Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Joyful and Sad Gifts

     At first, look at the picture. These are all gifts for me from my teacher. I got two more pairs of skis, besides the gear in the picture, and a pair of skis are with the binding of BURT. All of the gear is wonderful. These boots are more expensive than mine, and they fit me just fine. It is the joyful side of the gifts, but the sad side is that he decided to give up skiing due to an eye problem. I wrote about him before:
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/04/mercedes-benz.html
     Everyone will be getting old, year by year, no matter how much they want to avoid it. I know it, but I feel sad.

　最初に、写真を見てください。これらは全て僕の先生から頂いたものです。この写真に写っている以外にもスキーを２本もらっています。ひとつにはバートのビンディングがセットされています。どれもこれも素晴らしいものばかりです。ブーツも高価なものばかりで僕の足にぴったりとフィットします。ここまでが嬉しい話です。悲しいのはこの先生がスキーをやめてしまったこと。目が悪くなったためで以前にもブログに書いたことがあります。その時の記事はこのＵＲＬです。　
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/04/mercedes-benz.html
誰もが皆歳を取ります。いくら避けようとしても仕方のないことです。そんなことぐらいわかってはいるのですが、やはり辛いです。

Aug. 15th (The Middle Day of The Bon Festival)

     The Bon Festival is definitely one of the important annual events for most Japanese. It's related to Buddhism. The souls of the dead are supposed to be back home during this festival. People build fires at the entrance of their houses as the landmark of their houses on the first day of the festival.
     When I was a child, I was taught that my ancestors would come back from the dead man's land, heading for this fire. And I remember that I was scared of that story. We would spend time with all the ancestors, and rebuild fires to light the return way for their souls on the last day of the festival.
     At the same time, many people who have been away from their original home move back to their original or parents' house during this season. How heavy the traffic jams are would often be the topics of the daily news. They have a good time in their hometowns. As for me too, I had very happy time with my cousins.
     Aug. 15th is the middle day of the festival season. This day is thus important and is deeply inscribed in Japanese people's mind.
     One more thing I have to tell you. This day has another significance and I'm going to write about this theme in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
in another article  稿を改めて
begin writing  稿を起こす
build a fire  火をおこす
inscribe in someone's mind clearly   （人）の記憶にはっきり残る
inscribe sth on/in sth   ～を～に記す(他動詞)

　お盆は多くの日本人にとって間違いなく重要な仏教に関連した年中行事の一つである。お盆の時期、死者の魂が自宅に戻ってくると考えられているのである。玄関で小さな火をおこし、死者が家に戻る際の目印とする。私が子供の頃、この日を目印に死者の国からご先祖が帰ってくると聞いて怖い思いをしたことを覚えている。お盆の時期、生者は死者とともに過ごし、最後の日に魂を安全に死者の国に送るべくその道を照らすために再びたき火をするのである。

　また、この時期には多くの人々が故郷へと移動する。いかにひどい交通渋滞が起こっているかというのがニュースになる。人々は故郷で楽しい時を過ごす。私にとってもいとこ達と過ごすとても楽しい時間だった。

　８月１５日はそのお盆の真ん中の日。この日はこのようなわけで大変重要なのであり、日本人の脳に深く刻まれている。

　そしてもうひとつお伝えしなければならないことがある。この日は別の意味でも大変に重要な意味を持っているのであるが、これについては稿を改めたい。

A Scene Of The Summer

     My hometown is on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. This sea is usually calm and beautiful. Today was really fine and I went out for a change on my scooter. The picture shows Futami Beach, one hour's ride from my house, which is famous for its beautiful sunsets.
     It was just starting to get crowded and I saw some families with little kids on the edge of the surf. The scene reminded me of my daughters' younger days. When my daughters were little kids, I sometimes went there and stayed almost half a day. It took a lot out of me, but it was fun.
     Some of, or all of my daughters, would leave home with their partners in at least 10 years. I'm thinking about family trips that all the family could enjoy. One would be in winter and the other in summer.

(Vocabulary)
on the edge of the surf     波打ち際に

　僕の街は瀬戸内海に面している。この海はいつも静かで美しい。今日は快晴だったので気分転換にスクーターで少し走ってみた。写真はうちから１時間ほど走ったところにある双海海岸で、夕日が美しいことで有名な場所だ。

　ちょうど海が混み始めた時間だった。何組かの家族が子供を連れて波打ち際にいる。この家族を見ていて娘達がまだ幼い頃を思い出した。娘達が小さい頃、よくこの海岸へ来て半日を過ごした。かなり疲れることだったが楽しかった。

　娘達の何人か、あるいは皆がそれぞれパートナーを見つけてこの１０年以内に家を出ることになるだろう。今、みんなで行ける家族旅行を考えている。冬に一度、夏に一度。

Two Days Off

     I got two days off this week. It was only two days, but I felt lucky to have them. I have been on the go these days. My work has been really hectic. Next Thursday and Friday will be holidays. Now I wonder what I'll do.
     Driving into the country, seeing what pops up around the next bend, is one of my hobbies though. Thinking of the high price of gasoline, it's not a good idea. How about caring for my garden? It's extraordinarily hot. Off the top of my head,,, nothing!
     I decided to play it by ear. If one of my family wanted to go out, it would be ok. A movie? it would be ok. Shopping? It would be ok. Anyway, I'm fixing to have no advanced schedule.

(Vocabulary)
play it by ear  臨機応変に行動する　楽譜なしで演奏する
be fixing to do sth　～するつもりだ。（話)
Off the top of my head,  とっさに思いつくのは

　今週、２日間の休みをもらった。たった二日ではあるが嬉しい。このところ忙しく過ごしていたから。今度の木曜と金曜が休みだが、何をして過ごそうか。

　田舎道を走るのも良いが、ガソリンの高値を考えるとあまり良い考えとも言えない。庭いじりでもするか？いや、それにはあまりにも暑すぎる。とりあえず、、、何も思いつかない。

　結局何も予定を立てないことにした。家族が何か言えばそれに従おう。

A Foreign Body On The Garage Roof

     An incident occurred in my house, involuntarily shouting "What?". I'm showing a picture of the roof of my garage. Something was on the roof! On closer sight it was a disposable lighter.
     Why? Someone had acted up? I couldn't find the exact answer, but it was possibly done by a bird. It was kind of fun, but it was so extremely hot that the lighter might have caught on fire. I decided to remove it immediately, but I didn't have a stepladder.
     When I was about to go out to buy one, my wife stopped me saying "You can use the broom and the rack for the plant pots and the planters. She didn't want to spend any money and I insisted that we absolutely needed a big stepladder.
     We had a small quarrel and finally my wife said, "I'll try" and she did it!

(Vocabulary)
on a closer view   もっとよく見ると
act up   子供などがいたずらをする　ふざける
catch (on) fire  火が付く　燃え出す
stepladder  脚立
broom  ほうき

She made it!

A New Acquaintance

     When I wrote about irori, the Japanese traditional hearth in the previous entry, I didn't have a picture of the irori and looked for it on the internet. Finally, I found one on the net. I liked it and I sent an e-mail to the owner of the website to ask permission to use his picture in my blog. Two days later the reply saying ok arrived.
     I was surprised to see his signature. He was Japanese, but his address was in Chilliwack BC in Canada. There are many countries on the earth. Nevertheless, there's a high possibility that my foreign acquaintances have something to do with Vancouver or BC in Canada. The person who advised me to write this blog for brushing up my English skills was a Japanese pilot who was living in Vancouver.
     It was in Victoria that Mr. Inazo Nitobe passed away, whose writings had inspired me to travel all over the world when I was a university student.
     I'm thinking about my next vacation plan in Canada. My wife and I are interested in a houseboat. I'd like to stay on a lake without doing anything special, just enjoying the time passing. The present first choice is Okanagan Lake, because it is narrow and long. If it was a round lake I wonder if I could easily lose the way.
     Anyway, my life is getting happier.

　前の記事で囲炉裏のことを書きました。その際に利用した写真をネットで探し、使用許可をもらったのですが、その人は日本人でカナダに住んでいるのです。それもバンクーバーから１時間半ほどの場所にある市です。世界には多くの国があるのにどういうわけか僕の知り合いはバンクーバーに関係のある人が多いのです。このブログを英語の勉強のために書いてみろと勧めてくれたのもバンクーバー在住の日本人パイロットでした。
　若い頃、その著書から多大な影響を受けた新渡戸稲造が客死したのもここBC州の州都ビクトリアです。
　今、次の休暇の計画を考えているところですが、妻も僕もハウスボートに興味があります。湖の上で何もせずに過ごしてみたいのです。今のところ第一候補はオカナガン湖です。細長い形なので丸い湖よりは迷子にならずにすむかなと考えています。この湖もバンクーバーのすぐそばにあるのです。
　ま、とにかく、我が人生、ますます面白くなってきました。

Material of My Chopsticks

     I'm writing about the material of my chopsticks that I got the other day and wrote about in the last entry.
     The material of my portable chopsticks is "susudake" in Japanese. I imagine that most subscribers don't know "susudake". Though I looked "susudake" up in my Japanese-English dictionary and on the internet, I couldn't find an exact translation in English. I'll explain "susudake" in the next paragraph.
     At first, take a look at the picture at the bottom. This is a Japanese traditional house topped by a thatched roof. In this type of house, there is an "irori", the traditional hearth, usually in the biggest room. I'm also showing the irori below.
     Irori is the sunken space for the fire and is designed to be in the center of the room. This space is used for cooking and heating the house. Pots and kettles are hung by the pot hook, or jizaikagi, over the irori. These hooks are generally hollow bamboo tubes with an iron rod penetrating the middle. The attached lever, which is often shaped like a fish, allows the pot or kettle to be raised or lowered. Bamboo is also used for the ceiling of the irori room. These hollow bamboos are called "susudake," which means bamboo with grime. It takes 100-150 years for susudake to be made and it can be produced only when the old houses are torn down. This material is very valuable. That's the reason for the high price. My chopsticks are handy and worth the price.

(Vocabulary)
an exact translation      ぴったりの訳語
handy 使い勝手がよい
tear down   引き下ろす、引きはがす  〔建物などを〕壊す、取り壊す、解体する
sunken  （名詞の前でのみ）　周囲より一段低くなった

　今回は、前回書いたマイ箸の材料について書こうと思います。

　材料はすす竹です。多くの読者はどのようなものかわからないと思います。辞書やネットで調べても適訳がわからなかったのでこれから説明します。

　最初に下の写真を見てください。日本の伝統的な藁葺きの家を示しています。この中に囲炉裏と呼ばれる煮炊きの場所があります。写真も添えます。

　囲炉裏は部屋の中央に配置された一段下がった場所にあります。煮炊きに使われたり、暖房に使われたりします。鍋ややかんをつり下げて使います。このつり下げるためのフックや天井に使われている竹をすす竹と呼びます。すすのこびりついた竹という意味です。この竹ができるまで１００年から１５０年ほどかかるといわれており、古い建物を解体したときに得られる材料なので高いのです。

　で、箸の使い勝手ですが、とても良いです。

(KW: すす竹)

Portable Chopsticks

     It might be seen as curious for western people, but many Japanese use their own chopsticks at home. On the other hand, they use disposable ones outside like in restaurants and on hiking trips.
     Disposable chopsticks are made of thinned wood, which was cut down to manage the forest. Tree thinning is necessary to keep the forest healthy. Thinned wood is a kind of waste material and I thought it was not bad for greenhouse gas emission because the wood was grown by absorbing CO2 gas. Throwing away the disposable chopsticks only means expiring CO2 gas that was absorbed during growth.
     However, thinned wood is extremely versatile and it's a waste to use it as chopsticks. Additionally, Chinese-made chopsticks have the concern that some poisonous chemicals might have been used in the process of bleaching, coloring and sterilization. I decided to stop using disposable chopsticks and carry my own chopsticks. It is one of my small actions against global warming.
     That said, I didn't have to get chopsticks urgently, so I have dropped in at chopstick shops sometimes over these three months. Then, today, I found nice chopsticks in a special fair in a department store. A famous craftsman, who came from Kyoto, a noted historic city, was advertising and selling his products.
     I listened to his lesson about chopsticks and realized how little knowledge I had about chopsticks that I had used almost every day since I was in short pants. During his lesson, I tried to pick some food up with various chopsticks. A small piece of konjac (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac), Udon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udon), a julienne carrot, a small fishbone, , , these were hard to pick up with ordinary chopsticks. The craftsman said, "If you carry your own chopsticks all the time, the chopsticks must be multipurpose. If you use disposable ones when you eat Udon at a restaurant, it would be nonsense to take along your own chopsticks." For subscribers who have not eaten Udon with chopsticks, disposable ones are more useful to pick up and cut the noodle rather than ordinary lacquered chopsticks. The craftsman wanted to emphasize that I shouldn't use disposable ones even when I eat Udon. Finally I bought one of his suggestions that cost 12000 yen, about 120 U.S.$.!
     Can you believe the price? I'm explaining the material of the chopsticks in the next entry. 

（Vocabulary)
disposable chopsticks   割りばし
That's a waste.   もったいないよ
lumber from thinning // thinned wood  間伐材
utilize waste materials   廃物利用をする
thinning // tree thinning  間伐
thin the forests  間伐する
That said, とはいえ
julienne （野菜などが）千切りの
lacquered chopsticks  塗りばし

　外国人には奇異に思えるかもしれないが、日本人は普通家庭では個人専用の箸を使う。しかし、外食や行楽時には割り箸を使う。

　割り箸は間伐材から作られていて、もともと不要な材木から作られている。またこれらの材木は二酸化炭素を吸って成長しているからこれらを燃やして出る二酸化炭素は温暖化の原因にはならないと考えていた。しかし、間伐材は箸の他にもいろいろな用途があり、使い捨ての箸として使うのはもったいない。温暖化防止のために小さな努力をしたい、間伐材がもったいないということでマイ箸を持ち歩くことにした。

　とは言っても、急ぐ話ではないし、この３ヶ月ほど閑なときには箸を売っている店に寄ってみていた。そして今日、素晴らしい箸を見つけた。職人が自分の作品を展示、説明していたのでその説明を聴いた。いろいろな食材も置いていたのでそれらをつまんでみた。驚いたことに箸によってつまみやすさが異なり、安い箸だとつまみ上げることが出来ない場合さえあった。また普通の塗り箸で掴めないようなものでも掴める箸が存在した。そしてその素晴らしい箸の価格は１２６００円。

　この価格を信じられるだろうか？次の記事でその材料について書くことにする。

A Picture from Yuri

     Yuri is my second daughter and 20 years old. She is a college student in Nagoya city, one of the biggest cities in Japan. She is learning German culture.
     A picture arrived today from her. A cell phone with a digital camera is really useful. Yuri is a girl with a green skirt at the furthest right in the picture. She was visiting a folk museum with her classmates. I was relieved to see her smile.

(Vocabulary)
folk museum   民族博物館

　yuriは次女の名前で、２０才。名古屋でドイツ文学を勉強しています。今日、写メが届きました。犬山市にあるリトルワールド(野外民族博物館)でドイツの民族衣装を着ています。一番右にいるのがそうで、元気そうなのでホッとしました。

 

School Trip

     A will leave for Hokkaido for the school trip next week. I hope she will have a good memory of it with her friends, but I have a concern. As you know, the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit will be held in Hokkaido at the same time. The Japanese Government will have elaborate plans against terrorist plots, but I'm afraid A could be involved in the terror. A group of parents were insisting that the trip be put-off for security reasons and to avoid the packed airport and jammed traffic. Their opinion is acceptable, at least for me. However, that wasn't the case in the eyes of A. She said they should visit there just now, because it is a rare chance to see what the summit meeting is like.
     Her way of thinking is just like me. Opportunities are not always in our reach. Her life will be active and aggressive in a good way.

Eri and Yuri

     The largest cell phone company in Japan started a free call service among family members. I registered the cell phones of all my family members as soon as I heard about the service. However, my daughters hardly ever call me. They say, "No news is good news," but...

(Vocabulary)
The kids hardly ever/ almost never call me.  子供達は滅多に電話をかけてこない
rarely, seldomの代わりに会話ではこのように使う

 

DVD Recorder Breakdown

     The DVD recorder is a must to me. When I want to see some TV programs outside my house, I have only to send an e-mail. The information about programs that I want to see is written in the e-mail in a designated formula. The DVD recorder will record the programs following the indication in the e-mail. This system is very convenient. I can register the program on the DVD recorder no matter when and where I want to go out.
     This DVD recorder got out of order today. I was going to take it to the repair shop, but it was connected with several electronics.
     I'm handy with a PC, so my friends think that I'm handy with video and audio, but that's not true. I was afraid of not being able to connect those cords as they used to be. Connecting a DVD recorder with several machines like a display, a projector, an amplifier, a video recorder,,,. This procedure would take a lot out of me.
     At that time, a good idea came to me. I have a digital camera. I took some pictures every time I pulled a cord out. It was visual notes. The connection will be successful if I just follow the pictures in reverse order.

(Vocabulary)
a must  必要なもの, ぜひすべきこと
electronics  《複数扱い》 (集合的に) 電子機器
take a lot out of somebody (take it out of somebody とも)
 ＜人＞をくたくたに疲れさせる

 

Coffee Maker

     I found an article in the local newspaper that introduced the most up-to-date and popular electric coffee makers. As I grew eager to look at it with my own eyes, I dropped in at the nearest electrical appliance shop.
     I've used a few coffee makers before and I have one now. I like coffee made from beans rather than instant coffee. I'd like to always have the former, but it takes more time to make coffee from beans. That's why I don't have a coffee maker in my office. Naturally I know almost all coffee makers can keep coffee hot for a long time and if I make enough coffee for a whole day in the morning, I can sip it whenever I like. However the coffee will boil down and if I was called for something urgent and forgot to turn it off, the coffee server would be burnt dry. I haven't used an electric coffee maker in my office on this account.
     The coffee maker that I saw in the paper didn't have a heater for the coffee, but the freshly-extracted coffee is gathered into a thermos bottle. The coffee server has the structure of a thermos bottle. After the extraction is finished, the coffee maker will be turned off automatically and the coffee will be kept hot for a few hours without any electricity. I bought it and am showing it below.

(Vocabulary)
electrical appliance 電気器具
on this account  このようなわけで
thermos bottle  魔法瓶

 

My Garden Won The Award

     I had my house built 5 years ago. I asked one of the biggest housing companies, Sekisui House, to draw the design. All my family had discussions with the designer again and again. Finally it took three months to draw the blueprint.
     This entry's topic is my garden. I want to have many friends come to my house and have parties. My family are real party animals. Additionally I wanted to make a space for my dog to run.
     The designer's advice was....
     If you want to make the dog run, you never place stones as in a typical Japanese garden and you have to give up raising flowers. Big stones might hurt the dog and the flowers would be ruined by the dog. If you want to enjoy a barbecue, you have to think about an outside sink where you can get a water supply and where you can wash the barbecue utensils after the party. After such discussions, my garden was made up.
     By the way, Sekisui House holds the annual design contest in the company to have designers motivated and develop their capabilities. The design of my garden won the first prize five years ago. When I cleaned my room today, I found the CD that the designer sent to me but I didn't watch it at that time. I placedthe pictures in the left column in this blog so take a look!

(Vocabulary)
blueprint  (設計図の) 青写真

(KW:セキスイハウス)

African Fiesta 2008 In Yokohama

     I got an e-mail from my eldest daughter, Eri, a university student who lives in Tokyo. The following picture was attached to her mail.
     African Fiesta 2008, sponsored by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, was held in Yokohama City and Eri visited for fun.
     Her mail says.....
     She happened to see the booth of Senegal and tried to dance the newest style of sabre dance from Senegal in front of the booth to their ethnic music. The Senegalese in the booth were so astonished to see her dance, because her dance steps were the most recent ones. "How do you know this dance?" She was asked. She took some pictures of her and them and sent me one of them. She sounds like she enjoyed African culture and food and chatting in French.

     By the way, I don't know how she knew the dance, but she had practised jazz dance for more than 10 years since she was in short pants. She was so talented that was selected at the age of 12 as a member of the dance team dispatched by my city to Sacramento in California, USA. Sacramento is the sister city of my city and both cities have been mutually exchanging cultural envoys every two years.
     I guess when she was watching the performances on the stage for the first time, she might have picked up their steps. She likes dancing and I'm showing an old picture in which Eri and Yuri, the second daughter, were dancing at a campground in Canmore, near Banff in Alberta in 1995.

(Vocabulary)
in short pants: 幼少で
I've known Mike since he was in short pants.　子供のころから、マイクを知っている

(KW: サクラメント セネガル ダンス)

The Cherry Blossoms

     My sleep was disturbed by the wail of a siren this morning. I was on the night shift last night. I concluded the handover with a co-worker and left my hospital. The sky was clear and the cherry trees were in full bloom. In Japan, people customarily have a party underneath the cherry trees. This party is called Hanami.
     The biggest municipal park in my city is near my house and it's about five minutes' walk from my house. It is one of the best places for Hanami. This park is always crowed on holidays, but the parking lot is closed at five o'clock in the afternoon and so the park gets less crowded after five. A, my wife and I went to the park about five o'clock and I'll show you some pictures in the left column. The cherry blossom season will end in about ten days. That's why we Japanese value the cherry blossoms, I think.

(Vocabulary)
wail of siren サイレンが鳴り響く音
conclude the handover  引き継ぎを終える
customarily 通例, 通常
value …を重んじる，（高く）評価する
I value her opinion. 彼女の意見を尊重します．
He is valued highly by his colleagues. 彼は同僚に高く評価されている．
value sb/sth for sth ＜…＞を＜…＞の点で重んじる

（ＫＷ： 松山市総合公園)

Navigation System

     When I took the flight between Canada and Japan last time, the personal-use screen wasn't set. Even if I wanted to watch movies, I couldn't choose my favorite title. I had to watch the one that was shown on the screen for all the passengers. However I could choose movies out of more than 20 titles this time. I could enjoy four movies. One of them was "August Rush". My friend's kids were enjoying TV games all the time. We left Vancouver at 11 o'clock and they didn't get sleepy. I don't know if that was good or bad, but anyway I didn't feel bored.
     This screen could show where we were, how fast or high we were flying and how cold the outside was at any time. I'm showing the navigation screen.

(Vocabulary)
change-of-day line / date line  日付変更線

Return Flight

     I don't know why, but every time I left Vancouver, the sky was always clear and sunny. I wished I could stay there a few more days.
     I looked for some magazines about skiing and motorcycles for my friends in the airport. A was trying to talk in English in several shops. On this trip, seeing A, I realized that her will was strong and the will was as good as the deed. She'd like to study abroad after getting her veterinarian's license in Japan.
     This is the dinner on the 29th.

(Vocabulary)
deed [C,U](文) 行為, 行動, 行い
The will is as good as the deed. 意志の力は行動と同じぐらい大切です。

A Dropout Dog

     This dog is always sitting near the concierge. It was being trained at a guide dog school, but it dropped out of the school for some reasons. It was so adorable that many tourists wanted to touch it. A is crazy about animals and was so happy to be with it.
     She wondered about its sex. I made her ask someone. I was interested in what words she would use. Did she know the words, male, female, or something like those. Annlie just said, "She or he?" pointing to the dog. Great! A simple question which was enough. These experiences would make her confident.

A Signboard

     It's a nondescriptive signboard that shows the street is closed due to the construction of the Canada Line. I found this sign just when I was looking for what indicates the date or the year. It shows that today is between April 2006 and April 2009. When A or A's kids take a look at these pictures long afterwards, I mean after my death, they will know that it was just before the Vancouver Olympics in the early 21st century.
     At the hotel, I saw several pictures on the wall of the lobby. They were taken in the 19th and early 20th centuries, that was to say, the history of the hotel. Seeing them, I thought I needed some pictures telling the year. That's why I took this nondescript picture.

(Vocabulary)
nondescript  ごくありふれた
nondescriptive  非記述的な、何の変哲もない、ごくありきたりの