Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Eruption Noodle

     This Toyako Spa Area was devastated hopelessly by the eruption of Mt.Usu in 2000. People who live around are struggling to get over the difficulties. I found commercially-minded food there. See the 1st photo. What was written on the advertising display in front of the Chinese noodle shop is "Eruption noodles" if translated into English. What kind of noodle is it?! I dropped in at the shop on the impulse of curiosity. The 2nd photo shows the eruption noodle. It was extremely hot. The naming of this chinese noodle seems to be from the hotness and redness of the eruption. It was unbelievably hot and good. After that I got the breakfast of tomorrow morning in a convenience store and went back to my lodge. I enjoyed the hot spa.
     I wondered what is the happiest reason to be born in Japan?  Natural hot springs are absolutely one of them. What else? Raw fish which we call "sashimi", Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice, and we can select any kind of motorbike with the best technology in the world. You know, the world championship is centered on 4 big companies; HONDA, KAWASAKI, SUZUKI, and YAMAHA. All of them are Japanese companies. These happiest things I now have!

(Vocabulary)
be centered in/at sth  〈活動などが〉 集中している  ＜場所＞に集中している, を中心に行われる
Most of the fighting is centered in the southeast of the country.
戦闘のほとんどが国の南東部に集中している

(KW: 洞爺湖 噴火ラーメン)

Scallop

     My bike friend and the friend in Aomori city had a big party in an inn last night. We had a great time there. One is a PC specialist and the other is a journalist. Everything I heard from them was new to me, and I got a lot of information. We enjoyed talking and having a lot of local sake and cuisine, and the next thing I knew, it was about 1 o'clock after midnight. Time passed as quick as lightning. Next morning, we started for Mutsu city. We dropped in at a tiny, crummy eating house along the roadside on the way to Mutsu city. The photo shows Chinese-style noodles served in a hot soup, which I ordered there. We call this kind of noodles "ramen".
     To my surprise, there were 3! scallops in the ramen. I realized that Aomori Prefecture is the home of the scallop.

(Vocabulary)
scallop  帆立貝
crummy (インフォーマル) 安っぽい, くだらない, 不快な
home of  発祥地　生息地　本場

Yumeji

     Good sake and tasty appetizers ... this is heaven.
     I was called for dinner by my co-workers from the previous hospital where I worked.  Because I drank too much 2 days ago, I'd like to have said no!  However, I couldn't refuse their call.  I might be a born alcohol drinker.  The name of the Japanese style pub is "Yumeji".
     Mr. Yumeji Takehisa is a painter from the Taisho Era and famous for paintings of beautiful ladies.  Yumeji-related goods and paintings were exhibited on the wall of the pub and the pub's atmosphere was different from that of an ordinary pub.  I liked it.  The food was good. Next time I visit, I'll be sure to take a snapshot inside the pub and show you.

Viola

     A new Italian restaurant opened near my hospital recently.  Viola is the name of the restaurant. Every time I pass by the restaurant, I have been seized with an impulse to visit the restaurant.  I finally got a chance to go out for dinner there today.  I'm a member of an English speaking club of working people.  I went out with them.
     Speaking of Italian food, I knew only of spaghetti. At the restaurant many kinds of Italian food were served to us.  I was surprised about the variety and enjoyed the tastes.  I drank a little too much wine.

Instant Food

     My eldest daughter is 19 and lives away from home because she is attending a university in Tokyo. I have to send money in order to provide her with her university and daily expenses. I heard that average American students are working to get money for their university fees. Is that right?
     My hospital is located in the heart of the city and several banks and a big post office are in the neighborhood. You know, it is a very convenient site. It's the reason why I have to send money instead of my wife. I have a break during lunchtime and go out of the hospital. I usually drop in at a convenient store to get some snacks and cakes on the way. I got a pot noodle (as the photo shows below) today for a midnight snack because I have to stay at my hospital overnight. By the way, what do you call this noodle in English? If you pour the boiling water into the container, you have delicious pan-fried noodles in only 3 minutes. Please teach by e-mail.

(KW: カップラーメン　カップ焼きそば)

3rd Ski Day

     The weather was a blizzard on top of Blackcomb. I couldn't see the surface of the snow. I had to ski down looking at my feet. I felt a little scary. I went back sheepishly to my condo about noon. One of my buddies is a great breadmaker. My daughters are learning how to make bagels from him. I enjoyed taking a walk around the village or in the forest with snowshoes. At night I saw my daughters washing with an electric washing machine. I wondered why it was so noisy.

I'm so tired!

She is making bread.

Sushi Bar

     Just after getting on the bus, I fell deeply asleep like in a coma. I found myself at Creekside just before getting to Whistler. I'd like to have enjoyed seeing out of the window, but I couldn't. I knew that I was seriously suffering from jet lag. Anyway I could see my ski buddies and my daughters. Tonight's dinner was sushi. Sushi is very popular for Japanese but Canadian sushi is good too. Vancouver is famous for good sea food.  Can you imagine what's a caterpillar roll or spider roll? Of course both were so delicious. This time, I made a big mistake. I left my dictionary in Japan. I'm going to correct this blog after returning to Japan.

     The photo shows caterpillar rolls.

 

Bowling Meeting

     My hospital is a member of the Matsuyama city Medical Association(MMA). Today the annual bowling meeting, hosted by the MMA, was held. Of course I attended. After the bowling, my boss treated all of us to a barbecue. It was a fantastic time. I got the 2nd prize (55th in all hospitals) in my hospital. I think it was pure luck. I'm afraid I could be in bed for lumber pain or shoulder pain tomorrow morning. I tried to shoot a group photo just after the barbecue but I found the battery of my camera was dead. I won a prize as below.

Valentine's Day

     I know there are many ways to celebrate Valentine's Day in the world. In Japan women usually give chocolates to the men they like. However, in many offices, female staff members sometimes give obligatory chocolates to their male co-workers. It has been a custom in Japanese offices. My hospital is like that. I received some chocolates out of a sense of social obligation.  I wonder what should I do in return?

(Vocabulary)
obligatory chocolates  義理チョコ

English speaking party

     Every Thursday night I attend the English speaking club. Last night a party was held for a newly married member. The city has many spots in the downtown and also in the Dogo Spa area and in other places. We went to a western style restaurant in the Okaido area.

Soba Party

     The O.P.D. of my hospital was closed Dec. 29th at noon. The work this year was done. At lunch time all the members of my hospital got together at the cafeteria and held a Soba party. Soba is kind of a noodle made from wheat flour. Soba was used to collect gold flour in making gildings. When you make gildings, gold pigment would be scattered on your work table. Soba was used to stick and collect gold flour. We began to think that soba could collect gold and make us rich. In Japan there is a custom of eating soba at the end of the year hoping that the coming year would be a lucky year.

Friday!

     It's Friday, late afternoon. My business will be almost done. I feel like hitting the town to get a drink. When I am thinking of that, one of my buddies calls me. Let's go out!
     Steak? Fish? or, "Nabe" (winter cuisine served in the pot) It's a big problem.

Kid's Tea Ceremony

     I attended the kid's tea ceremony.
     The junior high schools are encouraging students to have various experiences through school club activities. My youngest daughter belongs to the tea ceremony club of her junior high school. Today a tea ceremony party was held. The party was hosted by kids who belong to the tea ceremony club of their school or learn it privately.
     British people are famous for loving tea. In fact, they take their tea seriously, but they don't have to go to college for a long time. In Japan, if you want to know how to handle the tea ceremony, you have to have someone as your private teacher and you will be given a diploma.
     By the way, the guests were shown to their seat after paying the entry fee. They had to conduct themselves decently. Just after taking a seat, Japanese traditional candies were served to everyone by kids who behaved modestly and decently. All the kids were so polite.

     The tea ceremony party (Chanoyu) is a drama as well as a drink.  Watching the precision of my daughter --- folding and re-folding the napkin, wiping the bowl, ladling the water and whisking the tea --- makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
     I turned my bowl, once, twice. I drank. The tea (matcha) was bitter, but perfect after the sweets.
     The tea ceremony must be one of the great traditions of Japanese culture.

     The photo shows my youngest daughter.  The photo was taken by an additional camera of my cell phone, so the image is not clear.

Every Eight Days

     I'd like to explain the emergency care system in my town. A certain level of hospitals are divided into eight groups. Each group is supposed to take turns to be ready for emergency cases no matter what day of the week it is. Consequently I've got to be on duty every eight days.

     Today is the due day for the emergency care and my hospital is open all night long tonight. I'm writing this in O.P.D. during a break in the flow of the patients. Despite it being a weekday, 2 cases of acute heavy alcoholism were transferred by ambulance. They were covered with their vomit and smelled bad, making me feel nauseous. Some people were extremely excited due to quarrelling with their buddies. Someone was being interviewed by some policemen because he had caused a serious accident by flagrantly violating the law.

     Many kinds of people get together here every eight days. Those people could be the subject matter of novels or inspiration for novels.

     Anyway, terrible black days come to me every eight days.

     I'm famished. Tonight's midnight meal is a rice curry. To be frank, the midnight meal is always a rice curry. This rice curry is rich in stuff, contains high calories and is delicious. Yes, hotchpotch style! It's called the "・・・・ (name of the head of my hospital) Special". It contains leftover cooking ingredients that were stocked for hospitalized patients and are close to their expiry date.

Tamiflu

    Today I attended a meeting at my hospital about Tamiflu, which is a specific remedy for influenza. All the doctors and pharmacists learned the effects and side-effects of Tamiflu from the medical representative. This year the Japanese government is concerned about a new type of influenza mutated from bird flu. It's going to prepare a stockpile of Tamiflu, but the preparation schedule has gone behind because of being short of Tamiflu. In Japan the outbreak of flu will be in January. I feel depressed to think of it. I'm a surgeon, but in the season of the outbreak I have got to be a physician, sitting among coughing patients to help my physician colleagues.

     The Chinese authority says, "the Avian flu has infected pigs in China." Pigs and humans are alike from the genetic point of view, though China is the kind of country that is hard to believe.

     When Spanish flu broke out in 1918, 40 million people died all over the world. Spanish flu mutated from bird flu in Southern China so the present situation is just the same as in 1918.

     Anyway this winter we have to take care not to catch a cold.

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     Tonight, a farewell party will be held. One of my nursery staff is going to quit, get married, and move to Tokyo. Let's have a beer!!!