Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Rainy Season

     My hometown, Matsuyama City is just in the midst of the rainy season. It hasn't rained so much, but it's terribly humid and muggy these days. I don't hate rain. Rain sometimes soothes me. When it rains and I'm off, I often spend time under the veranda with my dog over a cup of tea or reading some magazines. Leaves and trees in my garden look vivid in the rain. However, it's getting hot day by day recently and I hate humidity. Fortunately my job is in doors. I feel sorry for the people who work outside in this season.
     I chose a picture from my album as the wall paper of my PC today for a change. It was taken in Northern Honshu, Aomori Prefecture, about 5 years ago. I wanted to show you where it was taken and posted it on Google Earth. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/22650861

(Vocabulary)
in the midst of sth  ～の最中で, 真っただ中で
for a change  気分転換に、息抜きに

(KW:尻屋崎)

Travel Guide Books

     I made up my mind to visit a German small city of Freiburg this fall. I got the permission of my boss and bought some books about Europe today. I'll show you the books below; it says on each cover, Switzerland, France and Germany in Japanese. Freiburg lies near the border to Switzerland and France. I'm going to pass over the border and step into Basel and Strasbourg. Basel seems to be in the German-speaking sphere and my second daughter is helpful because she can speak German. I'd like to take my eldest daughter too, but her schedule is uncertain now. If she could come with us, she is also helpful because she's a good French speaker. Anyway, I'm thinking that I should study the modern history of those countries and it will make our trip more enjoyable.

(Vocabulary)
in the German-speaking sphere  　ドイツ語圏で
sphere   (個人・集団・国などの力の及ぶ) 範囲

(KW: フライブルグ バーゼル ストラスブール アルザス地方 )

Shimanami Kaido, Continuous Bridges Between Shikoku and Honshu

     I'll show you a beautiful picture in this entry that was shot last Sunday. It was overcast and about to start raining, but you can see a part of the bridges. The narrow channel in the picture is called Kurushima Kaikyo, and is famous for one of the hardest channels to pass through. I want lots of people to see this scenery and will attach it on the Google Earth later and you can figure out where it is located. Roughly speaking, Japan consists of four islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. A battery of bridges connect Shikoku and Honshu from island to island. This picture was taken from a viewpoint of Shikoku.
     Shikoku and Honshu are bridged in three routes. One of them is here. The large-scale one has two layer structure and is 200km east from here. Cars and trains, including Shinkansen super express could pass on the bridge. If you have a chance to see it closely, you would be astonished by its magnificence.

(KW: しまなみ海道　来島海峡　瀬戸大橋　四国　本州)

Mari Tanigawa Marathon Relay Race (Ekiden)

     Do you know Ekiden? It's one of the sports that originated from Japan. At first let me explain the word "Ekiden". "Eki" means "station" in English and "den" is "inform". Long ago, when you had to send some information to places far away, the letters and parcels were sent to the next stopping point one after another by horses. That is to say, a long distance was divided into small parts and stuff was transported section by section. The name of "Ekiden" was born from this system of transportation.
     Now, today, my daughter sent me a picture with a certificate that showed the record of her group. I'll show you below. It seemed like she joined the ekiden with her friends. It looked like a charity race. One of the famous marathon runners, Mari Tanigawa ran 20km by herself and other people competed with her by making up a team that consisted of four people. My daughter sounded like she enjoyed the race. The number of the participants seemed to be more than 1000 teams, I mean, more than 4000 people. Wonderful!

 

Granddaughter

     My daughters, who are the granddaughters of my parents, look adorable to their grandparents, though my daughters have already grown up. As soon as they heard their first granddaughter, Eri, was coming back home, they prepared for a party to welcome her. They invited some relatives and hosted the party. It was fun grabbing a beer with them.

Shampoo

     Today was a really warm day, and A started shampooing Mocha, which is the name of my dog. A is a typical animal lover. It looks like Mocha knows it and he stays still in front of her, whereas he doesn't like an electric dryer and I always have the role of dryer. I have to undertake the work that is hated by Mocha all the time.

Annual Event

     I was busy with the maintenance of my cars this afternoon. I own two different types of car now. One is a Honda Elysion, which is luxurious and a four-wheel drive. It is equipped with an excellent navigation computer which can receive e-mails, a 6.1ch movie theater system which also can receive TV and a 100V electricity supply which makes it possible to use home electrical appliances. You can enjoy TV games in the car. Besides, this car can accommodate eight people, so it means that this car is particularly good for a long family drive. All my family members like skiing and the original house of my wife is located in a heavy snowfall area. The four-wheel drive is also suitable for my family in this instant. I fix winter tires at the end of the fall every year and remove them at the beginning of the spring.
     At first, I took Elysion to a car-washing shop. I used to wash my car by myself before, but recently, I have been using professional people in order to cut back on my labor and save my time. Next, I went to a tire shop and exchanged the tires from winter tires to summer ones. Eventually, my second car, a Honda Z, which is 660cc, needed an exchange of tires to new ones after three years of usage and I did it.

(Vocabulary)
home electric appliances  家庭電気製品
in this respect / in some respects / in every respect  この点［いくつかの点，あらゆる点］で
"In this instant" means "in this case," which is similar to but not quite the same as "in this respect."
eventually  結局は, 最後には
winter tire  スタッドレスタイヤ〔英米ではstudless tireという言い方はしない。〕

No Dogs

     Japan is one of the developed countries, but it's not always true. The biggest municipal park, Matsuyama Comprehensive Park, is near my house. It's very popular for every age. Aged people, including my parents, enjoy walking in the early morning. There are many outdoor play equipments for kids. It is also suitable for hiking. However, walking dogs is prohibited. I imagine it's because of bad manners of dog keepers. The picture shows the sign saying "Don't let the dogs in!". I like walking with my dog and want the city to lift this rule, but now it hasn't come true. Other developed countries' people wouldn't believe it. Japan is under-developing at least in this field.

(Vocabulary)
outdoor play equipment   屋外遊具

(KW: 松山市　総合公園)

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

Reception Party for German Guests

     I was invited to the welcome party for the guests from the small German city of Freiburg. This city is a sister city of Matsuyama City, in which I live now. The leader of visitors will be the mayor of Freiburg City. I made haste to the nearest bookstore to get a textbook of German conversation. It is just thin veneer. (grin)
     I'm planning to visit Germany this summer with my second daughter, who can speak a little German. I'm wondering if there are some travel agents or someone in the travel industry in the group. If I knew those people, it would be helpful for our trip. I'd rather stay at a B&B, a kind of dormitory, youth hostel, or something like these than a luxurious hotel. I heard that the system of youth hostel originated from Germany in the early 20th century. What would the original youth hostel be like? I'm very interested.

(Vocabulary)
make haste to // rush at // scramble to   慌てて～する
thin veneer   付け焼き刃

 

I Made It

     I've been struggling to get the big motorcycles license for these past three months. As I wrote about this topic before, this license isn't easy to get, but I got it today. I'm so happy. My youngest brother has already gotten it and has a super big motorcycle that is shown in the picture. The displacement of the motorcycle is 1200cc, the engine of which must be unbelievably strong. I'm going to rent it from him from time to time, and buy my own in the near future.

For reference:
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/11/driving-school.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/12/the-first-lesso.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/01/driving-school.html

Table Manners

     My wife found a newspaper ad about the table manner class today. Our second daughter, Yuri, is at home for her spring vacation now and we decided to apply for it. Yuri has attended such a class from her high school before, but our youngest daughter, Ann, has never experienced this kind of lecture.
     Our formal lunch started with a potage soup, followed by an appetizer, two main dishes, one of which was meat and the other was fish, and some more. While tasting dishes, the chief chef came out of the kitchen and gave us a lecture for about 20 minutes. His lecture was really nice and useful. My wife and I think that our daughters must acquire formal ways of eating, wearing kimono, tea ceremony and similar things as an adult. We are going to make them try something difficult to eat, such as fish with bones, oysters with shell, lobsters, and so on next time.

Last Note of this Trip

     We enjoyed this trip to our hearts' content. I was glad to spend a few days with my daughter. The plane for Matsuyama was being prepared for take-off in the first picture. The second picture was of the meal in the plane. It was not good, but it's ok because I had many good memories of this trip. Through this trip, I began to feel friendly for South Korea. I will visit the country again and again. Next time,,,, I would maybe choose Jeju Island.
     By the way, look at the third picture. It was of the display in the cabin. Dokdo was displayed on it. I couldn't help laughing at it. As I wrote about this small island or rocks several times before, I won't repeat it here. However, it will take more and more time for Korean to grow up. If you want to read it, click the archives for "Korea" and search "takeshima". You'll find nine entries about that.
     When I switched on my cellular phone in Matsuyama Airport, I received an e-mail from my daughter with the last picture attached. I bought her an iPOD in a duty free shop in Incheon Airport. She told me that the manual for it was written in Korean. It was a nice punch line at the end of the trip.

Wandering in Incheon Airport

     I had to kill time in Incheon Airport. I thought about how to do it. Going out of the airport flitted througn my mind, but I was afraid I could lose my way back and I gave that up. I took a walk in the airport.

     I heard a tuneful melody of traditional Korean instruments. It was the booth for experiencing Korean culture. Some people were trying to make some crafts or use writing brushes. However, it was not unfamiliar to me. I enjoyed just the tune of the instruments.

     I saw the sign on the gate saying "TASHKENT". This city isn't so well-known in Japan. I realized that this airport was specifically an international hub airport. At the same time, I remembered the miserable history of some Korean people. Stalin adopted the migration policy of Korean people and many Koreans were forced to move into Central Asia about 70 years ago. Many descendants must have lived in Tashkent. Stalin did lots of horrible things against surrounding countries, but the present Russian Government hasn't apologized about them. What a lack of morals!

     This is the information board for international departures. Every time I see it, I feel my heart beating loudly. There are many places in the world and I hope that I can visit as many places as possible. I'm just thinking about visiting Freiburg, the sister city of my home town, this summer. It is only a plan now, but I'd like to make it come true.

     I tried some Korean traditional clothes on. These clothes sounded like they were for the nobles. There were many beautiful clothes for ladies here, and I regretted that my daughter had already left.

     This picture was of my lunch, ramen. This ramen was so-so, but it was intersting that kimchi wasw added to all the food in South Korea.

     After getting tired from walking, I moved to my depature gate. At that time I found a wonderful network service. I'll show you two pictures about it. It was called Naver Square. Naver is a famous network service in South Korea and offers free access to the internet around here. I dropped in at the square with a canned coffee and took my PC out of my daypack and turned it on. My pc was easily connected to the internet. It was very useful. I read some news in Japan while I was in Seoul. I checked my e-mails and replied to some of them and started writing these trip notes.

(Vocabulary)
flit through someone's mind   考えなどがチラッと（人）の心をかすめる
writing brush   毛筆
international hub airport   国際ハブ空港

(KW: 仁川空港) 

Departure

     We got out of the hotel at about 7:00. My flight was at about 15:00 hours, but my daughter's was at about 11:00. We had to start for the aiport this early because Incheon Airport was 2 hours' drive from our hotel.
     After having arrived at the airport, I looked for the coffee shop for our breakfast. I'd like to have chosen a Korean style one, if I could. Finally, we found a rice cake shop. We had breakfast here. To my surprise, the shop was the same as the shop we had dropped in at in Insadon the day before. It seemed like they were chain stores. I took the second picture for my trip notes. The first picture shows the entrance of our hotel. When I arrived, it was dark and when I went out, I walked out of the basement and so it was the first time I had seen the main entrance of the hotel. The last picture shows our breakfast on our last morning in South Korea. These rice cakes would hit the spot. Traditional Korean tea and these rice cakes were the best match.
     After breakfast, I sent my daughter off to the departure gate. She left for Tokyo alone.
I used Incheon Airport this time for the first time. I had four more hours until my flight and enjoyed sightseeing in the airport, though I knew the airport was huge.

Dinner & Casino

     We decided to have dinner at our hotel on our last night in Seoul. I chose the traditional Korean style dishes as I'm showing below. As many high-class hotels are like this, however, the price of dinner was expensive, but not so delicious. I was disappointed. After the dinner, we tried the black jack at Seven Luck Casino in the hotel. It was our first time, but we enjoyed it. We lost about 3000 yen for one hour, but it was fun.

How Can She?

     Look at the picture. Eri was posing in it, thinking about how to pack her suitcase. This suitcase was bought in Seoul to bring souvenirs back to Japan. She didn't have any big suitcase and was going to get one in Seoul. Shopping in Seoul has an advantage over Japan now. It was a good idea. Her new suitcase was very nice and was a reasonable price. However, it was just smaller than her souvenirs. The big bag before her was dried laver seaweed. It was extremely light, but took a lot of space. It was fun seeing her consider how to do it.

(Vocabulary)
dried laver seaweed   海苔
take a lot of space   かさばる

 

Namdaemun Market (南大門市場 남대문시장)

     We visited Namdaemun Market, next. I'd never seen a place like there. It was so crowded, chaotic and muggy. There was everything there. I don't have suitable words for describing the area now. Just imagine what I want to write. While we were walking in the market, we were frequently spoken to like this, "We have perfect fake stuff. Come into the shop!" We didn't accept their offer, it must have been an illegal business, but we enjoyed seeing various shops. I'll show three pictures here.
     The first picture shows a stall on the street. I really love these kinds of stalls. I wanted to get something and have a canned beer with them, but remembering the words of our guide, I barely held back to stretch my arm. Eri was attracted by the stall in the second picture and bought something. She is twenty something, but looked like a little kid before this stall. We strayed into a sea food area. The last picture shows the exit of the market. This market wasn't connected to any seaport, but the fish looked fresh. The kinds of fish were just the same as Japan. However, thinking of the pollution of the yellow sea, off the coast of China and South Korea, I didn't feel like eating them. Actually, we didn't eat shore fish during our stay.

(Vocabulary)
chaotic  混沌とした
muggy  蒸し蒸しする
shore fish  近海魚

 

Gyeongbokgung (경복궁 景福宮)

     On the second day in South Korea, we joined another bus tour group that went around Seoul City. The bus was going to drop in at several famous sightseeing spots. At first, we were showed Gyeongbokgung (경복궁 景福宮), which used to be the royal palace of Korea and is now under reconstruction. It was burned out by the big fire in 1553 and damaged by the Japanese soldiers in the late sixteenth century. Under the rule of Japan, the post of Governors-General of Korea had been located here. The guide didn't explain this point clearly, but these buildings were built in recent years. The Koreas had been dependent on the countries that had existed on the Chinese Continental until 1895. The subjected people couldn't preserve their original and traditional heritage. It was very sorry. Anyway, I'll save the story for another day.
     The first picture shows the construction of Gwanghwamun (광화문 光化門), the main entrance of Gyeongbokgung. It was regrettable that I couldn't see it. In the second picture, we are standing on the yard in front of the main building. I got explanations about this former palace from our guide and I sometimes felt doubtful, but I let it go. That's another story for another day. The last picture is of the main entrance of the National People's Museum of South Korea. (国立民族博物館 국립민속박물관) This museum originates from the Korean Crafts Museum built by Japanese craftsmen in 1924, but that fact was being concealed.

(Vocabulary)
The post of Governors-General of Korea  朝鮮総督府
save the argument for another day   その議論は他日に譲る
That's another story [tale] for another day.  その話は別の機会に譲る。
〔【用法】横道にそれかけた話を打ち切って。〕

Samgyetang 삼계탕

     We chose Samgyetang (蔘鷄湯 삼계탕) as our dinner at the end of the day. The restaurant was located in Myongdong and specialized in serving Samgyetang. I had a reason to select the dish. I'd had it in Japan and wanted to confirm in Seoul whether it had been a real traditional one or not. I'd written about a Korean restaurant in my city. http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/06/korean-eating-h.html The result was, it was just like the dish that we had in Japan. I ate a silky fowl and Eri ate a plain old fowl. It was nice but inexpensive, I thought. When I talked about it to a friend who knows more about South Korea, however, he told me that it was the tourist price and it was usually lower in price. I was surprised to hear it and felt the influence of strong yen and weak won.
     The third picture is of Eri and the signboard of the restaurant. I took it for a memo of the restaurant's name. I was full with this dish, but Eri didn't seem satisfied enough and she bought a cake on the way to our hotel. Incredible! It might be, I thought, because of her youth. It was just a few days before White Day. I thought that White Day was the original event of Japan, but it was the same in South Korea. Eri looked like she was being pulled by the sign saying "White Day".

(Vocabulary)
at the end of the day  結局は､最終的には
silky fowl   烏骨鶏