Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Potter, Putter

　　I heard a new Japanese-made English word, "pottering", or "puttering". It indicates riding bicycles without purpose. They never pedal hard like in a race and don't have a destination like on a cycling tour. They just spend time wandering around.
　　I often take a walk with my dog, and find something new even around my house. If I had a bicycle and could extend my wandering area, it would be great fun. I looked for several magazines dealing with bicycles on the internet, and ordered some of them. The picture shows them. I'll devote myself to reading them for the coming several days. By the way, how do you call this purpose-less slow cycling in English?

(Vocabulary)
potter(英) putter（米） のんびりする
deal with sth〈本・映画などが〉 ＜…＞を扱う

Bicycle

　　I'm getting interested in bicycles day by day. When I visited Germany last year, I was surprised to see the bicycle paths which were designed widely along the road. The trains could accommodate bicycles. People could move easily with their own bicycles. I thought that it was a smart system. Lots of people ride bicycles in Japan too, but the infrastructure for cyclists isn't enough now.
　　However, bicycles are absolutely good for the health and never emit greenhouse gas into the air. Besides some of my friends who used to be crazy about motorcycles, began riding bicycles recently. Events for cyclists became common. The picture was taken when they were about to start for a short ride. Their bicycles are designed for a long ride, and they were going to visit a park 20 km away at that time. It must be nice for keeping fit. I'm planning to buy one before too long. The second picture was shot last year near Boden Lake which is located on the border of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It indicates a sign post for cyclists.
　　As for Germany, today's CNN says that a high-speed train will connect Frankfurt and London in about five hours. I've been to Frankfurt, but not London. When I visit England some day, this train will be one of the options to reach London.

(Vocabulary)
before too long  近いうちに

 

Big Present

　　My father gave a brand new car to his granddaughter as a celebration of her enrollment into medical school. I thought that a brand new car was too luxurious for an 18-year old student and an old used car was enough, but my father insisted that he wanted to buy a brand new one for her. It appears that she's irresistible for him. This car will widen her range though my anxiety will increase at once.

(Vocabulary)
irresistible;
not resistible; incapable of being resisted or withstood: an irresistible impulse.
lovable, esp. calling forth feelings of protective love: an irresistible puppy.
enticing; tempting to possess: an irresistible necklace.
find sb/sth irresistible  ＜…＞にたまらない魅力を感じる

 

Replacement of Barbecue

　　My colleagues will come to my house and we'll have a barbecue in the garden tomorrow at noon. I set up the special barbecue today, but it was broken. I'm going to talk about it in this entry. This old barbecue was made of a scrapped drum can that was originally produced for oil storage. My acquaintance, who runs an iron factory, cut an old metallic barrel vertically into two parts, and one was for me and the other was for him. He attached four legs to each half. Thus, two big barbecues were made. This barbecue was big enough for lots of people to enjoy parties and was really nice, but at last the bottom fell out.
　　On account of this, I had to get a new one for tomorrow's party. I wanted to get the same size brazier as the former one, but it was considerably exceptional and I couldn't find anything like that in the shopping center specializing in outdoor products. I bought a modest one as you can see in the second picture. Besides, I bought a net table surrounding the brazier.

• (Vocabulary)
• barbecue バーベキュー（パーティー） (バーベキュー用の) コンロ
• drum / drum can / metallic [metal] barrel [drum] ドラム缶
• on account of this このような訳で
• brazier (金属製の) 火鉢, こんろ
• exceptional (能力・才能などが)並はずれた, 抜群の; 例外的な, まれな
• an exceptional student 抜群に優秀な生徒
• exceptional weather conditions 異常気象
• modest (金額・量などが)ささやかな, (価格などが)手ごろな, (規模などが)小さい
• excellent wines at modest prices 手ごろな価格でおいしいワイン

Cell Phone

　　The picture below is of my cell phone. It looks ordinary. If I say that this can be used as a credit card or cash, do you believe what I say? Besides, it is also a map, a TV set, a GPS receiver, an audio player, a text editor and a camera as well as a phone.
　　When one of my daughter started living in Freiburg, she chose one of the simplest and cheapest ones. I was with her at that time, and looked at other cell phones on the counter. I couldn't fully understand their functions, but felt that it was not enough. It might be because I was so accustomed to Japanese cell phones. They say that Japanese cell phones don't sell well out of Japan because of their superiority and having lots of functions. Naturally, their price would be higher. Japanese cell phones are frequently compared to the creatures on the Galapagos Islands that have developed uniquely, isolated from the outer world.
　　However, as long as I live in Japan, this is very convenient. You can enjoy most things at night  downtown. You can google a bar with your phone that would hit the spot. The phone leads you to the bar. You can get in a taxi, enter an arcade and use public transportation with your cell phone. It's really wonderful.

• (Vocabulary)
• Galapagos Islands ガラパゴス諸島
• (amusement) arcade ゲームセンター

Portable Heating and Cooling Box

　　It has been deadly hot in Japan, probably just as in many other countries in the northern half of the globe. I'm fed up with the heat. Fortunately, my work place is air-conditioned. I really feel that I'm happy to work inside. Needless to add, my private room is also equipped with an air conditioner.
　　By the way, I didn't write about it, but I switched my office to another hospital this spring. A fridge wasn't provided in my new room, so I got one via the internet. I'll show you later and it is a portable one. It works by the power from not only an ordinary outlet but also the cigarette lighter holder in cars. I thought I could take it outdoors. Besides, in the winter, it works as a heating box. It would be useful for keeping something hot, hot!
　　As I expected however, the capability wasn't so powerful, but it was acceptable.

• (Vocabulary)
• outlet〈米〉〈英〉（壁に取り付けられたプラグの）コンセント
• receptacle (フォーマル) 容器, 入れ物 [同意] container

New Funny Sandal (MBT)

　　At first, look at the picture. A sandal is placed sideways. Do you notice something strange? Examine the shape of the sole. It's not flat but round. This shape seems to produce instability on purpose in order to strengthen the muscles and joints. Just stand simply, and you can do exercises of various joints. I decided to use them. The manufacturer says that strictly speaking, their shoes aren't shoes but exercise equipment. Please wait for the report.

• (Vocabulary)
• sideways 横向きに
• deliberately　わざと〔行為者が悪意を持っているニュアンスがある。〕
• by design / on purpose わざと

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3Jd5nqZOE&feature=related
http://jp.mbt.com/Default.aspx?lang=ja-JP

Mending My Shoes

　　I wrote last year that I had bought a pair of German shoes, and wanted to use them on the stone pavement of Germany. See this entry.
　　It's 9 months since I posted the entry. I visited Germany twice in this period wearing these shoes and I've been wearing them on my daily commute and walking. As is to be expected, they were gradually getting damaged. I took them to the shoe shop where I had bought them to ask how to keep them nice.
　　The craftsman examined my shoes and promptly pointed out my unfavorable characteristics of walking. I fully agreed with his opinion and followed his advice. He modified my shoe inserts in some 20 minutes, and it made me feel fine in walking. Additionally, I asked him to mend the soles. It cost 4500 yen in total, but this repair made my shoes more comfortable for me than when they were new.
　　To tell the truth, I felt that these shoes were expensive when I saw them for the first time. However, I trusted the spirit of German craftsmen, and got them. My thought wasn't wrong. Thinking that you can use a pair of shoes for a long time with periodic repairs, these shoes were never expensive. To use good items for a long time might be the way of life of German people. The picture shows the soles of my shoes, which are fixed in the heels.

• (Vocabulary)
• as is to be expected さすがに
• craftsman （熟練した）職人, 工芸家
• shoe insert / sock liner 靴の中敷き
• periodic 定期的な, 周期的な

 

iPad

　　The current high-profile gear, iPad was delivered to me. I ordered it as my present for Father's Day last week. I expected that it would take more than a month to get it, thinking about its popularity, and I was a little surprised at how soon it came. I didn't need to wait for the day, the third Sunday in June, and took it to my parents's house at once. My father, who is 78 years old, knew only the name of it, because of Apple's systematic buildup, but he didn't think he'd be able to use it. I set up the wireless local area network and the iPad. It started to work without any problem.
　　The usability was wonderful. It must be designed for people of all generations. My father often uses his cellular phone to send e-mails, but the letters are too small for him. So, he was pleased to understand the method of magnifying letters on the screen. It was really easy. Moreover he can use it wherever in his house and garden.
　　He only just learned how to use e-mails and browse the internet. The iPad will be helpful for preventing dementia. I hope that the iPad will help him to keep his quality of life.

• (Vocabulary)
• buildup [C] 事前の売り込み［盛り上げ］, 前宣伝
• usability 使い勝手； 有用性； 使いやすさ, 使用感 (コンピュータ関連で用いることが多い)

Longitudinal Walk of Honshu

　　You know that Japan consists of four main islands; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. I live in Shikoku, but I started a longitudinal walk of Honshu, which is the biggest island of the four main islands. Naturally, it is a virtual walk. I'll show you some fantastic gear in this entry.

　　The picture is of my mobile phone, which is made in Taiwan. A variety of functions can be added  by downloading additional software from the internet. The other day, I added the function of pedometer to my cellular phone. The pedometer is sold by itself, but if it is set on this mobile phone, it is totally different from the original pedometer. It can not only count the steps, but also detect and record the current position. After the walk, it calculates the moving distance, average speed, burning of calories and, moreover, draws tracks on the Google Map. It's a wonderful function.

　　At the same time, the moving distances are totalled and put on the map of Honshu. The mobile phone shows where I would be if I had walked from the northernmost tip of Honshu. I had just walked 35km/1778km, but I'm going to walk across Honshu. This is a silly little idea, but it can be enough motive to continue walking for my health. It might be a bother for my dog, who has to walk with me. (grin)

(Vocabulary)

virtual

事実上の, 実質的な, …同然の

They drove home in virtual silence. 彼らはほとんど無言のまま車で帰宅した．

I didn't want to leave my children with a virtual stranger. 子供たちを他人同然の人と一緒に置いて行きたくなかった．

仮想の, インターネット［コンピュータ］上の

The website allows you to take a virtual tour of the campus. ウェブサイトではインターネット上でキャンパスを見学できます．

pedometer  歩数計

length of move / moving distance  移動距離

silly little たわいない, 取るに足りない

 

Holy Friday

　　April 2nd was Holy Friday and lots of shops and restaurants were closed in Europe. I couldn't prepare anything for Yuri today, so Mr. D was kind enough to take us out for a drive to Colmar in the Alsace Province of France. He had a nice car. To tell the truth, we couldn't visit this rural town last autumn and it was a great disappointment for us. I didn't bring the guidebook of France this time, but I remembered the outline of Alsace. I asked him to also take us to Riquewihr and Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg in Alsace. He had never been there, but the navigation system of the car showed us the way to the destination.

　　The first picture is of the electric kettle which came with the room. I was surprised at how soon the water boiled and recalled that the voltage was 200 volts, double what it is in ordinary Japanese houses. I wouldn't have minded that until then, because my gadgets such as the PC, the cellular phone and electric shaver were adapted for 100 and 200 volts. Anyway, the power of 200 volts was wonderful. Yuri will get accustomed to 200 volts, and will feel it's inconvenient back in Japan.

　　The second picture is of her dormitory. It was really nice, and I a little envied her opportunity to live in Germany in her youth.

(Vocabulary)

voltage  電圧

 

Memorandum

　　Every time I go on a trip, I bring a small notebook for memoranda. The detailed schedule of the trip is written in it in advance. Everything, such as what I thought or noticed during the trip, prices of things, addresses and telephone numbers are noted down. Additionally, I use my digital camera as a kind of pad. This picture was taken to remember the name and spelling of the site. It's the signboard of the bus stop in front of the valley station of the ropeway.

(Vocabulary)

in advance  前もって

note sth down  ＜…＞を書き留める, メモする

Tram Tour

　　Anyhow, we left our hotel with our baggage stored in the hotel and started for the north of the city by tram. We were offered the 2-day ticket for public transport and could use the tram and the bus as long as we liked. We could get on and off the car wherever we liked without the hassle of having to pay each time.

　　I like seeing around strange areas and taking stock of my tracks. Plotting the data on the map is really fun. The picture is of the bus stop which is the most northerly of all the bus stops. I took this picture as a record of my reach, because I forgot my GPS receiver at the hotel. I was really sorry not to carry it with me.

(Vocabulary)

tram (米) ロープウェー; 路面電車

public transport  公共交通機関

hassle [C,U] 面倒, 煩わしいこと

I don't want any hassle. 面倒はごめんだ．

strange 《通例[名]の前で》 見知らぬ, なじみのない

northerly 《[名]の前でのみ》北の, 北への; (風が) 北からの

 

Wireless LAN

　　My house is equipped with the local area network (LAN). Two PCs, the DVD recorder, two hard disk drives and a print server are always connected. Additionally I installed a wireless access point today. It's for A's mobile PC. She didn't know about the wireless networking system until today, so she was surprised to see that her PC works. Her astonishment really amused me. She took her PC out of the house and played for some time with our dog, Mocha, in the garden while listening to music on the distant HDD with the Bluetooth system. The progress of technology is literally wonderful.

Portable Printer

　　　The day that my second daughter, Yuri, leaves for Germany is coming close. She is preparing for her one-year stay in Freiburg now. Today, I got a portable printer for her. It looks functional and I will show it to you in the picture. It just seems to be a box, but works well as a printer. It's amazing. I also got  some spare ink cartridges and an AC adaptor for use in Europe.

Diary Broken

I've been keeping a diary for 20 years. What I did every day or various notes have been written in it. I bought something, I replaced the light bulb in the kitchen, I went somewhere, these daily activities are recorded in it. When I can't recall something, this diary is helpful.  In other words this diary is a kind of memorandum.
Today, while I ignored the warning of a low battery in my PC, HP200LX, it suddenly froze and the data for about 10 months after the last backup was destroyed. I hopefully thought that it would work a little longer. I was so sorry.

(Vocabulary)
light bulb  電球
memorandum book 備忘録

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/01/hp200lx.html

Electrically-Assisted Bicycle

     I went to the municipal library after lunch today. This public library accepts orders by e-mail too, so I sent an e-mail and asked for some books a few days ago, and I got an e-mail from the library today, saying that all were ready.

     It was about three or four kilometers from my office, and I could walk there, but it was in the lunch break and I didn't have enough time, so I used a bicycle, which was electrically-assisted and which any one of the staff members could use. This was my first experience of this type of bicycle.

     There were no hills between my office and the library. The effect of assistance seemed to remarkably appear on the hills, but I felt it sufficiently even on the flat course. The first pedalling was incredibly light. The bicycle accelerated easily and smoothly.

     Looking for information on the internet, a considerable number of people seemed to use this kind of bicycle for commuting in big cities like Tokyo. They don't need to have parking lots in the center of the city. They can elude the heavy trafic jams. Riding bicycles is good for their health. My commuting distance is only 6 km, but I usually use my scooter. I'm thinking of changing my means of transportation.

(Vocabulary)

a considerable amount/number of sth   かなりの量［数］の＜…＞

  

ETC

     I installed the ETC device on my scooter and at that time I wondered if the ETC was well known in the world. The ETC stands for "Electronic Toll Collection System." If a car was equipped with this device, the toll of the highways would be payed automatically by credit cards. You don't need to stop at the gate of the highways. It is supposed to contribute by suppressing the traffic jams. Especially in the case of motorcycles, the rider takes more time to pay the toll than the car drivers. He should take his gloves off and take his wallet out of his pocket and pay. After that he should do those reversely. I'm a happy camper to be free from this bother.
     My ETC device, to tell the truth, I don't know if this word is correct or not, but anyway this device communicates with the authority at the gate of the highways and informs them of the license number of my car. They calculate the toll from the information of the entrance and the exit and charge to my credit card. The antenna of the device is shown in the picture. A small black box attached to the wind screen of my scooter is it. The main parts of the device is set inside of the scooter because of the security.

(Vocabulary)
toll  通行料金
bother  《常に単数形で》 厄介者, 面倒なこと, 悩みの種
be a bother  厄介者である［になる］, 面倒をかける
license number  〈米〉（自動車の）ナンバープレートの番号

 

German Keyboard

     My computer is set for the Japanese and Korean languages. Beside them, I added German as you might imagine. You might think that the letters in German are the same as English, but some of the German alphabet has a specific code, an umlaut. I had to modify the language system of my PC. After the modification, I typed every key and found where the keys of umlaut and another special letter are. At this time, I found the exchange of Z and Y. I was surprised to know that. At first I suspected that my PC didn't work well.
     To think calmly, it is natural. The frequency of the usage of Z and Y in German is far different. The appearance of Z is a whole lot more than that of Y.
     A few decades ago, the same number of keyboards as the languages must have been required though I write something in Japanese, Korean and German with one single keyboard now. The effect of software is really wonderful, I believe.

A Funny Story About My Misunderstanding

     At first, look at the picture. They are my casual shoes. I usually put on them when I go out of my house. When I bought them, the salesperson emphasized the ease of wearing them. You can figure out the shoes have fasteners on their inside wall. Actually I didn't need to tie the shoelaces when I get my feet into the shoes. However, the professional shoemaker told me that this idea wasn't right. He continued that the shoes exist for walking or running, not for the act of wearing. Exactly. I literally agreed with him. These shoes had caused me a blister after only three hours' walk. This fact shows that my feet are unstabe in the shoes.
     Anyway, all shoes are for walking, not for containing feet.

(Vocabulary)
shoelace 靴ひも