Tochter

　　Meine jüngste Tochter ist eine Medizinstudentin jetzt im fünften Schuljahr an der regionalen Universität. Es ist vor einigen Tagen entschieden worden, daß im nächsten Frühling von nächst Jahr, wenn sie ins letzte Schuljahr kommt, wird sie als die Repräsentantin der japanischen Medizinstudentinnen an die Oxford Universität geschickt.
　　Die sechzehn Studenten der Medizin, wen meine Tochter eingeschlossen, werden durch ein Förderprogramm der japanischen Regierung nach vier Universitäten Englands für einen Monat geschickt.
　　Die japanische Regierung hat diese Absendung von Medizinstudenten nach England seit 30 Jahren fortgesetzt. Es ist eine großartige Ehre, als Repräsentantin gewählt zu werden. Ich wünsche ihr viele gute Erfahrungen.

　医学部生の娘が最終学年になる来年の春、日本の医学生の代表として１ヶ月、オックスフォード大学医学部に派遣されることが決まった。代表は１６名で４つの大学で現地の学生とともに臨床実習をする。日本政府はこの３０年、このような留学生の派遣を続けている。選ばれたのは大変な栄誉である。良い経験ができることを祈る。

Ojouka Relay Marathon

　　An enjoyable event started this year in my hometown, which relays the distance of a full marathon with multiple runners. There's a park in the heart of the city and the 1.5 km of circle was made in the park and the race was to go round 28 times, with only the starter having to run an extra 195 meters. I attended the race as one of the members of the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club Team. The race wasn't competitive, but one of the events held as a part of the local festival. We joined the race with 10 members and I ran 3 circuits.
　　Going around and around the same circle didn't look nice at first for me, but it meant running in front of the cheering group about every 10 minutes. It was very nice to see runners or to see supporters from the runner in spite of my advanced idea to the contrary.

Family Tomb

　　My parents are 82 and 83 years old. They are still healthy and enjoy walking daily, but they began to have their tomb built the other day. My father is the second son and didn't succeed his father, so he needed his own tomb. I've not seen how tombs are designed and built, so it was interesting to see the passage of construction. The picture shows the construction of my family tomb at the halfway point. If nothing unexpected happens, my parents will enter the tomb first and my wife and I secondly. My father is fond of its location, because of the nice view from the tomb. I wondered if he would like to view the scenery after his death. The tomb is near my house and my jogging route. He might have thought of the easy accessibility when he chose the location.
　　My father asked me if I knew any stonemasons. I'm a member of Japan's 8th biggest Lions Club and more than 100 people belong to the club. Stonemason? Yes! My father got a contract with him in June and the design of the tomb was repeatedly modified, and now it's under construction. Below the tomb, a Catholic cemetery is located and my teachers from high school are buried there. The position looking down on their tombs pricks my conscience.

(Vocabulary)
prick sb's conscience  ＜人＞の良心をうずかせる

(Vocabulary from comments)
sort out
sort sth ↔ out ＜問題・困難な状況など＞を解決する
He needs to get a few health problems sorted out. 彼は健康上の問題をいくつか解決する必要がある．
sort sth ↔ out ＜…＞を整理する
I need to sort my desk out. デスクを整理する必要がある．
sort sth ↔ out ＜…＞を区別する, えり分ける
I've sorted out the papers that can be thrown away. 廃棄してもよい書類をえり分けた．
sort sth out from sth ＜…＞と＜…＞を分ける
sort sth ↔ out ＜…＞の段取りをつける, 手配をする

School Festival

　　I live in the same district as my high school. It was founded by the Dominican Order 63 years ago and most students continue to universities. My residence is located on the commuting route of the students and I heard of the school festival from a student who was passing by and I visited my high school today after a long interval.
　　The activities of students reminded me of my high school days. When I happened to walk in the entrance hall, the statue of Thomas Aquinas stood still just like 40 years ago. A funny legend came down in connection with the statue, which is, who rubs its nose before leaving the school will be sure to pass the entrance examination. That's why its nose is blackish.

Commuting? Touring?

　　In Hokkaido, I used my navigation device, ZUMO550, every day and now even in my hometown I have begun to set my ZUMO550 on my scooter every day. It might become my routine work before riding. Today, I attached the ZUMO550 to my scooter as usual before commuting. Seeing that, my wife wondered if I needed the device for commuting. She must have thought that I would never lose my way on the way to my office. Naturally, I remember the commuting route.
　　I do it just for fun. Putting my ZUMO550 on the meter panel of my scooter makes me high, just like before long riding in an unknown area. My commute route is listed as one of the advisable routes for riding on almost all of the roadmaps. The commuting time is 50 minutes or so and I can run through without any rest, but I always take a rest and drink a canned coffee. I'll show you pictures of my scooter at my favorite place below.